Two weeks ago, I signed with a literary agent and became an agented author – a big step I’m still excited about.

But that didn’t come without lots of rejection. I’ve sent other manuscripts out to agents, only to have them rejected. Though my current work-in-progress, Bird Boy, was picked up by an agent, it also received rejections from other agents before that. For every short story I get published, my email inbox has seen many more rejections for others.

And as a writer, I know there’s much more rejection to come. It’s part of the job. Not everyone is going to like my style of writing, or my stories, or even me.

People tell writers they need to develop a thick skin. If you’re going to be rejected so many times, you need to learn how to take it without falling apart.

But I don’t think it’s about developing a thick skin.

It’s about knowing where my worth and joy are found.

If I find my worth in my writing, it doesn’t matter how thick my skin is. Every rejection letter is going to feel like a boulder crashing down on who I think I am. If I find my joy in my publishing journey, every rejection is going to send me spiraling into doubt and despair.

Don’t get me wrong… rejection stinks. In all parts of life. No one wants to be rejected in a relationship, in a job, in a group of people, or in an artistic endeavor. It doesn’t feel good. Sometimes, it does feel like a crashing boulder, and it does send us spiraling.

But if we know where our worth and joy are found, that boulder doesn’t have to hold us down forever. We can find our way out of that doubt and despair.

And our worth and joy are not found in other relationships. They aren’t found in our career choices. They aren’t found in my prospects of publishing a book.

Our worth and joy are found in Christ alone.

I love David’s words in Psalm 16:11: “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

David doesn’t say that the people in his life make his life clear to him. He doesn’t say success fills him with joy. 

David says that God makes the path of life known. God fills him with joy. With eternal pleasure.

Do you think that getting a book published is going to fill me with eternal pleasure?

No. It’s exciting to take steps closer to a goal I have, but even our greatest goals are dull compared to the greatness of our God.

In Francesca Battistelli’s song “Strangely Dim,” she sings, “But when I fix my eyes on all that You are, then every doubt I feel deep in my heart grows strangely dim.”

I want all the rejection I feel in my life to feel strangely dim compared to the worth I feel in Christ, compared to the trust I have in him, and compared to the eternal joy I find in his presence. 

Rejection stills stings. But we don’t find our worth or joy in the things of this world. We find our joy in Christ, and he will not reject us. He will not forsake us. He is with us even on our darkest of days.

And that’s something to fill us with eternal pleasure.

Never forget… you are onederfully created.

Love,
Becca