Throat-Punched by Life? Here's How to Get Up Again!
Episode Summary
What do you do when life throat-punches you for the 50th time and you feel like staying down? In this episode of The Unshakeable Life, Jim Burgoon gets brutally honest about exhaustion, burnout, and failure—and the one thing that keeps us standing when everything else crumbles.
Drawing from personal stories of ministry wounds, entrepreneurial failures, and even the grief of losing his mom, Jim shares why falling doesn’t disqualify you from God’s calling. Instead, Scripture reminds us we may be struck down, but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:9). With raw honesty and practical tools, Jim helps you reframe resilience, stop pretending you’re fine, and discover the courage to take your next small step with God.
If you’ve been wrestling with the question, “What’s the point of getting back up again?”—this episode was made for you.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn
- Why failure and falling don’t remove you from God’s plan.
- The danger of “I’m fine” platitudes and how to be real before God.
- How to anchor yourself in God’s presence when you feel abandoned.
- Why resilience isn’t instant—it’s small, courageous steps forward.
- How silence, prayer, and Scripture renew your strength in dark times.
Scripture Anchors
- 2 Corinthians 4:9 — “Persecuted, not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
- Isaiah 40:31 — “Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.”
- Psalm 46:10 — “Be still, and know that I am God.”
- Ephesians 6 — “After you’ve done everything, stand.”
Faith Connection
God has never expected perfection—He has always promised presence. The Bible doesn’t say we won’t be knocked down; it says we won’t be destroyed. The difference between despair and hope is whether we believe that truth in the middle of the struggle. Jesus Himself fell under the weight of the cross, yet He got back up to finish the work set before Him. That same Spirit now strengthens us to rise when life feels unbearable.
Reflection & Connection
- What’s one area in your life where you’ve been pretending you’re “fine”?
- What’s a small, courageous step you could take this week to move forward?
- Who in your circle needs to hear your honesty so you don’t walk alone?
Key Takeaway
You may be knocked down, but you are never abandoned. Stop pretending you’re fine, anchor yourself in God’s presence, and take one courageous step at a time. God doesn’t need you to sprint—He just calls you to keep standing.
Resilience Corner
Breath Prayer: “Lord, I am weak, but You are strong. Help me rise again.”
Resources Mentioned
- Join the Newsletter: www.leadwithjim.com/nl
- Full Episode Show Notes & Transcript: www.leadwithjim.com/podcast
- Using GPT for deeper Bible Study: https://youtu.be/VflG29Hx_Xw
- Youtube Video of Jason Upton Singing: In The Silence
Connect with Jim
- 🌐 Website: www.leadwithjim.com
- 🎙️ Ask a Question: leadwithjim.com/ask
- 📱 Instagram: @leadwithjim
- ▶️ YouTube: Lead with Jim
- Facebook: @leadwithjim
Support & Engage with the Show
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- Leave a Review: If this episode encouraged you, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts—it helps more Christian creators find the show.
- Share: Send this episode to a friend who struggles with distraction.
Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
If you have been throat punched by life and you're ready to give up, well, stick around because we're going to talk about that.
Speaker B:This is the Unshakable Life mindset.
Speaker B:Resilience, action.
Speaker B:No stride.
Speaker B:Break free from the burnout.
Speaker B:Find your true north with your God.
Speaker B:Jim Burgoon stepping forward.
Speaker B:This is the end.
Speaker B:Unshakable life.
Speaker A:Welcome back to the show.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Jim, and this is the Unshakable Life podcast.
Speaker A:And on this podcast, we're going to be talking about a biblical mindset, developing resilience, and how to take courageous action in order to chase after your God given call.
Speaker A:So today I want to open up a conversation between you and I because I know you don't feel like your life is unshakable.
Speaker A:I know that you feel exhausted, you feel burnt out, you feel like you've been forgotten, you feel like you want to quit.
Speaker A:And the question then becomes, when life throat punches you again, maybe for the 50th time, what do you do?
Speaker A:We feel like we're only one more bad decision from just completely giving up.
Speaker A:Like, if life doesn't turn around at this decision, we're not going to go forward.
Speaker A:But that's not reality.
