Purposeful Womanhood

 By Julie Mangrum Merriam Webster defines rejection as: refusing to accept, consider, hear or receive, to cast off.    Have you ever felt this way? No doubt you have, living in this world. I have been reflecting a lot on the idea of rejection and how it has impacted my own life. I have felt the sting of rejection all of my life -- from those whom I love dearly, from family, from friends, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, co-workers, and acquaintances.    Being rejected creates (among many things) feelings of worthlessness, uselessness, poor self confidence and self esteem. It can leave scars and wounds that seem to permeate into nearly every corner of our lives. Yes, all humans have experienced it, but by way of sympathy alone, it does not deal with the resultant blows to our emotional and spiritual state. So what are we to do with this rejection?   Consider Jesus   Hebrews 12:3 NASB — "For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sin...

 By Julie Mangrum If you are familiar with the account of the children of Israel's wandering through the wilderness at all, and are like me, you can relate to their story. I find much of myself in their inconsistencies: praising God for saving them one minute (Ex. 15:1-21) then seemingly, immediately complaining/grumbling about their circumstances (Ex. 15:22-27, among MANY other accounts). It's clear, if we really look at why God had them in the wilderness after their deliverance from Egypt, it was to grow them and teach them. God also explains in Deut. 8:1-6; 14-16 all of their wilderness experience was for their good.  So we too are in our own "wilderness" in this Christian life. Their story is meant to parallel ours. We wander through this life in all its strange patterns that seem like we are just walking in circles going nowhere, experiencing all these ups and downs -- these trials. But let us not forget what His Word says about our trials:   James 1:2-4 NASB ...