I was about five years old, but I still clearly remember how I felt. Shocked. Betrayed. Bewildered. I was over a friend’s house. We were playing in the dirt in her back yard. She stood up and, for no apparent reason, kicked me in the mouth. I was so stunned that I don’t even remember if it hurt. Her mom frantically pulled me into their kitchen to clean me up and try to stop the bleeding. Perhaps she was as bewildered as I was. I still don’t know why the little girl did it.

That betrayal shaped my view of myself when it came to friendship. There must have been something wrong with me that would cause someone I trusted to turn on me with such vehemence. I must not be the kind of person that people want to be friends with. I must be the kind of person who deserves to be rejected and punished.

We moved far away a few years after that incident, but shortly before we left another experience confirmed to me that I wasn’t someone worthy of good friends. I was in second grade. It was one of the last days that I rode the school bus with the kids from that neighborhood. These kids who had been nasty bullies to me were suddenly nice because I was moving. They even invited me to sit in the back of the bus with them. A sensitive seven-year-old, I knew it was fake, but received the positive attention while I could. Maybe they felt bad for treating me so poorly, or maybe they were just happy I was moving. Either way, I knew that they didn’t really want me.

My first day in my new school, just added fuel to the fire that was already burning. The teacher instructed me to sit at an empty desk. The desks were arranged in groups of four to six to make up tables. When I went to sit where the teacher had indicated, the little girl sitting across from the empty desk said, “You can’t sit there! That’s Cathy Chang’s desk. She’s in China.” Ouch! Another sting, and from a girl I had just met and hoped would be a friend.

I know, kids are kids and they don’t always think about how what they say or do affects others. But these kids had independently communicated to me that I was not wanted, rejected. The wound that opened with the kick in the mouth absorbed every new stab.

Maybe you can identify with those experiences. Perhaps for you it wasn’t neighborhood kids that wrote REJECTED across your forehead. It may have been siblings, or parents, or another adult in your life that whipped out the permanent marker and labeled you. Maybe your kick came later in life. A spouse that traded you in for someone else. A friend that dumped you for someone with more influence or money. In one way or another, you’ve been kicked in the mouth by someone you thought you could trust. It told you something about yourself that is just not true and it’s time to put that lie to bed for good.

You are accepted. Jesus acceptd you. Not because you were good. Not because you were smart. But because you are you, a precious child of the Most High God. He has had His eye on you from the very beginning of your life. He has cried every tear with you, felt every sting, heard every painful word. He stretched out His arms on the cross to accept you and all who will come to Him. He has changed your identity, wiped away the permanent marker and written His name in it’s place. He says “You are mine. You are accepted” and as a result of that, you can accept others.

It’s time to drop the old and pick up the new. How about it? Look in the mirror and say, “I am exactly who God wants.” That’s the truth!

Key thought: You are wanted by God!

A Scripture to consider: “Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.” Romans‬ ‭15:7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A YES challenge: Do what the last line says! Look in the mirror and say, “I am exactly who God wants.” Believe it!

Prayer: Father, You know the many people in my life who have cast me aside. You know the pain it’s caused me, even when I tried to pretend it didn’t matter. Help me to fully receive the truth that I am accepted by You. I am exactly what You want. Help me to accept others just as freely as you have accepted me. Be glorified in me. Amen.