Speaker A:Reality is building the resilience and the strength we need and having the hope inside of us through Jesus Christ that's going to keep getting us up and keep moving us forward because we all get knocked down.
Speaker A:Getting knocked down is part of the journey.
Speaker A:When I, and I'm always surprised when people, including myself, were in these places of knock down, get up, knock down, get up, and we were like, shocked that we got knocked down.
Speaker A:I mean, think of it like a baby.
Speaker A:How often does a baby fall down before they learn how to walk?
Speaker A:But I want to tell you that every one of us have faced these places of falling down and not wanting to get back up.
Speaker A:I have.
Speaker A:I. I remember when I was a pastor, pouring out and yet taking everybody's junk and being yelled at and being called all names and having to like, defend the faith and, and not get upset and be able to forgive quickly.
Speaker A:It's exhausting.
Speaker A:Or maybe you were like me with my own autoimmune issues.
Speaker A:Where can I find the strength?
Speaker A:Or maybe you're an entrepreneur and you failed 38 times.
Speaker A:And yes, I have failed 38 to 42 times somewhere in there.
Speaker A:I've not gotten the exact number, but it's been a lot.
Speaker A:And the, you get into these places where you're like, that's it, I'm done.
Speaker A:I don't want to get back up.
Speaker A:Tonight's the night we're at.
Speaker A:We're just going to stop and we sit at our desk and we ask ourselves, what's the point?
Speaker A:We try and try again.
Speaker A:Why are we even doing this?
Speaker A:Why do we continue moving forward?
Speaker A:And we get into this existential crisis where we're arguing with ourselves to try to convince ourselves to stay down because we've been beaten up so much.
Speaker A:But there's something in us that keeps getting up.
Speaker A:And I want to help you reframe the conversation today, because even though you want to stay down, there are people right now that we know deep down are depending upon us.
Speaker A:And we keep getting up.
Speaker A:There's just good news.
Speaker A:Falling or fail doesn't disqualify you from God's calling.
Speaker A:And I know there's a lot of us that feel if we've made too many mistakes, God's going to give up on us.
Speaker A:And that's not the case.
Speaker A:God is not going to give up on you because you keep falling down.
Speaker A:Matter of fact, I don't read anywhere in scripture where God gives up on us.
Speaker A:He gives us chance after chance after chance, and then he allows us to go in our own way, and then he waits for us to call upon him and then he runs in.
Speaker A:That's what scripture shows us.
Speaker A:So you're never disqualified from your calling because you fail.
Speaker A:Where we find ourselves is every time we get knocked down, we think that we're destroyed, but that's not the case.
Speaker A:You may be knocked down, but you're not destroyed.
Speaker A:You're not disqualified.
Speaker A:Scripture 4:2 Corinthians 4, 9 reminds us persecuted, not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed.
Speaker A:And so the idea is that scripture never tells us that we're knocked.
Speaker A:We're not going to be knocked down.
Speaker A:Scripture tells us we're not going to be destroyed.
Speaker A:We're not abandoned.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:We're not left alone.
Speaker A:But we will be knocked down from time to time.
Speaker A:And for some of us, like myself, you're going to hear a lot of my stories permeate through this podcast because I've been knocked down more times than I like to admit.
Speaker A:So let me give you three points that are going to anchor yourself in the darkest of times.
Speaker A:The first one, stop pretending you're fine.
Speaker A:Stop pretending like everything is okay, because it's okay not to be okay.
Speaker A:It's okay to ask for help.
Speaker A:I struggle asking for help because I went through so much trauma growing up that it was unsafe to ask for help.
Speaker A:So I Delved into a real deep individuality and independence, hyper independence, where it was unsafe for me to ask for help.
Speaker A:So I often never asked for.
Speaker A:And I just suffered alone in silence.
Speaker A:But as I grow older, as I get more into Christ, as I live life with my wife, who teaches me these amazing things through her own struggles, it's okay not to be okay.
Speaker A:It's okay to ask for help.
Speaker A:It's okay to be weak.
Speaker A:Matter of fact, Scripture tells us it's in our weakness God is made, his power is made perfect.
Speaker A:And we have to recognize that.
Speaker A:We've got to stop the Christian platitudes of I'm blessed and highly favored, while inside we we're falling apart.
