I wonder if your relationship with Valentine’s Day is anything like mine? For many years, this holiday felt more like Single Awareness Day to me than a day to feel loved. There were plenty of Valentine’s Days I wished would have never happened!
If I had known how my first Valentine’s Day in high school was going to play out, I would have definitely faked a cold.
Our student council decided Valentine’s Day was the perfect time to host a fundraiser. Students could purchase flowers to be delivered on the special day: yellow to your best friend, red to the one you loved and white to the one you wanted to ask out.
First period: The predictable yellow carnation arrived with a note from my best friend. Not the color I was looking for. Second period – no flower. Third period – no flower. Is there any way I could get out early? I asked myself as my nemesis waltzed in, arms loaded with flowers.
By fourth period, I was just begging for the day to end when in comes the delivery girl. “Lynn” she called out. Me? I sprinted to the front, grabbed the white flower and glided back to my seat. The base drum of my heart pounded through my blouse while my mind spun: Who could this be from? My eyes quickly scanned the note: I want to take you out. Scott. Scott? As in senior?
My excitement lasted only long enough for logic to set in. He’s a senior somebody; I’m a sophomore nobody. This has to be a joke I told myself. Shoving the flower and note in my bag, I shoved down my broken heart too. I just hope nobody saw was all I could think as I wished the bell to ring.
That was the year I began to ask a lot of questions, my heart crushed by my crush: “Why doesn’t he ask me out? What does she have that I don’t? Why doesn’t he want me?” Answering the question: What’s wrong with me became my mission.
I am so thankful that through some amazing friends, the Lord answered my question.
There was nothing wrong with me.
Not then. Not now.
I am wanted. I always have been. I always will be. I just didn’t know it.
Whether it is a memory from a painful past experience or a hurt of exclusion fresh from this morning, we’ve all experienced rejection in one form or another. We’ve wanted to belong whether it was to a guy, a club, a friend or a group.
What most of us have missed is we always have.
We’ve always belonged for we belong to Love Himself.
Song of Solomon 2:16 tells us, “My beloved is mine and I am his …”
I am His.
While others may have rejected us, He more than accepts us.
Let that soak in for just a moment.
I am His.
What we have longed for before and still want today, we have.
We belong.
This truth, that I didn’t have to search to belong or struggle to find love and be loved, completely changed me. There is no doubt there will still be plenty of opportunities to experience rejection and loneliness, but even when it comes, I still know … I belong. And you do too.
When was a time you felt rejection? How does knowing Jesus fully accepts us help to ease the pain?
We have all experienced times when we felt we didn’t belong. Ask Jesus to heal the hurt you felt and fill your heart with the acceptance you need and He gives.
Author of “Magnetic: Becoming the Girl He Wants” + Proverbs 31 speaker
Lynn helps set young women on the path toward wise choices by leading them to the only love that can fill the love gap in their hearts. She lives in North Carolina with her family where they love hiking, rafting and anything combining chocolate and peanut butter.
Lynn lives in North Carolina with her family where they love hiking, rafting and anything combining chocolate and peanut butter.
© 2016 by Lynn Cowell. All rights reserved.