Title: How to Handle Rejection
Author: Bimbo Odukoya
Publisher: Grace Springs Africa Publishers, 2007.
Number of Pages: xiii+ 91pp.
ISBN: 1-60188-005-7
Bimbo Odukoya’s How to Handle Rejection is a book with a message that cuts across the sphere of religion, Christian living and personal growth. The book was written to throw some light on the problem of rejection, and bring to the open that humans are delicate beings and, on that premise, care should be considered in relating with one another. The author uses the case study method and interpretation of biblical verses to present the problem of rejection and the solution.
The book is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter examines different sources that trigger the sense of rejection in a person. The chapter analyses how the desire to be accepted and recognised is God given. And when this need is not met, one feels rejected. It is posited here that anyone can suffer rejection. Chapter two discusses how childhood rejection is the bane of many lives. Here the focus is rejection from childhood, and how many reject good things including church or fellowship because such place brings back a memory of rejection.
According to the author, asking for help means putting pride aside, and it is not wrong to ask for help. Chapter three analyses how life and choices that are up to the individual. The chapter also speaks of dealing with the root which may blight or mar one’s future relationships if not dealt with. The author recommends wisdom in the place of reaction. Chapter four shows the reader a core solution to rejection, and that is looking unto Jesus who also suffered rejection. The chapter encourages that one is not alone in rejection. In chapter five, it is established that everyone is not the same and is not expected to recover at the same pace. The chapter recommends intimacy with God, the one whose image we are, and that it is God’s will to be whole mentally and emotionally. Chapter six, speaks of choice in responding to how others treat us. The author posits that the reader has the ability to think, act or feel, and the ultimate is when we permit someone to take charge of our lives and attitudes. The author recommends that the one who is rejected should be engaged, and not be idle.
In chapter 7, it is concluded that the new birth is a miracle, and there is joy in the Lord that one shouldn’t miss. Those who feel rejected according to the chapter don’t want anyone to come too close to them so that there won’t be another cycle of rejection upon knowing their weaknesses.
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The language of the author is simple and clear. It is a book that can be referenced for counselling. And another good thing about the book unlike many with such a title is that it points to Christ, and the new birth. The use of case studies is superb and would be of great interest to young readers and anyone who gets easily bored with Christian literature.
However, the book is not well organised. The content of each chapter is not well organised. Some issues already discussed in some chapters resurface in another. More so, the graphic design of the front cover page of the book does not depict the message the book intends to pass across. But In all, the book is worth the read, and it is a gold mine for those who are experiencing rejection because the author draws a lot from experience.
