#123 When Rejection Feels Personal: How to Trust God’s Plan

Episode Summary

Rejection has a way of feeling deeply personal.

Whether it’s a missed opportunity, a strained relationship, or being overlooked, rejection can make you question your worth and wonder if something is wrong with you.

But what if rejection isn’t the end of your story?

In this episode, we’re unpacking why rejection hurts so deeply, what Scripture says about it, and how to trust God even when it doesn’t make sense.

You’ll hear personal stories of rejection, powerful biblical examples of how even Jesus was rejected, and practical steps to help you process rejection without letting it define you.

If you’ve ever felt like you weren’t chosen—this episode will remind you that rejection may actually be God’s protection.

🎧 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why rejection feels so personal (and why it hurts so deeply)
• What the Bible says about rejection and identity
• How Jesus Himself experienced rejection
• The difference between rejection and redirection
• How to stop letting rejection define your worth
• Practical steps to process rejection in a healthy, faith-filled way

📖 Scriptures Mentioned

Isaiah 53:3
John 1:11
Mark 3:6
Luke 4:28–29
Matthew 27:21–23
John 15:18–19

📥 FREE RESOURCE

Want to go deeper?

I created a FREE Bible Study Companion Guide for this episode with all of these scriptures written out, plus guided reflection questions to help you process rejection and re-anchor your identity in truth.

👉 Download it here: 

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Website: https://shopjoyfulorder.com/

Email: lmartinez@yourjoyfulorder.com
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Transcript

Why Rejection Cuts So Deep

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Have you ever been rejected? I immediately thought, what's wrong with me? Not just a little disappointment, but that deep internal sting that just makes you question your worth. Maybe it was a relationship, a friendship, an opportunity, or even something that you felt called to. Today we're talking about rejection, what it does to us, why it hurts so deeply, and how God actually uses it in ways that we don't always understand in the moment. If you've ever questioned your worth because of someone else's response, then this episode is for you.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Hey everyone, I'm Leslie Martinez, and you're listening to your Joyful Order podcast. Each week I will bring you joyful stories that will motivate and inspire you, but at the same time bring order to your everyday life. Let's just say the show will be a mixture of reaching and teaching with a kick of motivation from your girl here. Welcome to your Joyful Order Podcast.

Jesus Rejected By Expectations

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Hey, friend, thanks for tuning in to another episode of your joyful order podcast. Now, we're just going to go here for a minute. We're going to talk about rejection because it has its way of getting into places of your heart that nothing else touches. And if we don't deal with it the right way, it will start defining us. And it'll do that without us even realizing it. Rejection is more than just someone telling you no. Sometimes it's silence, sometimes it's being overlooked, sometimes it's being left out or just not even chosen at all. And if we're completely honest with ourselves, rejection doesn't just feel like an experience or a one-time event. Sometimes we take it on as our identity. And it makes us wonder am I not enough? Did I miss something? What did I do wrong? But here's what we're gonna unpack today. Rejection may feel personal, but it's not final. Now, before we get into like the coaching part of it and the nitty-gritty of it, I want to bring some biblical, you know, kind of components to this topic of rejection. And this is something that I have lived with for many, many years with the rejection of my father. And this is a topic that I just felt really needed to be unpacked here in a different way. Now, looking at the biblical aspects of rejection, there are many people in the Bible that we can look at and say that they were rejected by their people, but the ultimate rejection came when Jesus was rejected. Now, Jesus didn't just experience random rejection, he was rejected by the very people who were supposed to recognize him. Here is a prophet that we were told like hundreds of years before that the savior was gonna come. He came. People were waiting for him, and then they rejected him because he wasn't what they were expecting. The religious leaders of his times, which were the Pharisees, they were deeply deeply rooted in tradition, control, and status. We talked about this power, pockets, all of this, all of this stuff. The the Pharisees were that. And then here Jesus came in, he challenged their authority, he called them hypocrites, and he shifted the focus back to the heart, which the Pharisees they weren't about that. And because of that, they didn't just disagree with him, they just completely rejected him altogether. Not because he was wrong, but because he didn't fit into their expectations, is this starting to sting a little bit. Like you're like, ouch.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Right?

