Copied from Cindy Trimm

“Praise, like gold and diamonds,
owes its value only to its scarcity.”
- Samuel Johnson

One of the most devastating sources of emotional pain that a person can experience is rejection. Although it is rarely perceived as a blessing, I believe it is often a divine announcement that you were never supposed to prosper within a particular relationship or realm in the first place.

Some of us were born into homes, communities, and even nations that reject us. Conversely, some of us place ourselves in relationships or communities that will never help us prosper. Instead of finding our strength and identity in God’s unchanging love for us, we turn to individuals or institutions for affirmation or stay too long in a dysfunctional relationship.

Sound familiar? Maybe you’ve been so afraid of the unknown that you’ve stuck with familiar roles or relationships no matter how repressive they are.

I want to encourage you to try a different approach. When you are confronted with rejection, think of it as a divine course corrector. I love how the actor Sylvester Stallone describes how he handles rejection:

“I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear 
to wake me up and get going.”

When it’s time for you to move on, embrace rejection as the push you need to get going. Or when you deviate from a course you have been divinely guided to pursue, understand that rejection might be what keeps you pointed in the right direction. Someone once asked me, “How do you deal with rejection?” My answer? “With grateful acceptance.”

When you are confronted with rejection, 
think of it as a divine course corrector. 

Learn how to use rejection as a tool for growth. It requires great discernment to know when to ignore rejection—when to keep doing what you’re doing regardless of what others say—or when to use rejection to provide valuable feedback regarding what you should be doing, how you should be doing it, or with whom. 

The key to gaining wisdom through rejection 
is rooted in your identity—knowing who you are in Christ and who God called you to be.

Life, in general, is risky—and the more risks you are willing to take, the more you will risk being rejected. The next time you face rejection, keep the following three truths in mind:

1. The problem may not be with you. People usually reject what they don’t understand, do not have the capacity for, or cannot control. 
2. It’s a matter of perspective. Talk the situation through with people who know you, your gifts, and your calling. Ask them for perspective and feedback to make sense of the situation. 
3. Mediocrity resists greatness. Albert Einstein observed, “Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.”

Remember, your worth is not found in what others think of you! Use rejection to build and strengthen your resolve.

Praying you will use rejection as an opportunity to prevail,

Whispers, Lies and Reward

The demon assigned

to whisper

'No, you can't'

was 

overruled

by the Word

of the Lord

"I can 

do

all things

through Christ

Who

strengthens me."

And then

the demon

took the voice

of another

and said

'You can't.'

The piercing

went deeper

but

the Word

pierced more

dividing

soul and spirit

--asking--

"What

can man

do

to me?"

--and telling--

"I will

never

leave you

nor forsake

you."

In a rage

the demon

began

to lie 

more aggressively

in

the native tongue

of its father

but

the Word

more boldly

decreed

"A curse

without a cause

shall not

alight."

In a fury

the demon 

began to dig

frantically

a deep

pit

unaware

it had dug

its own grave

falling

headlong

fulfilling

God's promise

to His

beloved child:

"With

your eyes

alone,

you

shall see

the reward

of

the wicked."  

The Battle

The battle waged on
my spirit, my flesh
the minions were sent
to tempt, to assassinate
The Lord
to try, to purify
the choice was mine
all along--a lie!
Until I leaned on
rested in
and abode with
Him
I was defeated

Be Watchful

(written January 2014)

"Be watchful. A clear sign of someone’s character is how they treat people they don’t need."--Bishop T.D Jakes

Be wary of fair weather friends as well, those who lack courage and loyalty, but turn and run with the crowd.  When someone has meddled and undermined relationships with others and lets those actions stand without coming clean about them, forgive, but never lose sight of the fact you are dealing with a manipulator.

People operating in this manner have a way of letting the dust settle, communicating charmingly with you as if nothing happened, thinking it their right and privilege to resume relationship, when in reality those are the characteristics of a grace abuser. 

I've experienced this, held my peace for years, even when it was disclosed the party I reference was gossiping about me, veiling it as prayer requests.  

A dear friend who knows well the pain of "friends" running out when the social tide turned against her likened this type action to a spider's web.  The manipulator plucks strands of connection with friends or family or both with gossip and partial truths until only one is left, the one between you and them, achieving isolation of you, granting power to them.  They'll even try to comfort or counsel you in the predicament they arranged!    

Run from this emissary of the devil!              

Adding insult to injury, a person operating in this manner of deceit and control will try to turn the tables on a Christian, even using the Bible against them, sometimes trying to make one feel guilty saying they are the party in error for being in offense, causing strife, or holding a grudge.  

Make no mistake, reconciliation where there has been no repentance is not Biblical. Forgiveness and praying to God to bless your enemy is always in order, but we are to be wise and shrewd as well.  Until and unless a person acknowledges their role in dividing others, they will do it again.

Anytime my dear Grannie realized someone had done wrong to her, she would calmly quote in King James vernacular, "Vengeance is Mine, thus sayeth the Lord."  She'd follow by pointing out, "The Bible doesn't say you might reap, but you will reap."  My struggle has been in the wait time, but that was the lesson for me--did I trust the Lord to do what He said or not?

David, of Old Testament times, had to consciously make the decision to trust the Lord to deal, in His timing, with his enemy Saul's murderous intentions.  A person may not attempt to murder your body as Saul did David, but character assassination and alienation of affection are outgrowths of hate which the scripture likens to murder.

This was David's prayer of submission, entrusting right judgment to God alone. 

1 Samuel 24:12

"May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you."
         

Handwritten Journal Entry, March 22, 2014

We need each other, yet we clamber over one another in our soulish realm, afraid someone is going to get something one doesn't have, or worse yet, try to prevent another from manifesting their right to express their God-given gifts.

Those immature souls, profoundly petty and jealous, are blinded by the enemy to their own giftings and callings.  Deeming themselves worthless, they fight against another rather than fight for themselves. 

They are enraged at one who would operate in audacity--the audacity to believe that Jesus came in order that a person would have a full, abundant life.

They will refer to their self as Christian, but wickedly tear down the work and life of another, trampling good fruit.  They listen to the lies of the enemy, thinking it their duty to level another, attacking their faith, slandering with the epithet of hypocrite, never realizing, grasping, that there is more than enough to go around, instead rattling empty cups which should be flowing over!

We were meant to be pieces of a wondrous puzzle, one incomplete without the other, but some are not content to let another be the size and shape piece of the Creator's original design and deign to chip away at another, maliciously, jealously savaging complementarity, reducing to bits and pieces, instigating colliding rubble, rather than allowing completion.

Brave one, remove yourself from that embittered tyrant!  Go where you've been commissioned, be the person God designed you to be!  Send the saboteur back to the Potter's wheel with your blessing and for God's sake don't let them reshape you!

Immature one, you are not diminished by the blessing of another!  Fear not the awe, hate not the recipient, for the Lord wants to bless you in His own unique way.  Let the seed He has planted in you break through the earth rather than try to bury someone's good fruit.  The dirt you throw on another will wash off in time.  Their integrity will withstand the assault and you'll find yourself a resident of the pit you dug to bury them!