Speaker A:We've got to stop with this wrong theology of I can't say anything or I'm going to be cursed.
Speaker A:I don't know where that started in Christianity, but it's wrong.
Speaker A:The power of life and death in the tongue doesn't mean you speak these word curses if you're acknowledging how you feel in order to overcome it.
Speaker A:Remember, we don't serve a God who's vindictive or judgmental in a critical way.
Speaker A:That's not the God we serve.
Speaker A:We serve a God who's loving, who's going to challenge us, who is just, who is holy.
Speaker A:And when he goes into our lives, he says, that's not okay for you to have and begins to take it.
Speaker A:But one of the prerequisites of that is we have to admit and relinquish.
Speaker A:Like, we have to acknowledge that we have the problem.
Speaker A:You look at AA or N A or any of these other things, like they won't even accept you until you admit that you have a problem.
Speaker A:And in Christianity, we should be no different.
Speaker A:If we have the Savior of the universe, we have to admit and accept that we have a problem and that we are not okay.
Speaker A:And that's okay because that doesn't mean that's the state you're always going to be in.
Speaker A:I mean, look at Psalms.
Speaker A:I say, if you ever want to learn how to complain properly, read Psalms.
Speaker A:David complained all the time, in a proper way to God.
Speaker A:He never hid his pain.
Speaker A:He lived it.
Speaker A:And he shared it with God.
Speaker A:He said, God, these people are after me.
Speaker A:They want to kill me.
Speaker A:They want to take my life.
Speaker A:God, you see it all through the Psalms.
Speaker A:And he says, God, where are you?
Speaker A:You said, I would be king, but I'm hiding in caves.
Speaker A:So maybe this prayer, first prayer for you this week is to say, lord, make me strong in my Weakness.
Speaker A:Maybe your prayer should be, lord, I'm broken.
Speaker A:But you're the healer.
Speaker A:You're the one who helps me.
Speaker A:You're the doorway to healing.
Speaker A:Matter of fact, you're Jehovah Rofe, the Lord who heals.
Speaker A:So let's start with that.
Speaker A:Let's go to the great physician and say, God, I'm not okay.
Speaker A:Can you help me be okay?
Speaker A:And then allow God to bring people in your life who know you, you're safe with.
Speaker A:So that when you can say, hey, I'm not okay today, they can encourage you, they can pray for you, or they can do what's needed in order to support you.
Speaker A:That's what community really looks like.
Speaker A:Which brings me to the second point.
Speaker A:You've got to anchor yourself back in God's presence.
Speaker A:Isaiah 30, Isaiah 40, 31 says this.
Speaker A:Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.
Speaker A:They will soar on wings like eagles.
Speaker A:Notice it didn't say those who grind harder, those who hustle more, those who isolate more.
Speaker A:No, it doesn't say any of that.
Speaker A:It says, those who wait, those who pause, those who breathe, who quit striving.
Speaker A:Remember, you know, the Bible also tells us in Psalms 46, 10, be still and know that I am God.
Speaker A:That word still needs to quit striving, right?
Speaker A:Those of us that breathe can begin there to anchor ourselves in God's presence.
Speaker A:And for me, and maybe for you, this may look like breath prayers.
Speaker A:This may look like lord, help me today because I don't know how to help myself.
Speaker A:If you want follow me on on Facebook at Lead with Jim Every morning without fail, I post a breath prayer.
Speaker A:If you don't know how to pray a breath prayer, go to that Facebook post, hit the follow and look for the breath prayer every morning and pray that prayer.
Speaker A:Because I do it.
Speaker A:Because I want you to be encouraged and to empowered.
Speaker A:Because we've got to constantly be reminded that we are not alone, that the presence of God is always with us.
Speaker A:Even if we don't feel it, we we know that God's presence is with us.
Speaker A:And in those moments we have to really do breath prayers.
Speaker A:If we can't muster up any other strength and go, God, I can't feel you, but I know you are here.
Speaker A:Remember, there's a difference between feeling and knowing.
Speaker A:We don't need to feel God to know God.
Speaker A:And so God, I know you're here, so help me be more sensitive to your presence.