Scripture Map For Rejection Pain

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Now oftentimes we like we have that happen to us. I can tell you a lot of times, y'all, I do not fit into the mold of many people as a Bible teacher. I don't have a background in biblical studies or theology. Um, I am ordained by the Holy Spirit himself. So as I'm reading this, I'm just like, wow, he didn't fit their expectations. I know that there's a lot of people's expectations that I don't meet. People don't like the fact that I am sarcastic and sassy on social media. They believe that someone who um is trying to teach scripture and bring people to Jesus that they should be dry and boring and not fun and not refer to themselves as the Proverbs 31 woman and Tupac gangster style. Like the person who speaks the word can't be holy and hood because you can't. No, that doesn't fit our expectation. And we're living in this era right now where there are a lot of people who believe Christianity should look a certain way, and they voted for it. And guess what? That's not what it should look like. It's important for us to connect and bring an actual reality into all the different ways that rejection can look. Now, I'm gonna bring this back to the Bible and bring some verses here for you. As we walk through these scriptures that I'm about to share with you, with this episode, there is a free study guide. It is an extra step that you can take beyond this episode here. And it has all the verses I'm about to share written out and space for you to just process it personally. There's some journaling prompts also that can walk you through just working through, um, especially if you're like in it right. If you're struggling with rejection rate bill, this is an extra step that you can take and you can download it at shopjoyfulorder.com and it is free 99. Just look for the Bible study digital worksheet that is with episode number 123, and it's titled when rejection fills personal. And there will be a link in the show notes for you. All right, so let's get back to it. Now, I'm gonna hit you guys with some scripture and a little bit of context to it just to tie all of this in to why we struggle with rejection and just how even Jesus, when he came, we rejected him and how it was actually prophesized that Jesus would struggle with rejection in Isaiah 53. And this is I currently am reading through Isaiah right now. I'm in uh today, I believe I read Isaiah 33. So I haven't gotten to chapter 53 yet. But there was so much prophecy in there that is telling us of the savior or the messiah that is gonna come and eventually save us. And Isaiah, he was such a wise prophet as I've been sitting in his words. I'm also learning about the connection of so much of what is taking place today in our world versus what took place, I mean, centuries ago. Also, it's there's that whole saying of history repeats itself. Well, I'm seeing more and more in that happen. There are things in the Bible that are relevant to things that are taking place today in our world. Isaiah 53, 3 says this. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain, like one from whom people hide their faces. He was despised and we held him in low esteem. Now, again, this was written hundreds of years before Jesus was even born. It's a prophecy describing the coming of the Messiah. And they often refer to him as a suffering servant. And it shows that rejection was always going to be a part of his story. So going back, Isaiah, he knew it in the scripture, it says he was despised and rejected by mankind. God already knew that Jesus was going to be rejected because he was sending him in a form that nobody else was expecting. Now we can look at John 1.11. The scripture reads, He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Now, Jesus came to his own people, right? The ones who were waiting for him, they were waiting for this Messiah. They were told that a savior was coming for them, and they didn't receive him. They rejected him. We can look at Mark 3, 6. Scripture says, then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. Now, this happened after Jesus healed someone. If y'all remember, he healed um, I think this was the man by the healing waters, and it was on the Sabbath, and he told that man, go and tell the people who have healed you. And instead of celebrating that, this man who had been paralyzed for 30-something years, that all of a sudden he's healed and he can walk, rather than celebrating that, the religious leaders began plotting against they were rejecting who he was, they were rejecting what he did because he healed on Sabbath. He healed on a day that their book said that he shouldn't be, that he didn't fit the mold. And here's the last scripture I want to share with you. Matthew 2721. The scripture says, Which of the two do you want me to release to you? asked the governor. What shall I do then with Jesus who is called the Messiah? Pilate asked. They all answered, crucify him. Why? What crime has he committed? asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, crucify him. I talked about this first in a couple of episodes ago of people basically choosing Barabas, a known criminal, and a known um murderer over Jesus. A man that killed people that committed crimes over a man that committed no crime, other than not fitting the mold. This was one of the most intense moments of rejection. The crowd is given a choice and they chose a criminal over Jesus. Now here is the man that the world was told would come one day to save us all. Our Lord, our king, our savior, Alpha, Omega, Messiah, Redeemer, Prince of Peace. And he was rejected. They didn't just reject him, they chose someone else over him. And they said crucify him. And this all just makes me think that if Jesus were to come today, would we reject him? Would we know what he looks like? Would we know what he sounds like? Would we know how he speaks? Would we know his words? Would we know his wisdom?

