My Life: #27 Reversing the Rejection Cycle.
Stopping the rejection cycle in my life could not happen until I embraced my full identity in the inward Life of Christ. However, that pathway is daunting.
Reversing The Rejection Cycle
Stopping the rejection cycle in my life could not happen until I embraced my full identity in the inward Life of Christ. I had to know what He says is true about me, and when I took my heart off of this, I was pulled back into my familiar flesh cycle – you reject me, I reject you.
By the time I got to high school, I was convinced that life, and everybody in it, was out to hurt me. I couldn’t read, write, or figure out the content within any of my textbooks. I was a dummy. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why the school system was passing me from grade to grade. Not a single teacher sympathizes with my struggles, never picking up on the fact that their pupil had dyslexia or “word blindness.”
By the time I reached high school, I was labeled ‘borderline mentally retarded,'” However, my literature teacher, baffled, conducted a speed-reading test, first testing at a speed most elementary children could read at. My retention was next to zero.
So, what ridiculous thing does she do, she speeds the machine to the level of speed readers, and my comprehension range increased to 80 percent. Even though she didn’t pinpoint dyslexia, she found a profound truth: my brain processes data faster than the given norm.
I didn’t learn to read comprehensively until meeting my wife. I battled years of residual trauma, substance abuse, and unemployment before finally landing a job at a disabled care facility in Sheldon, Iowa, where my wife and I got to know each other. It was through her love, acceptance, and forgiveness that the Lord opened a new world to me - that of books. Janie taught me to read properly.
My inner storyteller finally found creative expression.
A few years later, I was asked to tell my story to a subcommittee working on an illiteracy bill for their state. After the event, a local neurological surgeon approached me. He asked, “Has anyone explained the neurological reasoning behind your challenge?” He went on to explain.
Gifted children, said the neurosurgeon, may appear mentally challenged due to their ability to process information more quickly than the speed espoused by traditional teaching methods. He encouraged me to learn as fast as my brain so desired. I took that advice and enrolled in a speed-reading course. Evelyn Wood, the instructor, noted that my “dynamic reading” was off the charts, calling me brilliant. Not only was that opposite of how I felt or what I had been told, it was the beginning of reversing my rejection cycle.
It didn’t take long before I wrote almost as fast as I was reading.
STOPPING THE REJECTION CYCLE
When we are rejected, we have a choice. We can choose to allow the rejection to control us or choose to believe what God says about us. The diagram below explains how to break the rejection cycle by believing our true identity in Christ, proving identity does matter. The truest things about us are what God says about us. No rejecters can change who we are in Christ, no matter what they do to us or say about us. Our fleshly reactions result from believing what others say or do. If rejecters can have that much power over us, how much more can God have in our lives if we believe Him?
Once we embrace this powerful lesson regarding rejection, we can make new choices when choosing what we believe. If our identity in Christ is secured, we can focus on what God says to us amid rejection. Yes, you read that correctly – amid rejection. You see, we can now invite rejection, minimally allow it, and use the rejection to share the everlasting love of Jesus Christ.
ACTION STEPS:
Pray before you go any further with this topic.
Write a statement about your thoughts and feelings about the rejection cycle.
List the items you tend to do TO get back at people who reject you.
List the rejection you are most sensitive to.
List the ways you tend to reject God.
Take all three lists, bring them before God, and repent for: believing what others and self say is true vs. God; how you reject others; and finally, how you tend to reject God. Accept His forgiveness and release Him to use the rejection to grow you in Christ.
Study these verses: Gen. 4:1-16; Job 40:1, 4-8; Jonah 1:6-15; John 12:25; 13:34-35; Rom. 9:20-21; 12:17; Eph. 1:3-8; 2 Cor. 5:17; 1 Thess. 5:15; 1 Peter 3:9.
Today, my writings reach multitudes. I make use of this photographic memory of mine to capture data/research quickly, take it to the Word of God, and quickly discern as to IF it aligns with Truth - then I write. I have written many books, and thousands of articles, and I am a compassionate activist in addressing children and adults with learning difficulties. I am a defender of this passage:
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)
I know few people who are as weak and frail as I am. I know they are out there. However, at 68 years of age, I am well content with my weakness. I finally enjoy insults, persecution, and adversity (rejection). While I have many weaknesses, I am compelled to get what is in my head onto paper. Why? Nothing motivates me more than to use pain, suffering, and knowledge to lead others to the same victorious Truths that Jesus used to free me.
Thank you all for the many red hearts. You are all the best!
Amazing story. Never underestimate the power of God!!