I spot the invitation plastered on my friend's fridge. The names of my two friends are printed in elegant script, with a "Save the Date" magnet hanging below. Yet another wedding I wasn't invited to.

Why wasn't I invited? What did I do wrong? I begin to think, tallying all the ways I should blame myself. Did I offend her in some way? Am I not adventurous enough? Does he think I'm too serious? I cycle through the possibilities, not knowing which is worse: Is this intentional, or did they just forget?

Later, I scroll through all the photos online, with all the people I know smiling together—and I'm left alone looking at a computer screen. I just can't help but feel like this is somehow my fault.

Have you ever felt this pain of rejection?

Maybe you weren't invited to a special event you were looking forward to. Or coworkers met for a meal without you. Maybe a small group of friends forgot to include you in an impromptu weekend outing. Maybe it's something less tangible—a friendship that slowly faded away despite your efforts to re-connect.

It's easy to burrow inward when this happens, to fixate on all the things you shouldn't have said or could have done better. You end up feeling like you deserved to be left out, rejected, forgotten.

But you are not forgotten. You are loved. You are wanted.

God accepts you no matter what. Jesus says, "I will never turn away anyone who comes to me." (John 6:37b) He actively loves you regardless of what you do.

When you feel like an outsider, turn to these verses to be reminded of how God accepts you:

Matthew 6:26 (GNTD)

Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds?

Ephesians 1:4b-5 (GNTD)

Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose.

Psalm 100:3 (GNTD)

Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we belong to him; we are his people, we are his flock.

1 John 3:1 (GNTD)

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.