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Would our spirit know that this man is our savior?

Personal Rejection From Family And Friends

Ghosted By A Dream Opportunity

The Science Behind Rejection Pain

Rejection As Protection And Redirection

Practical Steps To Heal And Move

SPEAKER_01 12:46

And if I'm being totally honest, this is not biblical, this is just my own opinion. I almost feel like Jesus came and we did reject him. And that's why we're living in the chaos that we're living in right now, y'all. I don't know. That's just me. My own personal opinion. Not biblical whatsoever. But it just makes me think that we still today think that Christianity has to look a certain way. And if Jesus were to come today, that we completely might miss who he is because we're expecting him to look and fit into a certain mold, which clearly he wasn't, and that's why he was rejected. This whole subject of rejection, it's personal. And it's something that I I felt God like putting it in my heart to share about this topic um probably a while ago. But I was still kind of deep in walking through my own rejection of things that I didn't necessarily feel ready to talk about this or address this as a topic on the podcast because I was still in the mist of kind of healing and understanding a lot of the rejection that I was enduring. I have shared in many episodes the abuse, emotional and physical abuse that I endured from my father growing up. And even later into my adult years, I attempted many times to try to reconcile with my father. And reconciliation was just not in our cards. I suffered a lot of rejection from that where I put myself out a lot. And it basically was a one-sided relationship where it was constantly me reaching out and me making attempts to visit my father at one point. And then I finally just kind of through prayer and a lot of self-work, I realized that I had to set some firm boundaries and no longer allow a one-sided relationship. So the rejection of my own father, that's a very deep kind of rejection to deal with. It shapes how you see yourself also. And it plants questions of your own identity. Am I wanted? Am I enough? All of these questions just stem into the rejection of your own father. So it's really hard to process and understand why that rejection happened. And I try to look at it as like separated from my identity. But when it's your own father, it's really challenging to walk through that. Now, other forms of rejection that I've faced, I've had rejection of friendships, basically. When I chose to step into ministry when I was on staff full-time at a church, there were friendships that completely shifted. People I once felt connected to, I suddenly felt like I didn't belong anymore. And that kind of rejection is kind of confusing because you're growing spiritually, but it cost you relationships that you thought would come with you. And that type of friendship, when you start to see that you're going in one direction and they stop including you in like their lives and birthday dinners and celebrations and, you know, girls' night out and brunches and stuff like that. You see that you once used to get the invite and then you don't anymore. There is this sense of rejection that occurs. And I had to really like kind of dig deep about that and then also realize that with that is that with your growth, God will shift who your circle is and God will remove you from relationships or even friendships that are not going to support you in the calling of which He is calling you to. And then more recently, y'all, and this is where I I literally just face recent rejection, like not once, but twice, um, more in the professional sense. And these ones, yeah, they didn't, they didn't hurt as bad. But after these more recent rejections, this is when I'm like, I have to just do this podcast episode on it because it it again is just something that keeps coming up. And I'm like, I'm just gonna keep going and I'm just gonna keep trusting God through the rejection of my father, of friendships, of professional endeavors that I'm trying to pursue. So in the beginning of the year, actually, not even in the beginning of the year, in December of 2025, uh, there was a coaching opportunity that came up with a brand that I admire like so much. If you were to ask me, like who my dream brand would be to work with, this was it. Uh, and this was, I will tell you, this was my third attempt to apply for a job. This is the first as a coach. I worked so hard and tirelessly to put my resume together, to put my introduction letter. I had to create a video to introduce myself. I had to take the Meyer Brig assessment and like ask the or respond to these questions, explaining my Meyer Brig. And um, there was there was a lot of work that I had to do to apply for this position, y'all. And um, even before that, there were two steps before that. I had to fill out this form from the form. They sent me another piece of information from that, then they invited me to apply. So let's just say that this was like the third step in this application process. And while I submitted everything, the person that I emailed everything to, she responded and had a couple of follow-up questions regarding my resume. And I clarified those. And then she said, We're really excited about moving forward with you. This was right before the holidays. It literally was like December 19th, y'all. Uh, so she said, someone will be responding back to you after the holidays. We look forward to connecting with you after the holidays, kind of thing. So after the holidays came, it's like January 9, 10. Now it's January 15th. Haven't heard anything. Oh, and mind you, they said we will respond back to you to connect in early January. So early January, okay, January 15th hits. Now we're mid-January. Early January has passed. So I think like on January 20th around there, I sent a response email responding to her email that she was gonna reach out to me and connect with me in early January. And thank you for answering these questions. We're excited, you know, to continue the process with you. I responded back to her email, like, hey, I'm just following up, you know, with love to see where we're at, blah, blah, blah. Nothing, y'all. Like, I was just straight ghosted. I got no response whatsoever. Uh, so rejection of that, I was like, wow, now I'm a big girl. I like just straight up ghosting someone, absolutely no respect for their time whatsoever. And for that to happen from a brand that is so reputable and well known, and a brand that like I dreamt to work with because I thought there would be so much opportunity and so much experience for me to gain from that. Like a brand I have invested in personally for coaching and mentoring and all of that, to be ghosted by them. Like, I to me, that was like a big F you kind of thing. Like, you're not even worth my time as a response. And they kind of like dragged me along. So I was pissed. Um, that like the rejection part didn't even like hurt in, if I'm being honest. It was just the straight out no like response to it. I'm like, that is so unprofessional. Like, so I I was pissed, y'all. I was really pissed about it. Um, and then here's here's here's another one. Um, and this is where I'm like, okay, I have to, I have to uh share about this whole rejection journey. So I have a goal to get my soap journal in two stores this year, whether it be a church bookstore, small Little Ma and Pop, little bookstore or stationary store. I have a goal. And if I'm being honest, I haven't worked too hard at this goal as far as like reaching out to shops or stuff like that, putting it out there. Maybe you guys can help me if you're listening and you're like, hey, I know a bookstore, I know a you know, a little shop, or maybe your church has a bookstore and they would, you know, maybe be a good resource in your