God’s Favor Changed Me!

by Kate McVeigh | Uncategorized

When I was a teenager in high school, I felt as though no one liked me. I had been in Special Education classes for slow learners from the time I was in the fifth grade. All the other kids made fun of me. I developed an overwhelming inferiority complex.

Everywhere I went I felt that no one cared about me. I felt they thought that I was dumb and, because I wore braces, I was ugly.

One time I even asked my sister Helen if I was retarded. I thought something was really wrong with me and that my family and friends wouldn’t tell me because they didn’t want to hurt my feelings.

Everywhere I went I expected people to reject me. And guess what? They did! For example, out of my high school class of more than 600 kids, I was nominated “Least Likely to Succeed.”

I loved to play basketball, but all the girls on the team were really mean to me. They used to tell me I was stupid and retarded. They nicknamed me “Sped” because I was in Special Ed. I felt so terrible about myself that I often wanted to commit suicide.

Transformed by God’s Power
When I turned sixteen, though, something happened to me. My mother received the Lord and was healed of several physical conditions. She began to share the goodness and love of God with me.

Several weeks later a man by the mane of Kenneth E. Hagin came to hold a crusade in my hometown of Detroit, Michigan. My mother invited me to go with her to the crusade. I went to the crusade along with my aunt and cousins.

I went the first night. When Brother Hagin gave the altar call, something inside me really wanted to go forward because I knew I needed to be saved. But I was too embarrassed because my cousins were there – it was all so new to me. I went to church only on Christmas and Easter, and I had never even opened a Bible.

After the altar call, Brother Hagin prayed, “Lord, if there is anyone here who doesn’t know You as Savior, I pray that they won’t be able to eat or sleep or find any rest until they make You the Lord of their life.”

When I went home I couldn’t sleep all night, thinking about what he had prayed. The next night I just knew I had to go back.

I waited throughout the whole service, and this time when the altar call came, I went forward with all the others. My heart was pounding. As I stood there, I lifted one hand toward heaven and gave my heart to Jesus.

Then, as hands were laid upon me, I was filled with the Holy Ghost. My life was changed.

Favor Heals Insecurities
Shortly after that, as I began to study God’s Word, I started to realize how His love and favor could heal the insecurities in my life. I learned that, because I had become His very own dearly beloved child, my heavenly Father had poured His love, abundant blessing and divine favor upon me!

One of the first things I did after receiving Jesus was to find a good Bible-believing church. I’m so glad that my pastor was teaching on the subject of God’s favor. He continually taught that we can claim favor in every area of life and related how he walked in favor in his own life.

Our congregation learned that if there was going to be a raise given on the job, we could get it because of God’s favor. If there was an impossible situation facing us, God would change it.

We found out we could have favor with our teachers, families, friends, bosses and other business contacts.

Finally, I started confessing that I had favor with all my teachers, friends and family. Even now, I don’t start the day without saying, “Lord, I thank You that I have favor with You and man this day. People go out of their way to bless me and to do good to me today.” I meditated on Psalm 5:12.

For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.
(Ps. 5:12 NKJV)

I also began to claim favor with my basketball team. Our coach hardly ever let me play in games because I was so timid and always made mistakes.

I was a good basketball player, really, but no one on the team had seen that side of me. I could play great at home with my brothers, but when I got around girls at school, I grew so insecure that my hands would shake. When it came time to shoot the ball, I would freeze because I was so nervous.

Once I heard my pastor’s teaching on favor, I stopped looking at the old Kate – the one who always was rejected by the team. Instead, I began to see myself walking in God’s favor. I had to choose to see myself the way God sees me.

I started saying I had favor with my coach and with all my teammates – that I was no longer timid but confident – because God’s favor was working on my behalf.

I prayed this way during my entire summer vacation. When I returned to school, I was a brand new person! My coach, friends and teachers were shocked to see the formerly shy, timid Kate transformed into one of the top basketball players on the high school team!

Until that time I couldn’t even give an oral book report without thinking I would pass out. Now I was preaching the Gospel! Other students looked to me as a spiritual leader, and I was able to lead many other teenagers to Christ as they saw the dramatic changes in my life.

Let me encourage you to begin to see who you really are in Christ – that in Him you are more than a conqueror (Rom. 8:37), deeply loved (John 3:16; Eph. 2:4), accepted by God (Eph. 1:6) and made righteous through the blood of Jesus (2 Cor.5:21).

If you expect people to reject you and treat you improperly, they will. But when you expect God’s favor to be demonstrated toward you, you will receive it in abundance!

Source: The Favor Factor by Kate McVeigh
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers

Kate McVeigh has traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and abroad for over 35 years! Kate teaches people how to rise above challenging circumstances and win in life through a personal relationship with a loving God!

Kate’s testimony is truly inspiring. She struggled in school as a teen being painfully shy and vowed never to speak in front of people. However, after receiving the Lord at age 16, she was healed of a learning disability and immediately began speaking in front of crowds big and small, boldly sharing that God can take your hurt and turn it into healing. Your mess can become a message of Victory, and your test can be turned into a powerful testimony helping others to receive God’s goodness and love!

After high school, Kate graduated from Rhema Bible College and began her full-time traveling ministry more than 35 years ago. Speaking hundreds of times each year in churches, conferences, TV appearances, and through her daily radio broadcast, The Voice of Faith. Kate has authored many books, and some of her best-selling books such as The Blessing of Favor, Get Over It, and others have been translated into more than ten different languages.

As your Faith Coach, Kate will help teach you how to win in life by applying and standing on the powerful promises found in God’s Word.

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