Rejection Revisited

 

The other day, on my social media page, I visited the notion of rejection.

I briefly mentioned I had experienced a small amount of rejection from one of my children.  What I didn't grasp was the notion that I was not the only one this had happened to.

My Inbox filled up as friends told me their stories, and the comments below my post filled up as well.

It seems our world is filled with brokenness.  People all over have been hurt by rejection.  Whether it is by a child or by a spouse.  My heart hurt.

And as I opened up my devotional this morning, I saw that Lysa Terkeurst was not done with our visit to rejection land.  

I began reading and actually loved what she had to say and how she described rejection (...or being SET ASIDE as she put it).  She wrote, "...the enemy would have wanted me to feel...completely self-absorbed in my own insecurity and miss whatever reason God had for me to be [where I was]."

Wow.  Truth.  Why had I not seen this before or grasped it like she had?

And since I missed it, I knew I wanted to share what she wrote because maybe you missed it as well!

"To be SET APART is to be given AN ASSIGNMENT..."  

We need to (like I said in my social media post) breathe rejection IN, twist it around, and then exhale it back OUT...we need to look past being "set ASIDE" and see that maybe God is calling us to be set APART.

And then, when God does set us apart, we can keep these three questions in mind (thank you Lysa!):

• Are you receiving the gift of being humbled?  Remember:  With humility, comes wisdom!
• Are you receiving the gift of being lonely?  Being lonely develops your sense of compassion!
• Are you receiving the gift of silence? Silence allow you to hear the voice of God!

If we can keep these three things in both our hearts and our minds, I am pretty sure that, although we will still feel the sting of rejection, we will end up healing quicker and learning so much more!

This week, I'm going to try and remember to take my rejection and and turn it around.  Try to remember that I was not rejected, I was set apart by God.  And I love that.

Amen sisters.  Amen.