bookstore. Well, there is a huge make a church here in Southern California. And when I create my soap journal, I basically had this vision that my soap journal would be in this bookstore. It's a huge make it make a church here in Southern California. And I they just have like the dreamiest campus and the dreamiest bookstore. Um, every time that I have gone to events at that church, I go into their bookstore and I absolutely love it. Like I adore it. Well, I was going to an event at that church and I took my journal along. God tugged into my heart, take your journal and see if you can get it in there. Cause this was, again, this is like a year after I had this vision of my journal being in this bookstore. So I took it with me. I went to that event. And as I was in the bookstore, um, I so happened to see the lady that it said like like bookstore director or something. She was wearing a badge that said like bookstore director. And I was like, huh, let me show her my journal. So I just went up to her and like, if you don't call your shots, like you just you you never will, right? So I went up to her, I had my journal, and I was like, hey, my name's Leslie Martinez. I created this journal. I would love to see the possibilities of having it here in your bookstore. I gave her a sample of the journal, had all my information in there. I told her that I would email her. Um, she looked at it, she was like, Oh, yes, this looks great. Here's my card. Um, why don't you email me and I'll follow up with you and we'll see what we can do. Okay, great. I send her an email literally the next day. Hey, it was so nice to meet you. Here is who I am. This is why I created the journal. I would love to get some in your store and give a couple of options of how we can get the journal in the store. Nothing. This was in November. Okay. Nothing. Okay, it's the holiday season. It's busy. Maybe she has, you know, lots to deal with. I'm not, I'm not gonna push it. This was again late November. January comes, and I send a follow-up email. Um, hey, just following that. Totally understand if, you know, this isn't for you. Can you just respond with one, two, or three to let me know how to move forward? And basically it was like, yes, I'm interested. Um, I'm interested, but now's not the right time. Or no, not interested at all. Like, all I'm asking for is a response and nothing, y'all. To dream ideal, like uh when I look at goals of who I would want to be like or align myself with, or what businesses and churches I would love to have my journal be a part of or anything. Like these are big, and if I named these names, y'all would know who they were. I'm not gonna do them dirty and drop names. Um, you guys would know who they are. I just straight up ghosted, like they didn't even give me the time of day. And that that kind of rejection, that's like, wow. So then I start questioning, God, am I even doing your will? Like, all this is because I feel that this is what you've tugged on my heart to do. You've led me to help women, coachy. You called me to create this journal and to get it out to the masses. And the places where I was trying to put my foot in straight out rejected me. And like, not even, I'm a big girl. I can handle a no. Like, you tell me no, I'm cool. All right, God has something else for me. But to just blatantly ignore and not even uh like a simple no thank you. You're not an ideal candidate. We found someone else. Like, and then like that brand that I was trying to go for, they were stringing me along. Like, I got to the third phase of the process. I even got an email reply saying that they were excited to get back to me, have me submit additional questions, um, like to just straight out ghost with no response whatsoever. Yeah. So many questions were going through my head about rejection. And if I'm being honest, they all sting. They all stink the same. And it took me like I I had to sit down and journal through um those those recent rejections. The uh the soap journal and the church one, that that didn't like hurt as bad because I was just like, all right, whatever. And and in a weird way, I kind of wasn't surprised by that one. Um, the woman that I encountered at the bookstore, um, she wasn't the warmest of people. And I did feel, and maybe I completely caught her off guard. Maybe I don't know, it was it was not the right place. Like I I called me shock. But a simple um, no, thank you, we're not interested. Like, I'm a big girl. I can handle that. The one that really stung was the dream brand to coach with that strung me a long, allowed me to put so much work and effort into getting my application in, creating a video, my resume, my introduction letter, test results, follow-up questions, and then to just be ghosted. Like all you could have said is like, we we moved on, we found another candidate. Thank you for your time. Not even that, y'all. And I don't know, maybe I'm new to this process. Like, I haven't applied for jobs in a really long time. Maybe that's how they do it now. I don't know. I think it's rude and disrespectful, quite frankly, especially from a brand that you I mean, we're talking like this is like if Nordstrom redracted you. Put it that way. Like, that's the level, because that's the level this brand um puts out there. And to just like get ghosted, it's like, wow, my expectations were just shy. And I will, I will tell you this, I've lost respect for that brand now, also. And rejection just hits different, you know, rejection of my father, rejection of friendships. Um, and if I really sat and thought about it, there's so many other things that I've been rejected from. Um, I'm sure if I were if we all were to sit and make a list, he would see this lengthy list of things that you've been rejected from. And you might even go back and say, you know what? That rejection was so good. Like I'm so glad I got rejected from that because it opened the doors for this, or it protected me from this. So many things that we just don't understand where the rejection stings and it hurts. But God is protecting us in that. Now, I want to shift a little bit and I want to share a little bit about some research that I did because, of course, I'm Leslie, I'm gonna bring you some research. One thing that is just so interesting is that rejection is not just emotional. There is actually science behind why rejection hits so hard. Now, research shows that rejection activates the same part of your brain as physical pain does. So when you say that hurt, you're not being dramatic. Your brain literally processes rejection like physical pain. And even brief moments of rejection can lower your self-esteem and make you question your worth almost instantly. Now, both of these that I am sharing right here, this is actually backed by research. There was a research that looked at rejection as physical pain back in 2011. And then there was another one about how it lowers your self-esteem, another research that was done. And this actually explains just why, for one moment, that we can spiral into the whole what's wrong with me. And that hurt, when we say, oh, that hurt, there is actual pain receptors in our brain that are processing that type of rejection as something painful that happened to our body. Now, just because it feels true, though, doesn't mean that it is true. Now, here are some truths that I want you to, if you if you're writing things down, write these down. These will also be in the worksheet, the study guide that you guys can download for free 99 on shopjoyforder.com. But here's some truths about rejection. One is that rejection is not your identity, it is an event, it is not a defining moment of who you are or what your life is. Number two, rejection is not always failure. Sometimes rejection is feedback, sometimes it's redirection, and sometimes it's protection.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

