By TRACEY JACKSON

We’ve been taught and practically beat over the head to know that rejection is God’s protection from a situation that will not benefit us. When rejection happens, we wait and wait until the so-called “better” thing comes along, but forget about one key piece. What if rejection wasn’t about us but really about God?

Rejection hurts and in its aftermath, it seems to leave us “self” centered.

There are jobs we don’t get, opportunities that go to other people and relationships, both friendship and romantic, that sometimes result in people walking away.

Rejection of any sort doesn’t feel good and our human selves immediately go into “recovery” mode to soothe the situation. We start to think, “What could I have done better?” or “How can I change this situation to work in my favor?”

Rejection is what it is but I truly believe it’s meant to get us back centered on God’s perfect will for our lives.

Recently I used rejection as an opportunity to slow down and have a meeting with God.

In order to do that, I had to stop yelling “ouch,” settle down, humble myself and make more time for Him than what I was giving.

As a working woman on the go with goals, dreams and visions, it’s easy to leave God in the dust until something like rejection happens. But on this occasion, I needed to get into His presence and have a seat.

And for a while, I sat and sat and sat. The rejection I felt propelled me into some of the deepest prayers I’ve prayed in a while.

God revealed He was much bigger than the thing I was not allowed to have at the particular time I wanted it.

The prayers weren’t for God to take the sting away or change the situation. The prayers were for me to understand the greater purpose in the rejection. It was for me to re-surrender my will to Him so that He can show me He had better plans for my life despite my own.

God uses rejection to remind us that all good things come from Him and He won’t withhold any of it. It’s for us continue to trust Him when situations don’t work out the way we want them to. He also leads us to change our thinking to use the temporary hurt of rejection for permanent improvement in certain areas of our lives.

Whatever God has for you, He wants you to be ready to receive it.

Rejection is proof that the thing you didn’t get or the person(s) involved would not be included in His plan for your future. His will is perfect.

God uses all things for our good. He wants us to be ready to receive His very best.

Quite frankly after looking back, rejection simply just makes room for the people, places and things that are supposed to be in our lives. So as we move forward, experiencing rejection of some form is inevitable.

Just know that it’s for God to recalibrate our focus back to Him through His guidance so that we can move forward in confidence that He will always have our best interest at heart.

Tracey Jackson is a Christian author residing in South Florida. She is the author of “Lessons From The Journey: From The Valley To The Mountaintop.” She also guest writes for numerous faith-based blogs.