Speaker A:And when we're more sensitive to his presence, we'll feel at least in some way or See in some way that God is with us and has never left us nor forsaken us.
Speaker A:So just take the moment to re anchor yourself in God's presence, whether it be breath, prayers.
Speaker A:Matter of fact, you can also take a walk.
Speaker A:Leave the headphones at home.
Speaker A:Just take a walk in silence.
Speaker A:I think we put so much noise inside of our heads that we miss out on what God's trying to say.
Speaker A:Because we're trying.
Speaker A:We're so afraid of the silence.
Speaker A:It's in the silence that God is speaking.
Speaker A:Jason Upton wrote a beautiful song about that.
Speaker A:I'll include it in the show notes for you because it's one of my favorite song.
Speaker A:It's because he speaks that he says, in the silence you are speaking.
Speaker A:Oh Lord, how much more beautiful can you say that?
Speaker A:And remember, if we're always distracting ourselves, and I did an episode not too long ago on distracting, you can check that out in the catalog.
Speaker A:But we're.
Speaker A:If we're so busy on distracting ourselves with sound and all these other voices, we may miss the one voice we need that's going to help us constantly get back up and never quit.
Speaker A:This leads me to the third point.
Speaker A:Take small steps.
Speaker A:Let me even add a word.
Speaker A:Take small, courageous steps.
Speaker A:Because sometimes the smallest step you take is the most courageous one, especially if it's the first one.
Speaker A:Because people have this misconception of resilience.
Speaker A:People believe resilience is bouncing back immediately and getting back up and back in the game.
Speaker A:No, sometimes you're bouncing back takes weeks, sometimes it can take a year, sometimes it could take longer.
Speaker A:But it's not about bouncing back immediately.
Speaker A:It's about getting up and taking the next right step and the next one after that.
Speaker A:In fact, the Bible tells us that we get a lamp before our feet to illuminate the next step.
Speaker A:It doesn't give us a floodlight to illuminate multiple steps.
Speaker A:He gives us the next step.
Speaker A:So we have to understand that in this resilience, bounce back.
Speaker A:It could take a while, but that's okay.
Speaker A:Your job is not to worry about five steps.
Speaker A:Your job is to worry about the next step that God is taking you.
Speaker A:And if you're not anchoring in his presence, you're going to miss that step.
Speaker A:You're going to jump right back into hustle culture, get up and grind.
Speaker A:And what you're not realizing it is you're depleting what little energy and what little life you have left and you're depleting it more.
Speaker A:So burnout becomes easier every single time.
Speaker A:So if we anchor ourselves in our.
Speaker A:In God's presence, if we make sure that we're admitting that we're not okay, and then we take next step after next step, we will bounce back healthier, stronger, and more resilient than we've ever been if we do it the right way and we don't dive right back into what made us unhealthy in the first place.
Speaker A:Now, I don't know what that next step is for you.
Speaker A:The next step for you could be simply writing that email that you've been dreading, journaling that you've been avoiding, reading that scripture, that you have been seriously, like, just navigating around everything you could do but that scripture.
Speaker A:And you know that's what God wants you to read.
Speaker A:So go read it.
Speaker A:Maybe.
Speaker A:Well, let me say this for me.
Speaker A: passed, and my mom passed in: Speaker A:And she left me a voicemail before she lost her voice, before the cancer really took a lot from her before she passed.
Speaker A:And I didn't listen to that message for a long time.
Speaker A:Matter of fact, I think it was almost a year and a half before I listened to that message because it was so hurtful, because there's so many things I wanted to say to her, so many things I wanted to fix, so many things that I didn't get a chance to because the cancer came on and it came so fast.
Speaker A:And a year and a half later, I had no idea what she was going to say, but she said, don't pick up the.
Speaker A:She called me one day.
Speaker A:She said, don't pick up the phone.
Speaker A:I want to leave you a message.
Speaker A:Because she knew, and it was only a minute and a half, and it was her saying, she says, I love you to the moon and back.
Speaker A:And I avoided that for a year and a half.
Speaker A:But now I have this eternal memory of her in her voice telling me she loves me.
Speaker A:So what have you been avoiding?
Speaker A:That's your next step.
Speaker A:That's the courageous step you have to take.
