Hitting a Nerve

   Are you old enough to remember the game Operation?  You tried to remove a body part without setting off the buzzer. If you made a mistake, it was as if you had hit a nerve during surgery. I experienced something similar this morning listening to Lysa Terkeurst and James Robinson share their experiences of rejection. James describes repeatedly wanting so much to play in a game of sports but never being chosen and walking home crying while the others played. Lysa relates her story of feeling rejected by her father when he deserted their family.
   Whether it was periods of being overweight, gangly, uncoordinated, socially inept, or having unloveable personalities...or circumstances of poverty, broken relationships, and struggle in our families...there are probably few who of us who haven't endured such pain. As may be so with many of you, I have experienced both sides of this coin:  periods of my life when I was rejected and lonely...and periods when I found myself suddenly  'popular'.  This popularity was related to circumstances over which I had no control, and I was acutely aware of the fickleness of human acceptance.  I might have basked in it for awhile, but I knew its nature.  It also made me sensitive to the hearts of those either left on the fringe or outright discarded.
    There is no rejection with our Heavenly Father. He doesn't reject, He accepts.  He not only accepts, He  chooses you. He singles you out and says "I pick you!"  I planned you before you were born and I am delighted with you. You are My Chosen One. I want you. I have great plans for you. Plans and purposes aside, I just plain enjoy you. I think you're wonderful.
     Take a gander at Lysa's new bok Uninvited...or listen to what she has to say on Life Today (www.lifetoday.org). And while you're at it, give a cup of water to those who aren't worried about acceptance or rejection. They just want their precious children to survive another day.