Have You Felt Invisible?

Have you ever walked into a room and felt invisible? Have you ever felt like a nobody?
 
Today my wife talked to me about how in middle school and high school, she was always known as the sister to her older brother. Then when she switched middle schools hoping to finally make a name for herself, she was known as her younger sister’s sister. Today she finds herself saying, “Hi, I’m Allie.” Then people give her a blank stare, and she’ll continue, “I’m Pastor Ivey’s wife.” To which they respond, “OOOOOH! It’s so great to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you. Your food is delicious.”
 
There are a few things you need to know about Allie. She graduated in the top 5% of her class of over 850 students. She could hardly walk because she was so burdened by honors ribbons and ropes. Plus, she had one of those special seats at the front of the auditorium, while I sat in the very back of the auditorium graduating “Thank the Lordy.” She was in the National Honors Society, captain of the soccer team, an accomplished violinist, and first chair violaist in our high school of 3500 students. She was quickly accepted into Duke University but denied it and got a full academic ride to the small Christian school I went to in Charleston, SC. Plus, Allie did all this while working 40 hours a week at Chick-fil-A. Then she was married at 19, continued college, and completed her junior year while pregnant. She then took a year off to raise our daughter. When people said she would never go back, she attacked her senior year and finished with honors and a BS in elementary education. She has now raised and homeschooled five children, two of which all but swept their high school awards ceremonies just a few days ago.
 
That’s quite a résumé, isn’t it? And I am just skimming the surface. Yet, even after all the amazing things she has done, she is often just known as “Pastor Ivey’s wife.”
 
Maybe you’ve felt that way too. If you’ve experienced this feeling, I have good news, God uses the people society calls “nobodies.” Because they aren’t nobodies to God. In fact, I suspect many earthly nobodies, the people you’ve never heard about, are well-known in Heaven (And hated in hell).
 
Tomorrow we are looking at one of the most significant "nobodies" in history. A little teenage girl named Mary. She would go on to raise the Holy One of Heaven, the Son of God. She may have been viewed as a nobody by many, but to God, she was “Highly favored.”