When you’ve been rejected, do you just shrug it off? Or, do you lean into the Lord so He can heal your heart? Jessica Van Roekel shares three ways we can handle rejection in a healthy way. With these steps, you can invite the Lord to heal your heart so that you become a testimony of His glory to those around you.

I’ve recently chatted with Jessica on the Your Hope-Filled perspective podcast about rejection. You won’t want to miss either episode as Jessica walks us through how to reframe and cope with rejection and how to overcome it.

Be sure to read to the end for a book giveaway!

(If there are affiliate links in this post, meaning, if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission (at no extra cost to you)).

 

Three Ways for Handling Rejection in a Healthy Way
Jessica Van Roekel

Did you know that our brain reacts to rejection the same way it does when we experience physical pain? Yet, too often, we don’t take the time to process our emotions surrounding rejection in a healthy way. Sometimes we shrug it off and deny our heart the space to it needs to heal. Other times we cultivate and sow seeds of bitterness about what happened. For some, it leads to perfectionism and a merry go round chase of desiring another person’s positive opinion. No matter our response, handling rejection in a healthy way is worth walking through three steps.

3 steps to handle rejection in a healthy way

Handling Rejection through Expressing Pain

I burned the palm of my hand when I brushed crumbs off a burner that hadn’t cooled down. I needed to stop and deal with the burn. Yet, when I’ve been rejected, I just keep right on going. Me? Hurt? Nah. But secretly, I replay the conversation like a record needle stuck in a single groove. So, why not pause and bring our hurts and confusion to the Lord?

In the Psalms, David shows us how to process negative emotions and pain. We can learn how to be honest with the Lord by reading the Psalms. When we follow David’s example, we see that God wants to hear about the hurts in our hearts. It’s okay to give words to the pain rejection caused. It’s in the pouring out of our hurt that God draws near to comfort.

Handling Rejection through Remembering

The second way to handle rejection is remembering who you are in Christ. In him you are chosen, beloved, accepted, and approved. He loves you with an everlasting love and a faithfulness that endures. In a world filled with fickle people who praise us one moment and reject us the next, we need to keep our focus on our identity in Christ. What people say impacts us, but it doesn’t have to define us.

Our definition is not determined by what we do or what value we bring, although those are important reflections of Jesus in us. Our identity does not find its roots in people’s approval or disapproval. Our identity rests solely on who Christ says we are, and we are his. As we surrender to him, he guides our steps and brings us to and through situations where our suffering becomes a place of identifying with Christ.

He suffered. He experienced rejection. Yet, he did not let that sway him from who he knew he was and what his goal was. Our goals are not to please people and avoid their disapproval. Our goal is to walk in the way that the Lord lays out for us. We stay steady, trusting him with our struggles with handling rejection.

Handling Rejection by Trusting Him

The third way of handling rejection is entrusting our healing to him. When our heart breaks, it takes time for healing. It becomes a multi-layered process because there’s forgiveness to be done and there’s personal examination of choices that need to be made. Sometimes rejection stirs up long buried memories that the Lord wants to bring into his healing light. We can resist him, or we can run to him.

He longs for our healing. When we cooperate with him in our healing, our lives become a place of testimony of his glory and faithfulness. We can trust him with our heart when we place our pain surrounding the rejection in his loving hands. Handling rejection takes courage because it requires us to face situations and people we’d rather forget. But when we choose to look at the memory through the lens of God’s word and his love for us, we establish another testimony of his faithfulness in our lives.

The three ways of handling rejection are expressing your pain to the Lord, remembering who you are in Christ, and entrusting your healing to him. These steps provide a way to address the hurts from rejection, remind yourself that your identity is secure in Christ, and that he can heal your heart so that you become a testimony of his glory to those around you.

What healthy ways have you used to handle rejection? We’d love to hear in the comments below.

 

 

About Jessica Van Roekel

Jessica Van Roekel, authorJessica Van Roekel is a worship leader, speaker, and writer who believes that through Jesus, personal histories don’t need to define the present or determine the future. She inspires, encourages, and equips others to look at life through the lenses of hope, trust, and God’s transforming grace. Jessica lives in rural Iowa surrounded by wide open spaces which remind her of God’s expansive love. She loves fun earrings, good coffee, and connecting with others.

Connect with Jessica: Website / Instagram / Facebook

 

Book Giveaway

Reframing Rejection: How Looking Through a Different Lens Changes Everything By Jessica Van Roekel In conjunction with this post and the podcast interview, Jessica is giving away a free copy of her book, Reframing Rejection: How Looking Through a Different Lens Changes Everything.

Leave a comment below sharing with us one thing you learned about reframing rejection so you can walk in courage and hope and you will be entered into the contest for your chance to win a copy of her book.

You could also share this blog post on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter then comment here to tell us where you shared it and you’ll also be entered into the drawing.

The winner will be selected at random and announced next Monday, February 13, 2023. Continental United States only.

 

Did you know that our brain reacts to rejection the same way it does when we experience physical pain? Yet, too often, we don’t take the time to process our emotions surrounding rejection in a healthy way. We may deny our hearts the space it needs to heal. Or cultivate and sow seeds of bitterness about what happened. Jessica Van Roekel shares three steps we can use to handle rejection in a healthy way.

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