Don’t React, Rise – Stay Calm & Unbothered | Billy Graham

Life is full of moments that test your patience, challenge your peace, and tempt you to react in ways that do not honor God. People will misunderstand you, disappoint you, provoke you, and even try to pull you into their storms. Circumstances will rise suddenly like waves crashing against your stability, leaving you restless and ready to strike back. Yet the secret to true strength is not found in reacting to every word or situation—it is found in rising above them. To stay calm and unbothered is not weakness, it is power under control. It is choosing peace when anger calls your name, it is standing steady when chaos surrounds you, it is letting God fight the battles you were never meant to fight. The natural impulse of the human heart is to react. When someone offends, the instinct is to defend. When life feels unfair, the instinct is to complain. When obstacles block the path, the instinct is to fear. But the Spirit of God calls you to live differently. The Scriptures remind us to be slow to anger, abounding in love, steadfast in hope, and quick to listen. They remind us that the battle is not against flesh and blood but against forces unseen, and that our victory is not in retaliation but in reliance on the Lord. To rise instead of react is to live with the confidence that God is in control, and no situation is bigger than His hand. There is freedom in refusing to be controlled by the actions of others. When you allow every insult, every challenge, every disappointment to dictate your peace, you become a prisoner of circumstance. But when you anchor your heart in God’s promises, you discover a calm that no storm can shake. Think of Jesus in the boat as the winds raged and the disciples panicked. While they reacted with fear, He rested with peace, because His trust was in the Father’s power, not the fury of the storm. That same peace is offered to you. To rise is not to ignore reality but to choose a higher response. It is to pray instead of panic, to forgive instead of retaliate, to trust instead of tremble. Rising means refusing to let temporary emotions rob you of eternal perspective. It is remembering that your life is not defined by people’s opinions or by life’s interruptions, but by God’s truth and God’s calling. When you live with that assurance, the words and actions of others lose their power over you. Every day you will face opportunities to react or to rise. The choice is yours. Reaction may feel natural, but it keeps you bound. Rising requires faith, but it sets you free. To stay calm and unbothered is not apathy—it is strength that flows from knowing who holds your life, who directs your steps, and who secures your future. When God is your anchor, nothing has the power to pull you under.