Created for Acceptance

by Joyce and Ginger

By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ, we have peace with God.

Romans 5:1 (CEV)

We are so pleased that you’ve chosen to join us in this study! The fact that you’ve decided to begin a study on rejection means that you’re already on the road to healing! We have a heavy burden right now to fight back against the damage rejection is wreaking in people’s lives. Whether it comes at the hand of an abusive parent, the betrayal of a spouse, a friend who turns their back, or strangers who dismiss and judge; rejection is rampant, and it’s altering the course of people’s destinies. Now is the time to reclaim who Jesus declares us to be!

In this study, our desire is to help you receive healing for the wounds of rejection and grow to a place where you can deal with rejection in a healthy way. In my own life (Joyce), I have discovered that each time God was ready to promote me to the next level of ministry, I was also hit with major rejection from people I loved and trusted. I have experienced five situations that really affected me significantly:

1—Sexual Abuse: The first person who rejected me was my father who had a problem with lust, and he began molesting me before I was old enough to start school.

2—Unmet Needs: When I told my mother what my father was doing to me, he told her I was lying, and she chose to believe him. I needed protection, and my mother ignored it.

3—Abandonment and Divorce: At 18, I married the first young man who showed interest. He would disappear for months; it was one rejection after another.

4—Rejection in Ministry: When God called me into ministry, I was excited to teach His Word, but Dave and I were asked to leave our church and many friends and family members rejected us.

5—Rejection from Friends: When I was called to go out on my own and teach and write books, I waited two years before leaving my job at a church. Several ladies from the church turned against me and the pain of that took years to overcome.

My (Ginger) rejection experience was quite different. While I have faced rejections in life, there is one that stands out as a turning point where I had to learn to fight back. When I discovered that my husband had been hiding a secret addiction to pornography for years, I felt shocked, betrayed, and completely rejected. I had many decisions to make about our marriage, but first, I had to focus on me.How I would get through this, move forward, and cling to the truth of all God’s Word says about who I am.

As you can see, we experienced many severe rejections, any of which could have derailed us from our true purpose. But those rejections were not the end of our stories. Are you in a similar place now? The new beginning we found is available to you too. God redeemed the pain, and He will do the same for you!

But you might be wondering, where could hope be in this situation? Or what is hope? Hope is a positive attitude and mindset; a confident expectation that something good is going to happen to you at any moment. Without the hope of God, it is easy to be negative about our healing, and about everything for that matter. The first area to begin working on is your mind, in your thoughts and attitudes.

Rejection tries to tell you lies about who you are. Romans 12:2 (NIV) says: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." One of the most valuable lessons God wants to teach us is how to do our own thinking instead of just meditating on whatever falls into our mind or whatever the devil placed there. The mind is the battlefield on which the devil does war with us, and as long as we believe the enemy’s lies, there is no possibility of ever being set free.

But the good news is that gradually God changed us, and He can do the same for you if you are willing to face truth. As we study His Word and learn more about Him and about His love, kindness, forgiveness, mercy, and acceptance, the more we heal and change.

Jesus faced many rejections too. He understands your pain, and He told the people who believed in Him that if they would abide in His Word, they would know the truth, and the truth would make them free (John 8:31–32). God’s Word is truth (John 17:17), and it is light (Psalm 119:105). Truth always exposes the darkness. Don’t be afraid to let God into the secret places of your heart. He knows everything about you anyway, but He won’t work until you invite Him to do so.

God has many important lessons to teach us about how to find freedom from rejection and emerge from it stronger, more confident, and able to trust again. The best part of it all is that God created you for acceptance, and He will never reject you! No matter what you’ve experienced in your life, God is ready and willing to help. Good for you for embarking on the journey with us! We pray and believe that you will find your own healing from rejection.

Adapted from the book Healing the Wounds of Rejection by Joyce Meyer and Ginger Stache. Copyright 2025 by Joyce Meyer and Ginger Stache. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.

Study Question: Have you experienced rejections like Joyce and Ginger? Write down your own list and bring them before God in prayer, asking Him to redeem each one and use the pain for good.

Let’s Pray: “Dear God, I feel broken from the rejections I’ve faced in my life. But I trust that with Your help, this is not the end of my story, only the beginning. Please redeem the pain I’ve experienced and help me to begin on the road to healing. In Jesus’ name, amen.”