Validation

We all long for validation. One definition of “validate” from Merriam Webster is “to recognize, establish, or illustrate the worthiness or legitimacy of.” We read that definition and we question, doubt flooding our minds. We fear we don’t measure up.  WE know what we think, and who we are deep down inside.

With all our mess, failure, and weakness, do we matter? Are we valuable? Do we belong?

Only God can answer those questions, and He does so through His Word. When we look for validation anywhere else, we open the door to confusion and a full-on barrage of negative attitudes and feelings.

How does it start? As writers, we’re submitting our work to those who have the authority to accept or reject it. We often take it personally when our best work is rejected.

But it’s not personal, any more than a teacher grading a paper is personal. It’s about the work.

But it hurts. Especially when you did your best and it wasn’t good enough.

Yes, it hurts – a very necessary hurt that causes us to step back and evaluate, and to make changes where needed. How else will we learn and improve if everything we say, do, or submit is accepted with no questions or feedback – aka, with no rejection?

When we experience rejection and long for validation in its wake, what do we do? Where do we look for the truth? How do we move past it? How do we overcome our feelings of inadequacy?

Do we go to the phone, or to the Throne?
Do we wallow in the mire, or look to Someone higher?
Do we give up and turn back, or get up and improve what we lack?
Do we make excuses, or muster up our creative juices?
Do we take offense, or look at the scene through God’s lense?
Do we focus on the feeling of dread, or look to where we can be fed?

The only One who can validate us at our core, where it matters, is Jesus. Isn’t it a waste of precious time to look anywhere else or expect validation from anyone else…including ourselves?

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

When we work and submit from a place of truth and security in God’s love for us, we have the strength to endure rejection and get back up as many times as it takes to do all He’s called us to do.

What are you waiting for? Time to get that next submission ready!

Mary Graziano Scro, a graduate of Christian Communicators Conference, is an inspirational author, speaker, and blogger who intuitively weaves analogies and personal testimony with practical biblical teaching. Whether “live” or at the keyboard, Mary loves sharing what God has done in her life to encourage others about the awesome life God has planned for us, IF we are willing to choose wisely in our everyday lives (John 8:31-32). And it’s not only about us – the more we invest in our own unique relationship with Jesus, the more visible He is to a world that desperately needs Him.

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