"I totally forgot to invite you."

"I know I said I loved you, but maybe we should just be friends."

"I think I'm busy this weekend ... and also the next one too."

"As producers, we feel you're just not quite ready. Try again next year."

These are the outspoken rejections. In my opinion, they're usually a little easier to swallow. Now, I won't say they are easier to understand. More than once, these sentences have left me up at night questioning myself.

But, I will say that it's a lot better, in my opinion, to hear an honest sentence than to get rejected in a subtle and extremely confusing way. Outspoken rejections are quick and straight to the point. Kinda like those awful Rocephin shots you get in your butt. They are painful and you usually can't sit on that side of your cheek for a whole week, but after that, you're good.

The unspoken rejections are so much more difficult. Like walking into your favorite restaurant to see your friend group eating together and slowly walking out praying they don't see you for the second time that week. Because let's be honest, you know you purposefully weren't invited. Those kinds of rejections give you the "Britney Spears when she shaved her head" kinda feels.

Outspoken or not, rejection is rejection. It still hurts and it can literally eat you away if you sit there and try to figure out exactly what you said or did that made them want to "forget" to include you in their weekend plans.

Or, the exact moment he looked at you and decided you weren't the one God had for him. Let's get a bit more real. Maybe that guy you really liked kissed you and told you goodnight and the next day he called you and told you goodbye. Plot Twist. This has happened to me. I know, shocker. On a serious note, I can tell you from experience, it's the hardest thing in the world not to allow yourself to listen to the lies the world starts to whisper in your ear.

Maybe you're too tall. If you were just a couple pounds lighter, then maybe. Just skip a meal or two ... or three. You're too much. You're not enough. You should see the other girls he's dated. I bet it's because you're not in a good college. The girls at the other colleges like to get drunk on the weekends at the club. If only you'd do that stuff, maybe they'd start to like you. Plus, all the guys seem to like them. They probably think you don't know how to have fun. If only your hair would grow, then maybe you'd grab his attention. Go buy more makeup. Maybe if he see's you in that outfit. Buy that too. And maybe the girls will invite you downtown if you kiss up a bit and take some free photos for them. I mean, might as well use something they think you're good at to make them like you a little. Oh, and you won't find a guy with those eyes, put some mascara on and add a filter to that sub-par selfie you just took.

In about .2 seconds those thoughts can easily take over my mind, my heart, my emotions, my attitude, my reactions and my life. But why would I want to think those things? Why would anyone want to thing those things about themselves? I mean do I really want friends who don't want me? Do I really want to have to break the bank to get a guy's attention? Is that the kind of man I want to marry one day? No. No. No. A million times no. In fact, their rejection shouldn't matter to you at all. I am NOT saying that it won't hurt, but what I am saying is that their acceptance isn't needed. Trust me, when you walk away from them because you finally realize that trying to fit in isn't worth it, they WILL talk about you behind your back. But if your acceptance wasn't needed when you were fighting for it, their acceptance isn't needed when you're walking away either.

When will you realize you've already been accepted by someone much greater and that your joy is not dependent on whether or not they reject you? When Paul was in prison and had nothing at all he wrote this message of encouragement to a church nearby:

"I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." -Philippians 4:10-13

You see? Paul is saying that he is content in Christ. Because when we can't, God can.When is God's acceptance going to be enough for us? Paul had been rejected for what he believed. So much so that he was locked in a prison cell. Yet instead of sitting there questioning himself, or furthermore God, he chose to write a letter of encouragement to a church that he knew needed to be uplifted. Little did paul know that thousands of years later, I would be sitting in a church downtown listening to a sermon and that I'd hear his words. Paul didn't know that what he wrote would come to encourage and bring hope to more people than he could have ever imagined. If he would've listened to the lies and allowed himself to drown in his rejections, he would have never made himself available and God would have never been able to use him to write those words. The world will tell you that man's rejection is the worst thing that can happen to you. They will manipulate you into being angry at God when you feel you have no one left to turn to, They will insist that it is meaningless and insane to continue praising God when you have nothing left.

But let me tell you something this man said that I will never forget that Sunday night when I was listening to God speak through him. He said, "You have no idea what hangs in the balance when the world is telling you to be faithless, and you remain faithful." I mean look at paul, even now he's encouraging me to open up and share parts of my life that I'm scared to death to mention. But the last thing I want to do is allow the enemy to convince me that my fear is more significant than my willingness to submit to when, where, and how God may want to use me.

If your joy is found in this world's acceptance of you, you are going to live a miserable life. Bob Sorge says, "Jesus was rejected by men, but chosen by God. The rejection of man is meaningless if God's favor is upon you." Don't make the mistake of allowing the world's rejection to steal the joy you have in Jesus.

It's not worth it.