Neglect and rejection hurt long after the situation has passed.
These two things sting deeply, often, in an effort to“brand us” and attempt to give us a new identity.
The brand is there to say, “you and your value are owned by the actions or inactions of others”.
Then slowly, our identity becomes a reflection of the passing opinions of others.
Our hope ends up being at their mercy.
Rejection and neglect say that we have no value.
This direct assault against our values can be devastating to us when our hope is at the mercy of the changing opinions of others.
For many, it colors most, if not all of how they live their lives.
Why? Well, because we all want to be valued, even those who deny it….
Wouldn’t it be incredible if people lived with the awareness that they have influence over how easy or how hard it is for others to believe that they are of worth?
But, as wonderful as it is to feel valued by people, it can not be where you put your hope.
Your hope can only hold upon the solid rock of Jesus.
A hope that NEVER changes.
If you have been rejected and neglected, and have felt the weight of feeling devalued, then please, I beg you to understand this.
You are, at your very core, deeply valuable and fearfully and wonderfully handmade.
The world actually needs you.
Everyone you come into contact with needs you to bring the “prebranded” you. That is the you that you buried beneath all the masks and coping mechanisms to avoid feeling the pain of rejection and neglect.
Sometimes they may not like what you bring, but if it is the real you in submission to Jesus, it will likely be what they need.
This is why at the end of the day, the only one who gets to have any say about your value is Jesus. The one who has the blueprints on you and gave you your original identity. The one who you left but that bought you back at the cost of Himself…
Remember:
He was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.
He sweats so profusely that, it was as if he was gushing blood in the garden.
He received lashings that ripped the skin off of His body.
He hung naked before his mockers.
He died and rose again.
What on earth could be worth the cost of Himself?
I’ll tell you what…
Only something of extreme value.
And that my dear is YOU.
Do not forget that.
Let the real you live and believe that something about the “real you” is so amazing that you are truly worth it.
Please do not continue to allow the passing opinion of others, from your past or your present, to toss your emotions all around. Let your secure confidence in and from Jesus be your anchor.
