A few weeks ago, I found myself staring aimlessly into the distance, feeling dazed as I tried to control my out-of-control thoughts. With my hands neatly folded behind my head, I wrestled with feelings of rejection and abandonment. I longed to feel accepted and affirmed, though in this place, I felt like nothing more than an outcast—an outsider in a world of insiders.

In this moment, I wrestled with a somewhat common, yet entirely degrading set of questions. “Why don’t I fit in with these people?” I remember thinking. “What makes me so different, anyway? Maybe if I change my communication style, or tailor my interests, or become more like them, I will fit in…”

While grappling with these feelings—loneliness, heartbreak, rejection—I struggled to accept the way God created me. Sure, I’m often quieter than my peers, but that doesn’t mean my opinion carries less weight. And yes, I over-react to exciting news and events, but that doesn’t harm anyone or anything.

In order to fit in, and become more likeable, I began to alter my defining characteristics. I lost sight of my God-given strengths and, perhaps most importantly, lost sight of the God who created me. I gave in to my overwhelming feelings of rejection.

Have you ever felt this way? Like a foreigner in your own home, a stranger in your own place of work or a visitor among your own friends? In all likelihood, you can relate to these feelings—and have experienced this anxiety first-hand. Thankfully, the Bible offers encouragement for your downtrodden days, when the rawness of rejection feels insurmountable. Scripture reminds us that God accepts us and loves us, no matter what people in the world say or do.

When you find yourself tangled in despair, seek the Lord for love, affirmation and acceptance. These four verses will get you started.

1. The Lord will always take care of you, even in the face of rejection.
   My father and mother may abandon me, but the Lord will take care of me. – Psalm 27:10 (GNTD)
2. The Lord loves you as his child.
   See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children—and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God. – 1 John 3:1 (GNTD)
3. Nothing can separate you from God’s love.
   For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39 (GNTD)
4. The Lord wants you to experience the fullness of his love.
   …so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love. Yes, may you come to know his love—although it can never be fully known—and so be completely filled with the very nature of God.– Ephesians 3:18-19 (GNTD)