Blessed and Highly Favored

Today, I ran into a dear sister in the Lord in the commissary. God always has the most amazing divine appointments laid out for me. I thought I was going to get some hot dogs, but I really was there to receive encouragement from the Lord. Since the Lord revealed the sin of pride in my life, I have been praying for and seeking humility before man and God. The Lord has shown me how He keeps working in circumstances, even when I am flopping on the floor, rendering myself useless to Him. Have you ever been there?

I often hear from my sisters in Christ that I am "blessed and highly favored." For a long time, I wondered what that even meant, as I sometimes do not "feel" favored and blessed by God. Today, I was pondering this phrase after hearing it, and realized how blessed and highly favored I really am! Yes, I lost a child in the miscarriage a short while ago. That did not feel like a blessing at the time, but the blessing was that God used tribulation in my life to cause His greatness in me to emerge. Through it, I kept telling people that I had great peace and joy...that was the only way to explain how I felt inside. I knew in my rational mind that I could have been mourning deeply, or upset over the loss, but instead....I praised the Lord for glorifying Himself through my life. As I praised Him, He filled my heart with joy and peace, and made a very difficult time easier to endure. And even though I do not have ANOTHER child, I am blessed beyond measure with the family God HAS given me. He has given me a husband who loves me deeply, amazing and beautiful children, and the life I always dreamed about having. He has blessed me with a peace that surpasses all understanding, and helps me to endure the harder trials of life. He has given me a home, a purpose in life, and the physical health to keep up with all the responsibilities He has placed in my life. He has blessed me with comfort, faith in Him, and most of all.....LOVE that I could not even begin to explain. He has blessed me with the desire to seek Him, and enabled me spiritually to be full of zeal and passion for His Word. The list of blessings could go on and on. He has pulled me out of the pit, and given me abundant life, in doing exceedingly, abundantly more than I could ever think or ask for. He is a great God and I love Him very much.

I just wanted to write today and give Him thanks for what He has already done in my life. I think many times, we are looking so vigorously toward the future that we forget to stop and thank God for everything He has done in the past. Every once in awhile, I will have a memory come into my mind of a place I have been, or something I did in the past that was wrong, and I can feel the fear, pain and shame rolling back into my heart. But then, God steps into my thoughts and helps to stop me from dwelling on the past. Many times, I say out loud "I am just not going to think about that, God has forgiven me." I do mourn over my prior sinfulness because I know it hurt God, but I also do not spend time thinking about it because I know He knows my thoughts. The Word says we should take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. I know where I came from, but I also know who God has made me to be, and that is where I get confidence from. I know that I am becoming the woman God created me to be, and every step of the way, I am blessed and highly favored....as are all of you who have been chosen by the Lord, and accepted His call on your life to bring glory to His name. If you have received salvation in Jesus Christ, you are blessed and highly favored in that one thing alone.

I would encourage you today to take a minute or two, and just thank the Lord, give Him praise for what He has done in your life. Remember for but a moment the land out of which He delivered you, and gaze into the future with hope of the promised land where He is taking you. People who say the Old Testament is no longer relevant have not spent enough time reading and getting to know the God of the Old Testament (which is the same God as the New Testament). He is a mighty Deliverer, and He has been our Savior since before the creation of this world. There is no other God but Him. He is our Everything! We are blessed and highly favored that He even chose to create us in the first place. Give Him thanks with a grateful heart.

Psalm 30:4 (NKJV):

"Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name."

Proverbs 11:27 (NKJV):

"He who earnestly seeks good finds favor, But trouble will come to him who seeks evil."

If you want to know more about the blessings of obedience to God's commands, read Deuteronomy 28:1-14. Know that, in this passage, He was speaking to Israel, but now these promises have been extended to the Gentiles (non-Jews), and God is the same yesterday, today and forever. If you want God's blessing on your life, pray that God would strengthen you to follow all of his commandments carefully.

I pray that each of you finds blessing and favor in the eyes of the Lord. May He bless your land richly and show you His favor and love once again in the name of Jesus. I thank God for the blessings and favor in my own life, and pray that He would continue to empower me to live out His will, and follow His commands obediently. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Blessed and Highly Favored,

Sarah