Each year at the start of the Advent season, I find myself thinking about Mary, the mother of Jesus. This teenage girl was to be a womb for God, the mother of His one and only son. That day when the angel Gabriel came to her, I imagine light refracting in all directions in her humble home in Nazareth. I have three daughters hovering in the tween/teen years, close to Mary’s age. I can’t help but think about what it would be like if one of them received such outrageous and magnificent news from an angel wrapped in light.
Mary’s heart must have been racing like half a dozen horses galloping in her chest when Gabriel called her “the favored one.” I imagine she trembled when the angel revealed that her body would embody God Himself.
Pregnancy and birth is a season of uncertainty. The body of a pregnant mother stretches and morphs daily to build a sacred space for new life. I remember my midwife telling me that pregnancy is like your body climbing a mountain even when you’re not moving. (That certainly explained why I was so often exhausted during my three pregnancies!)
There is pain and purpose wrapped up in each moment as a mother waits for her anticipated child to arrive. I found this to be true also for my friends who waited and anticipated through months of an adoption journey.
I am inspired by Mary’s brave response to the angel Gabriel in Luke 1:38 (ESV): “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
There’s a distinct courage and unmistakable faith in Mary’s words even as she stands at the crossroads of so many unknowns. She risked her future with Joseph, her reputation, her life. Her “yes” was an invitation into a life of grief and glory.
After Mary’s encounter with the angel, she hustles to the hills to visit her older cousin Elizabeth, who is also pregnant as an angel predicted. (I like to call her Aunt Lizzie out of love and respect.) Aunt Lizzie was pregnant with John the Baptist, who was the cousin and forerunner of the Messiah in Mary’s womb. Aunt Lizzie was in her third trimester and Mary was in her first. Aunt Lizzie had been secluded for the first five months of her pregnancy, making this visit with Mary that much more meaningful. When the two women are united, the baby leaps inside Aunt Lizzie’s womb and she is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Aunt Lizzie offers up words of affirmation to Mary:
God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.
Luke 1:41-44 (NLT)
Mary needed Aunt Lizzie to provide confirmation, affirmation, and encouragement to her as the mother of the Prince of Peace everyone had been waiting for. She was to be the home for God wrapped in flesh. That was quite a job description for a teenager.
Aunt Lizzie needed Mary who would labor for her long-awaited Savior. She also needed a friend through her geriatric pregnancy, someone to celebrate and anticipate this long awaited birth with her.
Sometimes it takes another woman to help ground us and remind us of our God-given callings.
When I was a young mother, women like Serena, Michelle, Eunie, Chris, and Jane spoke life into me through our Bible studies and MOPS group. Today, as a writer, leader, and mom of girls, women like Jo, Tasha, Stephanie, Bev, and Vivian infuse me with courage and remind me of my gifts and calling.
Aunt Lizzie and Mary stayed together for three months. I imagine this was a sacred time when the two women delighted, commiserated, and prayed together, a sacred time of encouraging one another. These two chosen women — one older with wrinkles dancing across her cheeks, the other younger with eyes full of hope — were able to bear witness to His glory in each other. Mary probably stayed there in the hill country to celebrate the birth of John, who would also one day bear witness and affirm Jesus’ identity.
Friend, God designed us to bear witness to His glory in each other. We were not made to weather life’s storms or taste sweet victories alone.
Perhaps you are hurting today. Perhaps you are lonely and wondering if you really have what it takes to wake up tomorrow and continue on this life journey. Perhaps you are navigating loss, disappointment, and grief in this season. I want to encourage you to reach out, to connect, to find an Elizabeth or Mary among the women in your community.
Let’s choose to offer courage to each other. Let’s choose collaboration over comparison. Let’s bear witness to the glory of God in each other. Let’s be an Elizabeth or Mary to someone today. You and I were designed to flourish together.
Dorian, you will never know how perfectly timed this post was for me! Before I read your post I was writing a blurp to my Titus 2 daughters using an example of another sister/friend’s shining Jesus into her children. I vacillated if I would be embarrassing that friend by using her example yet I pushed through & sent it. Then I read your post! Another woman to help ground us & remind us of our God given callings indeed! Blessings!
It’s so important to call out the glory we see rising in each other! I love hearing about your friend!