Number three is that rejection is God's protection.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Now, just something to think about. What if God is protecting you from the wrong environment, the wrong people, the wrong timing? There are doors that we could force open that God is keeping close for a reason. And these truths right here, this is what I am um kind of going off of for God keeping me from that job. Maybe it was the wrong environment for me. Maybe it's the wrong people that I'm not supposed to connect with. Or maybe it's just the wrong timing. Maybe I am not ready. Maybe I'm knocking on a door that I'm not ready for. For me, it just like stings like, okay, just give me a no. Like, just say no. Just don't ghost me and run for me and be, oh, she's not even worthy of a response. That's that's how I took that. Is like, you got my email. I know you did. And you can't even put a time aside to say, oh, thank you for your time, but we went with another candidate. Like, that'll take you one minute to respond. I wasn't even worth a one-minute response of an email at y'all. And that stings. Now, rejection, it can also reveal where your identity is rooted. Is your identity rooted in titles? Is it uh rooted in relationships? Is your identity rooted in the roles that you play? And that is something to think about. Where is your identity rooted? Our identity should be rooted in Christ and who we are in in Christ. I am the child of the most high king. I am the child of the prince of peace, I am a child of the Messiah, a king, a redeemer. And I have to remind myself that every single day. It will refine your calling and it will also build emotional maturity.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

