The book Crossing Over is the story of the rejection one woman faced when she fell in love with a person outside the Amish Community and ran away to marry him. Ruth Garrett had always been a little rebellious, but not even she could imagine the pain she was about to experience from being shunned by her family and community.

Rejection, even the word, has a foreboding sound. Yet, it is an experience with which most, if not all of us, are familiar. Everybody experiences rejection sometime. It may come from a boss, from a peer, from a lover, a church, even from strangers who communicate clearly you are not welcome in certain circles. So, I want to poke around in the valley of rejection and discover the things we can learn that lead to peace.

I. Rejection Is a Part of Life

Our Biblical story…