Healing the Wounds of Rejection: Moving Forward with Strength, Confidence, and the Ability to Trust Again

Bible teacher Meyer (The Courage to Change) and Emmy Award–winning documentarian Stache (Chasing Wonder) team up for a lucid guide to tackling rejection with the help of one’s faith. In alternating chapters, the authors recount their own formative betrayals—Meyer’s abuse at her father’s hands and neglect at her mother’s, Stache’s uncovering of her husband’s pornography addiction—and lay out steps to recovery that center on remembering God’s unconditional love and using it to work toward self-acceptance. Elsewhere, they detail how to rebuild trust in betrayers when appropriate by choosing “hope over fear,” partly because anticipating rejection can become a self-fulfilling prophecy and one is better served by living in “the joy God promises rather than the dread of what someone else’s next action or decision might bring.” While there’s no earth-shattering advice here, the authors’ path to healing is clear and pragmatic, and their disclosures of how they grappled with rejections of their own are candid and affecting. Christians looking to move past stubborn grudges or old hurts will feel seen. (Sept.)