Speaker A:But here's the truth.
Speaker A:God doesn't need you to sprint.
Speaker A:There's no speed that you need to go in order to reach the finish line.
Speaker A:All we're required to is to take a stand.
Speaker A:That's Ephesians 6.
Speaker A:And then make it across the finish line.
Speaker A:Even if you're crawling across the finish line, even if you feel like you're in last place, that's okay.
Speaker A:Our job is to cross the finish line at the end of this life into the next, not run, not jog.
Speaker A:Just follow the pace God set for you and make sure you're doing it in a healthy way.
Speaker A:Make sure you're doing it anchored in the fact that you need to acknowledge, you know, the things that you're going through.
Speaker A:You need to anchor yourself in his presence.
Speaker A:And then you need to take courageous step after courageous step.
Speaker A:And you know what?
Speaker A:And we can all get gold stars at the end of that, because every courageous step requires a celebration.
Speaker A:And I want to celebrate with you.
Speaker A:I want to make sure that you and I are constantly moving into God, because when life punches us in the throat, we have to get back up.
Speaker A:You're not allowed to stay down.
Speaker A:There's eternal ramifications of you staying down.
Speaker A:People that may not hear Jesus because you didn't show up, people that would not be transformed because you decided to quit, that's not okay.
Speaker A:It's okay to rest, it's okay to take time.
Speaker A:It's okay to heal.
Speaker A:But your life isn't over as long as you're breathing.
Speaker A:God is not done with you.
Speaker A:So if we do this in a healthy way, we'll live a beautiful, long life and.
Speaker A:But we'll live it in a way where our life has fulfillment and impact and meaning, not just doing a bunch of stuff and hope.
Speaker A:We're doing okay.
Speaker A:So that really ends up where I want to encourage you.
Speaker A:Who do you need to bring into your life?
Speaker A:Even if it's just you and God having the conversation initially where you can be honest and real and say, I'm struggling in this one area.
Speaker A:Now, you and I know that you and I both probably struggle in multiple areas.
Speaker A:That's okay.
Speaker A:But just pick one.
Speaker A:Start somewhere small.
Speaker A:Take that courageous step and share with somebody and with God.
Speaker A:This is the area I'm struggling in.
Speaker A:Let that be released and see.
Speaker A:Watch the weight come off of you.
Speaker A:Watch it just become more bearable.
Speaker A:And then find that practice that you need to do and to support that, you know, whatever that be.
Speaker A:Maybe you pray, maybe you see a therapist, maybe you journal more, whatever that means to support yourself in a healthy way, to get back up and keep getting back up.
Speaker A:Because why?
Speaker A:Because the healthier you become, the stronger you become, the more resilient you become, and the better you're able to follow God to the end of this life, whatever that may be for you.
Speaker A:And if that's the case, you'll hear, well done, good and faithful servant.
Speaker A:And I think at the end of the day, that's how God meets us, is when you're feeling down, when you're feeling like you've been knocked out that God gets on the ground with us and he says, come on my kid, come on, get up.
Speaker A:We're almost there.
Speaker A:We got little ways to go and helps us up and pushes us to the end so we can stand before him and hear those words.
Speaker A:So my friend, I'm so grateful you're here and let's just do this journey together and learn what it means to have an unshakable life.
Speaker A:Thank you for spending this time with me on the Unshakable Life podcast.
Speaker A:My prayer is that today's conversation helps you to build build resilience, reclaim peace, and step with courage into your God given calling.
Speaker A:If this episode has encouraged you, challenged you, or impacted you in any way, could you do me a favor?
Speaker A:Share it with a friend, leave a review and hit the follow so you don't miss what's next.
Speaker A:And if you want more tools and encouragement for your journey, head over to leadwithjim.com you'll find resources to help you grow as a healthy, authentic Christian leader, entrepreneur and creator.
Speaker A:And until next time, remember your foundation is Christ, your calling is unshakable, and your life can make eternal impact.
Speaker B:This is the Unshakable Life Mindset Resilience Action.
Speaker B:No strife.
Speaker B:Break free from the burnout.
Speaker B:Find your true north with your guy Jim Burgoon stepping forward.
Speaker B:This is the Unshakable Life.
