11/07/2025
Get Back Up Stronger
In the 1950s, researchers conducted a study on rats that changed the way we understand perseverance. They dropped rats into water with no escape route. On average, the rats swam for about 15 minutes before giving up and starting to drown.
But here’s the twist—just before they drowned, the researchers pulled them out and saved them. A couple of days later, they placed those same rats back into the water again. This time, they didn’t give up after 15 minutes. They swam for 60 hours.
Why? Because they believed rescue was possible. They had a reason to keep going.
This wasn’t a study about strength—it was about hope. The belief that help was coming changed how long they could endure.
As a Christian and follower of Jesus Christ, that is the power our faith. When life knocks us down, we can either drown in defeat or believe that God will lift us out. The same principle that kept those rats swimming is what faith does for us—it gives us hope beyond exhaustion.
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” — 2 Corinthians 4:8–9
Paul isn’t denying the struggle—he’s defining the source of endurance. We don’t get up because we’re strong; we get up because God is faithful. We kept up because we are more than conquerors. We get up because he calls us His Mighty Warriors.
Like the rats, we all hit moments where we feel like we’re sinking—spiritually, emotionally, or mentally. But if we’ve experienced God’s rescue once before, that memory gives us endurance for the next storm. That’s why the enemy wants you to forget what God has done, because remembrance fuels resilience.
So when you get knocked down—Don’t lose heart. Don’t lose hope. Remember your rescuer. You can go from 15 minutes of faith to 60 hours of endurance when your trust shifts from your own strength to God’s.
So when you face resistance or discouragement, remind yourself - When you trust that God’s not finished, you will find strength you didn’t know you had, you will find His strength to get back up stronger!
