A Thrill of Hope - Week 3
When the angel appears to Mary, a poor, teenage peasant girl, he announces that she is “highly favored by God.” When you and I think of what it might mean to be “highly favored” by God, usually it looks like gold mansions and Lamborghinis. But Mary’s life - by any measure - was about to get substantially more difficult, and filled with not only discomfort, but hardship and even tragedy. The thing is, the natural human response in such times is to wonder if God has forgotten us, or perhaps maybe doesn’t even exist. But in Luke 1, Mary composes a song that directly confronts the idea that God has left, or abandoned us, and her faith-filled song is a reminder for all who travel through dark days that God see us, loves us and is working to set all things right (even if we can’t see it).
