Favored Indeed

“Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Luke 1:28

Day 4- Saddle your camels, grab the fam, we are heading out!  Today we will be saying goodbye to Zechariah and Elizabeth only for awhile, we will return for the birth of their son John. In the meantime another couple awaits us to share their remarkable story.  So let’s head out, we are leaving for Nazareth a village in Galilee. 

Zechariah:  I pray for travel mercies as you leave.  Elizabeth and I have enjoyed our time with you and will see you soon.  We send you off to Galilee to meet some relatives of ours that will bless you with their story of God’s love.  They are expecting your arrival!

Greetings our fellow brothers and sisters, we have been waiting on you and are so glad the Lord has delivered you here safely, please do come in. We hope that you have enjoyed your time with Zechariah and Elizabeth.  Just like them we too have a marvelous story of God’s greatness.

For those of you unfamiliar with who we are my name is Joseph I am a descendant of King David and a carpenter here in Nazareth.  My wife, where do I begin, she is an extraordinary woman of God who knows her Scripture. She still to this day makes herself available to God.  She is a joyous woman loved by all and has been blessed beyond words. She is the best homemaker and mother and I am blessed to be her husband. I could go on and on but for now we have so much to share.

It was the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, and God sent His angel Gabriel (the one that appeared to Zechariah in the sanctuary) here to Nazareth a village in Galilee to visit my wife Mary a virgin. Mary and I were engaged to be married when the angel Gabriel appeared to her, Mary why don’t you take over.

Mary: Thank you! It was a day I will never forget. I was tending to my daily duties when Gabriel an angel of the Lord approached me, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” I don’t know if I dropped the dishes, the food, my broom or what, but I was completely confused and disturbed and had no idea what he meant.  Gabriel being sent from God knew my reaction and said. “Don’t be frightened, for God has decided to bless you!” Bless me, I thought, I was already blessed, God has taken care of me and my family, I am engaged to an amazing man, we are healthy and happy, He wants to bless me?  If I may say I was confused, I thought I was already blessed, but that day I learned the true meaning of blessed! Being blessed meant more than just being healthy, or having a roof over my head. It meant more than being happy. I learned that blessed comes from the love of Christ. So whether we have much or little, it does not matter. It is God’s love that is our richest blessing.

I want to leave you here at this part of our story today, because I want you to really understand how loved and blessed you are.  You see our Father He loves us unconditionally always thinking of us.  His love is what sets blessings into motion.

His love is what covers us with blessings and makes us all favored!  You are not only favored but loved and blessed because you were created by Him and for Him and you received the MOST amazing gift-The blood of Christ.  Wow, would you just think about that today? Would you go and share that with someone today?  Let them know that because of our Father’s love they too are blessed!