Wanted. Loved. Chosen. Every girl that goes through recruitment just wants to experience these feelings when entering a sorority house during the business and anxiousness of recruitment week. Or at least I know that I did. As I walked in to the doors of each house and was quickly picked up by a swift talking, bubbly young girl, I put in my best efforts to make myself worthy of being wanted, loved, and chosen by the girls of each house. I talked about my best qualities and answered a million questions that went a little like this… “Where are you from?” “What were you involved in in high school?” “What is your major?” All scripted questions that I was certain they would never remember the answers to anyway.

But, in perfect fashion, I answered their questions with a smile on my face. “Brandon, MS. Student Government. Tennis team for a year but I hate running. Broadcast Journalism and Public Relations.” Small talk, small talk, and a little more small talk, and I was on my way out and on to the next, just to start the process all over again. But, I did it with excitement, all because of the fact that I just wanted to feel wanted, loved, and chosen.

Rejection. No girl going through recruitment, or any girl in general wants to feel rejection by other people. Fear of rejection is actually one of my biggest struggles. There have been times where I have not put in effort to be a part of something new because I was afraid of failure or rejection. During recruitment week, each girl’s goal is to not be rejected by certain houses. It is exciting and new and fun, until you experience that first little taste of rejection.

For me, this happened on day three of recruitment week. I was released first round from a sorority house that I was absolutely captivated by. I had invested a lot of time in trying to get to know the actives, and was completely heart broken when I opened my schedule at 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning and did not see their letters. It hurt and it hurt deeply and for longer than I expected. I had been rejected. For others, the rejection happened later. Either way, it hurt. No girl wants to feel rejection.

Wanted. Loved. Chosen. Every girl wants to experience these feelings when navigating their way through life, especially in college. It can be tough trying to find your place in a world that is so dead set on their place being the only place. The cool thing about Jesus is that once you have experienced His love, you realize that you have found your place. You no longer feel the need to stress over the search for your “home” and your letters. Jesus is your home and sorority letters are nothing in comparison to the cross. Those good qualities in myself that I tried so hard to make known to the girls doing recruitment me are so recognized and treasured by Jesus.

The millions of questions I was asked during the week are so known to Jesus (and I ended up exactly where God wanted me to be all along. #thankful). Jesus never rejects you. He picks you, He chooses you, He loves you. Sorry for the Grey’s reference, but it’s true. Jesus chooses you over and over and over again, every single day. Your best qualities are the only qualities He sees. That should not only excite us, but empower us to make others feel the same exact way. Thank you Jesus for choosing me!