And then rejection can also redirect our paths.

A Closing Scripture And Prayer

SPEAKER_01 35:24

So I want to say, like at the end of last year in 2025, right before I um had applied for the job, God put in my heart a shift of where this podcast should go, but also my coaching. I haven't um advertised or put out any type of coaching program or basically any type of coaching that I've been doing. I have I had like a handful of clients that I worked with one-on-one recently. As of right now, I am not doing any type of coaching. I'm doing more of like consultant work. But God was putting it in my heart to really shift the type of people that I am going to focus my work, my coaching work on. And that was more of looking to help women in leadership, women entrepreneurs, and help women who are just boss babes, CEOs that are at it, and really try to focus my work on helping to coach them to lead at high capacity and really help them to innovate whatever business it is that they are in. And I'm putting that out there now for all of y'all to hear. Um, I'm still the all of this is like still a work in progress. Well, that coaching job that came up, it was literally coaching those type of people with this brand. And it would come with a salary, it would come with clients already. Like I wasn't gonna have to go and create this whole program. I was basically gonna use an established program and help to coach these high-profile women, entrepreneurs. And it just when God put that in my heart to make that shift, and then I saw his coaching opportunity. I'm like, this is it. God, this is perfect. Like it all just seemed like the puzzle was coming together. And then it was like, no, just kidding. And guess what? You're gonna be ghosted about it. So then I had my moment of like, okay, God, like, is that even the direction where I want to go? And then God kept revealing to me, like, yes, well, Lesson, you got to build it yourself. Okay, you may have been rejected from this, but I called you to do it in your own way. And that's what I'm doing. I'm working on that right now. But sometimes rejection can redirect our path of where we're going. Yeah. Here's some practical application that I want you to utilize when you are struggling with rejection. The first step is to just fill it. There's there's no avoiding it. It happened. Acknowledge it, fill it. Number two is name the lie that is coming with it. Now, I can say, like me being rejected from that job, the lie is that I'm not smart enough to coach. I don't have enough background to coach women, entrepreneurs. Those are the lies that were coming. I named it and I said, Bill, these are lies. This isn't true. God is directing me in this direction. And these are lies. And sometimes those lies come from the enemy. He's just trying to misdirect us on a path that is not where we are to go. Step three is to replace with truth. What is that truth? God told me to do this. God put it in my heart to do this, this, and this. I need to pursue that. I am also a child of the most high God. I am chosen. I am worthy. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Those are some truths that we just have to remind ourselves when we face rejection. Step four would be ask God what this is. And that's where I go back, where I felt like God was protecting me from the wrong environment, from the wrong people, from the wrong timing of it. And then number five is keep moving. I'm not gonna lie, it took me a minute, like all of January, I was kind of in limbo because I'm like, I don't want to start working on something new. And then they come and call me and they're like, hey, you're hired or whatever, right? So, like from the time that I applied to the job to the end of January, I was just in this limbo state because I'm like, okay, God is this is where God is leading me. Now, what do I have to do? Where am I gonna go with this? And I finally just kind of have to release it as I walked myself through these own steps. And I had to be like, okay, God, now it's time to just keep moving. So now I'm in the process of creating a coaching program for these women that I'm gonna reach and it's gonna be successful. It is because God told me to do it. All right. And as we begin to wrap up, I want to leave you um these episodes that I kind of treat a little bit as Bible study. I want to leave you with a scripture that you can soap with. And the scripture that I'm leaving you with today, it's John 15, 18 through 19. And in the scripture, Jesus is preparing his disciples for what's ahead. He's telling them that following him will always be accepted, and that rejection may actually be a part of walking in alignment with him. And that scripture says, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

