Written by: Amarachi Silverline Offor & Iyanuoluwa Akinrinola

 

Let me ask you a few questions to start.

Have you ever heard the word “No”?

Have you ever felt worthless?

Have you ever put so much effort into a thing

Only to watch it blow-up in your face?

Have you ever written or answered all that you know on a test and you still failed?

Have you ever tried to wash a stain off with soap but it still remained?

Have you ever gone to use the ATM urgently and found nothing in your account?

Have you ever refilled your gas tank with all you have and the gauge still hovered over empty?

Have you ever mustered the courage to ask a girl or boy on a date, only to hear “Never”?

These questions have been easy so far, here are some more challenging questions

Have you ever had to abort an unplanned pregnancy?

Have you ever been neglected by someone you loved with all of your heart?

Have you ever called out to family, friends, in time of trouble

Only to find no one willing to help you?

Stop! And think about it for a second…

Somewhere in your records, your memory

There is at least one

A memory, an experience

You have either made someone a victim of or You have been a victim of

REJECTION

It’s the one thing your heart can’t take

But you keep facing it. You can’t get away from it.

Like a chameleon, It takes different forms

Yet still remains the same.

It throws stones when you throw pillows

It pulls you down when you work to build up

Lies, broken hearts, sleepless nights, abortions,

How can you explain?

Broken homes, denial, pains, doubts, fears, stagnation

 The list could go on…

How can you rebuild the trust, confidence, faith, love?

You lost it all when the familiar stranger called Rejection

Crept into your life like a thief in the night; over and over again.

You had faith, but it seemed faith was not enough.

Struck down, you held on to Trust

But that did not seem enough

Finally, you held on to Love.

Surely, love covered and conquered all.

But this time, the disappointment dropped on you like a bomb!

You tried to remember God’s Word

But its comfort you could not find.

With enough reason to be torn apart,

After so many unanswered questions, sleepless nights.

When your silent tears became your food and drink,

you remember

Proverbs 3:5-8

 

You remember that you are to trust in the Lord

WITH ALL of your heart, not only some.

You remember that you are not to lean on your own understanding

You remember that you fail to acknowledge Him in ALL of your ways

You remember that His ways are not your ways

His Plans are not your plans

His thoughts are not your thoughts

You remember that He made His Son become rejected 

Cast out, struck down, ridiculed

In order to reposition the world.

If His only Son had to be rejected, for the greater good

Rejected, so that no one else who is called by His name will ever be,

What then is rejection?

 

Could rejection be His way of repositioning me to fulfill destiny?

Could rejection be His way of making my path straight?

Could rejection be His way of accomplishing His ‘Greater Good’ in my life?

Could rejection be His way of making sure that I am not eternally rejected?

 

Rejection will always come,

It will take  many forms,

Death, betrayal, ridicule, denial.

It will strike you down

BUT you can choose not to be destroyed

It may try to tear you apart

But there is Grace to fix you up.

Rejection, to you, should have a new name;

GOD’s REPOSITIONING STRATEGY.