Whew!!

THANK YOU to those of you who prayed for me yesterday. I really appreciated it! I will tell you - Satan was all over me for the whole day before I spoke at church. The night before, when I was running through what I planned to say, I could barely breathe, and then all day yesterday, I encountered every possible annoyance at work, which left me beyond grouchy heading into the evening.

I did, at least, recognize it for what it was and asked some friends to pray for me. And they must have, because I had great peace last night!

I am pretty sure I was a gigantic dork throughout the entire thing...but I did it!! :) I was thankful that they listened and at least acted interested. And I was very thankful for the things I learned along the way too.

I want to share with you this one part...just in hopes that if you feel you're not good enough to merit God's favor...you might see otherwise.

I don’t know how you feel about Mary when you read about her in the Bible, but I think it’s safe to assume that most of us think Mary was some sort of extraordinarily holy woman. Serene. Quiet. Moldable. Submissive. And I’m pretty sure none of those words have ever been used to describe me…how about you?

I think the preconceived notion we have that she was so perfect and lovely leads us to believe that that is the only type of person God finds to be favorable. God looked across the earth and He saw the quiet, trusting Mary, and He thought There is the example to the human race of how all people should behave.
I’m clearly not God, but I don’t think that’s the case. I mean after all, He created us, and He didn’t make us all quiet and serene. He made some of us to be a bull in a china shop, as my mother used to say to me.

I think you all know me pretty well, but let me tell you, just in case you don’t. I hate mornings and I’m generally not pleasant during them. Wal-Mart nearly sucks the salvation straight out of my soul. I have a near-counseling-required addiction to pictures and scrapbooks. I prefer for my books to be alphabetized according to author’s last name. I would rather give birth (which I’ve never done, I am aware) than rake leaves. I cry over every Hallmark and Lifetime movie, most episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and a handful of commercials. I have what my friends consider to be a ridiculous fondness for David Phelps. If something weird is going to happen – like accidentally dyeing hair neon orange – it’s going to happen to me. Every time. I don’t like to drive on one-way streets because I have a tendency to pick the wrong way. I have an unhealthy fear of carbon-monoxide poisoning. I consider the perfect day to be spent wearing jammies, drinking coffee, and writing until the wee hours of the morning. My knees, which sport no metal, set off metal detectors in airports, and when I go to the doctor, they tell me my blood pressure is near stroke level because my fear of doctors really is that intense. And yet, you know what?

I have found favor with Him. I, Rebekah J. Freelan, with all my quirks and oddities, have found favor with God. One of my other quirks is that I love to do word studies, so I looked up favor in the original language and found it means that which causes joy, pleasure, or delight in the observer. That is how God feels about me! I bring Him joy, pleasure, and delight as He observes me. Even when I’m alphabetizing my books or turning my hair orange.