BLESSED AND HIGHLY FAVORED

HIGHLY FAVORED

By Denise Delaine

Luke 1:26-28 KJV

Being Highly Favored:  To be raised from a lowly estate to a place of honour 

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. The angel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Luke 1:26-28

Recently, while attendin worship service at Abyssinian Church in Harlem, the pastor shared the familiar story in Luke 1 regarding the angels appearing to Mary and Joseph and their subsequent marriage.  In those days,  women did not have status such as we have today nor was it acceptable as it is today to have a child out of wedlock.  Yet, God orchestrated every activity unimaginable to man to carry out His divine plan for the Son of God to be born through a young unmarried virgin.  In Luke 1, we see what was normally frowned upon as a woman, God has now established respect that women deserve. Here, we see God also setting the stage for us.

Consider how God has raised us from a lowly estate as an individual woman and as a group of women. And that we have discovered God was in the midst of it all. The songstress, Betty Wright said in a song, “Think back!” Compare your childhood, teenage, or young adult years with where you are today spiritually, mentally, physically, economically, educationally, and/or professionally. Consider major accomplishments of women in our society and the hurdles they had to overcome to get there.  Now, do you feel highly favored? If so, sing the song, or recite the lyrics, or write it in a journal, “Look where He has brought me from. He brought me out of darkness, into the marvellous light. Look where He brought me from!”

Let us first encourage ourselves and then one to another in having the favor of God in our lives. And let us remind one another, regardless of where we are or what is happening to us or around us, as the Angel said unto Mary, it also applies to us, “The LORD is with you!”

Soror Rosa Denise Delaine