God Is Not Mad at You: You Can Experience Real Love, Acceptance & Guilt-free Living by Joyce Meyer

me. I wouldenter God’s rest for periods of time, and then the devil would attack me again. When Satan knows where we are vulnerable, he will attack there again and again to see if there is any remaining weakness he can play on. Eventually I was strong enough in my faith to rest assured of God’s love and acceptance apart from any works I did. I became free, and I still enjoy that freedom today.
    Jesus did not enjoy the acceptance or approval of most people while He was on earth. He was despised and rejected by men! But he knew his heavenly Father loved Him. He knew who He was and it gave Him confidence.
    Everything that Jesus endured and suffered was for our sake. He went through rejection, so when we face it, we too can go through and not be damaged by it, or if we have already been damaged, then we can completely recover. Jesus never promised us that everyone would accept and approve of us; as a matter of fact, He told us just the opposite. He said that if we choose to follow Him, we will be persecuted for righteousness’ sake. If we make it through childhood without any traumatic experience of rejection, we may well experience some from friends and family if we decide to fully follow Jesus. People don’t mind so much if we are merely religious and occasionally go to church; however, if we get serious and actually allow Christ to change us, it often bothers people.
    When I answered the call of God to teach His Word, I experienced massive rejection from many people, and some of them were the ones that I loved the most and had previously thought loved me, too. It is amazing how people’s commitment to us changes when we are no longer doing what they want us to do. That period of my life was extremely painful to me, especially since I already had a root of rejection in my life from my childhood.

Press Through the Pain
    Jimmy was four years old and very excited about being on the soccer team. His mom took him to all the practices and now it was time for him to play his first game, but it turned out horribly!
    Jimmy was doing fine and having lots of fun until about halfway through the game. A big kid came up to him and socked him very hard in the stomach! Jimmy doubled up in pain and fell to the ground crying. The kid said something to him and he ran to the sideline. When his mom got him quieted down and asked what was wrong, he said, “That big boy punched me in the stomach, and he told me, ‘You’re no good. You’ll never learn how to play soccer. You’re not doing anything right! You get off this field and don’t come back here and try to play with us anymore!’ ” When they got home Jimmy said, “I’m never going back there again!”
    This is a classic example of what happens to millions of people. Even at that young age, Jimmy experienced the pain of rejection. Experiences like this ruin many people’s lives and prevent them from being the person God wants them to be, unless they learn how to press through the pain.
    I recall an instance in my childhood that devastated me. I was about six years old, and my class at school was having a Halloween party. Lots of the girls were princesses, Cinderella or a ballerina, and their costumes were beautiful. My parents didn’t want to spend much money on getting me an outfit and my mom didn’t sew, so she bought me a rubber wolf mask. It was extremely ugly, and I wore it with my regular clothes. I was hurt that my parents didn’t want me to look beautiful, too, and they were not willing to spend a little bit of money on a costume for me. I recall hiding in the corner of the schoolyard at recess, desperately hopingthat nobody would notice how ugly I was. It must have had a huge impact on me, because I can still see it today very plainly. Although it was a seemingly minor occurrence, at the age of six it was extremely painful to me.
    Childhood traumas like these have a way of lingering in our minds; we often wince at the memory. You may be remembering a similar event