Blessed and Favored

My last semester at CFNI Heidi Baker came to speak to the school. Heidi Baker is one of my modern day heros. She's absolutely amazing! She is originally from Southern California but is now a missionary to Mozambique. Her and her husband, Rolland, work with orphans and street children. They have an incredible ministry to these kids. You should check her out.

Anyways, when she came to speak at CFNI I was getting ready to leave for Guatemala for our ten week internship. During the 11 o'clock lecture she spoke to the entire student body. The notes from her sermon were on my laptop before the hard drive crashed, so sadly I don't have them anymore. However, there is one thing that stuck out to me and I still think back on often.

In Luke chapter 1 the angel Gabriel comes to visit Mary, who is engaged to Joseph. He tells her, (from the amplified version) "Hail, O favored one [endued with grace]! The Lord is with you! Blessed (favored of God) are you before all other women!" Doesn't this sound like an amazing compliment?? He then goes on to tell her how she'll conceive Jesus supernaturally.

Now imagine yourself as Mary for a moment. She is a young woman, a virgin and engaged. Now all of the sudden she is pregnant with the Son of God. From the outside looking in, it doesn't look all that great. It looks like she's a fornicator who is unfaithful to her fiance and a disgrace to her family. Now think back to what the angel said, "You are blessed before all other women". I can't say how Mary felt in this situation, but I know how I would feel.

When I think of what it looks like to be blessed and favored of God, I tend to think of it being a little prettier than Mary's situation. But the truth is, it's not always pretty. When God calls us to something it might get down right ugly, but it doesn't mean that He has left us high and dry. His plan is perfect and His ways are not our ways.