College Rejection

By Marjorie Foerster Eddington

Question

I didn't get accepted into the college of my choice, and I'm really bummed. How do I deal with rejection?

Answer

It's not fun to get rejection letters of any kind, and certainly not from the college of your choice. But it's important not to get down and out as a result. We all face rejection at some point. One of the best ways to get "over" rejection is to realize that God has not rejected us. Indeed, many individuals who God chooses are rejected by others. Jesus was rejected by his own people. And yet, Jesus did not let that stop him from doing God's work, from being happy, or from healing people. Jesus knew that it was God's view, and not the opinion of other people, that mattered. Jesus said:

And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? (Mark 12:10, 11)

The corner stone is the most important stone in a building. It is the foundation, the starting point. That's an incredible promise!

There's a saying that follows along the same lines: "When God closes a door, he always opens a window." The college of your choice may not be the college that God would choose for you (or that you would choose if you knew all the variables). God has an incredible plan for each of us, a plan that goes far beyond whatever we can imagine. In order for us to take full advantage of God's all-knowing plan, we have to be willing to let go of our own limited plan. If we keep trying to push what we want, we might miss the plan God has for us.

Just because you didn't get into the college you wanted, doesn't mean that there aren't colleges out there that can provide you with exactly what you need to succeed. Often, less well-known colleges provide smaller classes, more attention to the students, better opportunities, less competition.

So, when we get a rejection letter, we have a choice: to accept rejection and feel down, or to realize that this is an opportunity to turn our lives over to God, to open that window, and to pursue a different path -- the path that God has planned for us.