And that, my friend, is the scripture that ooh. I'm even gonna get a little emotional right now. My eyes fill with tears right now. I'm just thinking of a rejection. Jesus hatred.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

And like here I'm complaining about not getting a rejection email from a brand, right? Puts it all into perspective real quick. The disruption right here. If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. And sometimes I feel that state, like as God has called me in this space, uh, you have to have some really thick skin to put yourself out there to do what I do. Um, and rejection is real, rejection is hard. But I have to know I'm not for everybody. Those of you listening, thank you for listening. You're my people. I'm not everyone's cup of tea, and I get that. I'm not called to serve the Metasis. I'm not called to, you know, serve millions of people around the world.

SPEAKER_02 43:20

I'm called to you.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

You that are listening right now, my friend. Um God called me to bring a voice to what he is speaking, and he chose you to listen. And thank you for not hating me or rejecting me. And it's just a simple truth and reminder with the scripture. Like he says, if you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. I don't want to be of this world. Uh, if that makes any sense. We weren't necessarily called to be of this world or to be worldly. And I it it says it in that scripture alone, you do not belong to the world. But I have chosen you to get out of the world.

SPEAKER_02 44:11

And that's why the world hates you.

SPEAKER_01 44:13

And I truly feel that scripture deep. It's crazy. As I read it to you guys, I just got like overly emotional because I just like I just feel the Holy Spirit just y'all. I'm preaching to myself right now, okay? Can I just say that? Totally preaching to myself right now. I needed that more than anything. So that's the scripture that I want you to soak an observation that we can make from there. Rejection just isn't unexpected. It's a part of the journey with Jesus. He was rejected. Y'all, Jesus upset a lot with people. Jesus flips some tables over. And like I realize I need to stop playing it safe. It's time for me to flip some tables over. And that's for you. You probably have seen a shift in my topics if you've been here for a long time. If you follow me on social media, I'm tired of playing it safe, y'all. Jesus didn't play it safe and he was rejected. And if I'm rejected, then so be it. I'm not your cup of tea. And maybe what you're experiencing isn't because you're doing something wrong, but because you're walking in alignment. And if you're walking in alignment, then you know that Jesus picked you, right? He chose you. Just how he told those disciples like, I picked you from out of the world to follow me. He told them, pick up your cross and follow me.

SPEAKER_02 45:51

And I just want to end with a closing prayer for you.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Um if you've been struggling with rejection more recently, um, if rejection is a part of your story, I see you. I hear you. I definitely can relate to you. I want to pray for those that are really in the thick of it right now. That's right. Um, Father God, for every person that is listening right now that has faced rejection, Lord God, I just pray, Lord God, um, that you heal their hearts, Lord, that you heal places where they feel that they were just um stripped away of some kind of joy of a relationship, of an opportunity, Lord. I pray that you just fill that void with joy, with love, with worthiness, with beauty, Lord, that you embrace their feelings, Lord, but that they know and understand that you have not rejected. You have called them. You have called all of us to pick up our cross, Lord God. And I pray that you allow them to see opportunities, Lord, that your maybe rejection, Lord, it was also protection that you were protecting us from something that was not in alignment with the calling that you placed in our life, Lord. So thank you for your constant protection, Lord. I just pray that you heal their hearts, Lord, in your name. Amen. All right, my friend. If this episode spoke to you, I created a free Bible study companion that walks you through the scriptures and gives you space to just process your own experience of rejection. You can download it in the show notes or you can go to shopjoyfulorder.com. While you're at it, grab a soap journal while you're there and really dive into the word and just be reminded of what the word says about who you are. And I want to leave you with this last thought. What if the rejection that you are grieving is actually the protection that you'll be thanking God for later? Just remember that thought, friend. And until next time, go chase joy.