It's tough but in the end it's worth it...

​          I love movies. I recently watched “The Greatest Showman” and I must say I was impressed. No, it’s not a Christian movie but it’s a story based on the life of P.T. Barnum, considered one of the greatest showmen of his time during the 1800’s. What gets my attention is his tenacity, his risk-taking. He never seemed to allow the challenges or failures of life to keep him down for long. By the time he hit the ground he was back up on his feet with a new idea, a new daring, risky venture. But one of the things I take from this movie was the issue of discrimination. You see, his acts were real live “strange” people. Among others, there was a miniature man, a giant, Siamese twins, and let’s not forget a bearded woman. These people were considered outcasts by society. Even though people came and paid money to see this circus of queer folk, they were still not accepted by society. They were still rejects. 
            I parallel this with some reading I’ve been doing recently on dealing with rejection. No one likes to be rejected. Most if not all of us would like to “fit in.” Sometimes, just a word or a look or even no words at all, can cause us to feel rejected, left out of a group, a conversation, or an activity. But I realize that one of the best things we can do when dealing with rejection is, one, understand who we are in Christ and two, totally and intentionally shut out the negative thoughts and images that the devil shoves into our mind. I’m learning to remind myself about what God says about me and to me; that His thoughts toward me are for good and not evil and that He still has plans to prosper and not harm me (Jeremiah 29:11); that He loves me with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). Why? Simply because I am His child. Daddy’s got me and I’m going to be more than okay no matter what comes my way. 
          Many times, we would love for nothing negative to come our way but in this life, we can’t avoid the inevitable. And, in the movie, as I recall the response of P.T. Barnum’s human acts when rejection came their way, I am encouraged. They were not Christians, but they learned the invaluable lesson that this is who they were whether people accepted them or not and they had worth. Now if that is the lesson from a non-Christian standpoint, how much more is that true for us as children of God? 
            We have a God we can lean and depend on. He will never leave us or abandon us. He will never reject us because of our imperfections or other people’s opinions. He will always love us. He will always stand by us. He will always want a relationship with us. We have it made and we don’t even know it. We’re still trying at times to make it, to survive, to overcome as we battle, we stress, we fight, not even remembering that God’s got this battle and the next and the next. If we would just learn to curl up in His big capable hands and let him do the heavy work, we would be so much better off. But it’s hard. I am living proof that it is hard. But I’m at the point where I don’t want to fight anymore, I don’t want to be stressed anymore, I don’t want to be scared anymore, I just want to curl up in His big capable hands and let Him handle it. After all, that’s what He’s there for. And the more I rest, the more I trust, the more I spend time listening to what He’s saying to me, the more He comes in and takes over and starts working it out. It is a process. And process takes time but in the end it’s worth it.

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