I have a couple of Mary and Elizabeths in my life. I am blessed. I so appreciate what you wrote. Mary has always held a special place in my heart and it used to trouble me how often overlooked she had been in some of the churches I attended. Not so anymore. Her story and Elizasbeth’s story needs to be honored for all that it signifies. Thank you for all your wrote today.
Glory to god for the Elizabeths and Marys He has put in your life! I’m glad this resonated with you!
I keep praying God will lead me to where people care. I know at the proper time he will surround me with friends, etc. e found a good church but it’s in another state and we can’t move just yet. But i am hopefully and grateful to our Lord God. We are able to watch the services online for now and every now and then I met nice people out and about. No friends yet but still open to whenever they come. The Lord God knows when and where they will be here.
Praying for discernment for you Ariel! Like Mary, sometimes we have to seek out those mentor-friends!
I am going through the longest season of depression and anxiety of my life. I don’t have a Mary or Elizabeth in my life anymore to turn to. I don’t have any children of my own. My marriage of 25 years is shaky. I am very lonely. I need your prayers please. May the Lord Jesus bless you all!
Dearest Comforter of the Downtrodden be tangible to Donna giving her peace & strength as she is in a season of loneliness, depression & anxiety. Make Your promises come to life in her heart and in her day to day activities. Give her a Mary to minister to & an Elizabeth to pour truth into her as well. Spur her husband to love You and fall deeply in love with Donna as well. Surround all the fractured hearts, especially in this season that the world touts as the happiest time of the year. Guard us from buying the slick message of shiny joy but keep us grounded in the real joy of the hope in You and Your faithful promises. Thank You that Donna was brave enough to share her wounds and ask for prayer. Make us brave as well & faithful to lift one another up to You. In Your All Powerful Authority, Jesus. Amen. ((o))
Thank you very much!
Donna, thank you for sharing vulnerably here. May you feel the God who sees, hears, and comforts. Amen to this beautiful prayer!
Donna,
Abba Father Comforter of the lonely please come near to Donna. Give her peace. comfort & strength that only comes from you. Guide & direct her steps. Send some friends her way that can encourage her. Shower her with your love & hugs. Soften her husband’s heart to come back to you. Help him to see Donna as the woman he loved 25 years ago. Keep this marriage together. Make her feel you the God who sees, hears & loves.
Blessings 🙂
So, yesterday, Proverbs 31 devotional tells me not to put my burdens on my friends. Because I’m a lot, and God is the only One who could ever understand me. Today, we’re back at, we were not made to weather life’s storms alone. I am so very confused. I felt that I was supposed to be quiet and listen, but what I’m hearing has me so confused. I don’t know which way is up anymore.
I just searched for the devotional you were referring to, and I read it. I believe she’s talking about our expectations of one another. In our walk with the Lord, as women especially, He brings us companions to bear one another’s burdens. As we grow in Him, He will sometimes allow others to just not have the grace to bear our burdens. His goal ultimately is for us to seek Him out in His Word to find truth that declares what we need. At that point, we have to decide if we believe it. In Psalm 23, the first verse declares the Lord as my Shepherd, and not fearing lack because He is all I need to fulfill my want or lack. Then in the middle they walk through the valley of the shadow of death.. why(?), Because He is with me, His rod and staff comfort me. When looking up rod and staff in the Strong’s Concordance for definition, it’s meaning describes the attributes of the body of Christ with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So to conclude my thought, the provision of the body of Christ to bear our burdens is to bear them while leading us to truth in Christ and His Word so we can be set free. Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to Me and i will answer you and show you what I can do, great and mighty things you do not know.” That word call means “to accost”, now that’s fervency in prayer to the Lord. He will answer, in His time, in His way, but He will answer. He has to because His Word declares it in John, “my sheep hear my voice .” Go after Him.. again.. and again.. etc. He promises to reward those who diligently seek Him.
Paula, thank you for taking us through this reminder that He is our ultimate companion, Shepherd, burden-bearer, and also promise-keeper!
Dorina,
I have had some Elizabeth’s in my life. One in particular is retiring so I won’t see her as often. We will stay in contact. On the flip side of this–I have been an encourager to some women. They have told me what our friendship means to them. Everyone should either be an Elizabeth/Mary or have one or two in their lives.
Blessings 🙂
Beth, I love hearing about these examples in your life too! God uses community to buoy our spirits!