Rejection is Redirection

Everything I promote into the world is always filled with optimism. Most of what people see is my success. I’m not someone who publicizes the struggle, the hurt, the pain, the loss, or the failures. I’m someone who has always handled adversity and challenges by grinding through them, pushing through the pain on my own. However, today I feel called to share about rejection, and am taking a leap of faith to be vulnerable and open in hopes that this message can resonate with someone out there.

Being rejected sucks. There are not many things I’ve had to face that hurt more than the feeling of not being accepted or worthy. I have had my fair share of rejections, moments when things that I thought were going to work in my favor completely backfired. Actually, what inspired this entire post was being rejected by all of my top sorority options, leaving me to make the decision to drop out of recruitment. (I do not regret rushing at all and still hope to be involved in the Panhellenic community, I just have not found my home yet… stay tuned for where I land!). Anyways, I know being denied from a sorority is not the end of the world, but it does still hurt to not know why they chose to reject you, or for the sake of relatability, why anyone chooses to reject you. It can cause feelings of confusion and questioning of yourself and your value, and oftentimes rejection tricks you into believing you aren’t “enough.”

I’m fortunate to be someone strongly rooted in my faith and in love with my authentic self, but for many people this rejection leads to questioning of their worth. When you place your worth in the hands of other people, you will lose every single time. Oppositely, when you leave your worth in the hands of God, you will always be deemed more than enough. He created you in His image, and our lives are in accordance with His plan, not the opinions of others.

Knowing that God determines your worth, and not anyone else, makes rejection a whole lot easier because you don’t have to view it as a negative thing. Instead, you can see it as His redirection to keep you aligned with the plans He has for your life.

We tend to get caught up in our own plans. We start to envision and glorify everything that we want for ourselves and for our lives, thinking that we know exactly what’s going to happen. That’s a huge reason rejection can hurt so badly. Since we have placed these expectations on ourselves and our circumstances, when we fall short of them or experience setbacks, we view it as a loss. But, when you take the pressure off yourself and truly trust God’s plans even if they conflict with your own, you will understand rejection is actually redirection. It is not a “no, you are not worthy of this blessing.” It’s an “I know the plans I have for you… plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

In this verse, I find so much relief knowing God is telling me He is in full control and knows every detail of the plans He has for me and for each of you. I thought I would rush and find my place to run home to on Bid Day. I envisioned all the joy, the smiles, the laughter, the new friendships, the Instagram pictures, the “perfect” Bid Day experience that every sorority girl hopes to have. However, my Bid Day was nothing like I had planned it to be. Instead, I spent it doing laundry, working out for 2 hours, and writing this blog post all alone in my dorm while thousands of girls found their new homes right downstairs. This wasn’t in my plans for Bid Day, but it was in His.

I choose to sit here and know that God is not telling me no because I am not worthy enough of being in a sorority. He is telling me that He has something better waiting for me than I ever could’ve imagined for myself.

No matter what your rejection story is, no matter how badly it hurts and how low you feel, please believe me when I tell you to have faith through the bad days because rejection only means God is redirecting you to something even better.

Xoxo,

Kaci