My aunt brought up this really incredible concept to me yesterday that’s had my mind absolutely reeling. She mentioned that if we take whatever struggle we may be experiencing and look back to the events in our life that occurred prior to it we should be able to identify and isolate lessons that we learned earlier on that God specifically taught us that we might be prepared for this particular trial. Okay, can I just take a minute to say that I’m absolutely IN LOVE with this concept?!? And not only that, but I’m in love with the implications of this theory/ fact (depending on how you’d like to look at it). Because, if this was valid, wouldn’t it mean we could take the lessons we had already learned and lay the adjacent to our current situation in order to identify the lessons we were destined to learn once the conflict had been resolved? It’s almost like the concept of subtraction- you take the problem in its entirety, remove what is known, and work with what’s left.
We also god to talking about the pain of rejection. First off, there’s nothing like a conversation with your family to clarify those things which you don’t understand due to your youth. And this one was no exception. We discussed how the pain of rejection might very well be the most painful ailment we can experience emotionally. And that really got me thinking. Could all of our spiritual struggles not initially be reduced to the effects of perceived rejection? Take the death of a loved one, for example. Or illness. Or any sort of tragedy. So often what is our initial response as Christians? We want to know why God let our current struggle become a reality. How could he let this happen. We thought be loved us. And that’s exactly where it starts. Could our affliction not be seen as a misperception? That we feel as if we have been rejected from God’s love or protection or embrace as it was explained to us under perfect circumstances. That the fact that his own intentions do not line up with our own make us feel as if he has wronged us?
The pain of rejection is real. And it hurts so much because God didn’t intend for us to live in separation. We are called to community. Fellowship. Relationship. Love. Isn’t it appropriate that having an individual or a group of individuals isolate us from these concepts in conjunction with them would break our hearts. That seems very appropriate and expected to me. But there’s so much strength to be discovered in these struggles. There’s so much self-love to be cultivated in the aftermath of rejection. So much support to be given by the Lord.
“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious…” 1 Peter 2:4
There's a Spirit 