Oakwood Church Fresh Start Women's Devotional Encouragement for Today Hartland Delafield

A Gift for Mary
By Lisa Boyer

“Therefore encourage each other with these words.”
I Thessalonians 4:18

When reading Luke recently, I found myself fascinated by the words Mary’s relative, Elizabeth, spoke to Mary. There are few verses recorded in the Bible about Elizabeth, but I imagine that her impact on Mary was immeasurable.

Let’s review the story: Elizabeth is an old, barren woman when God performs a miracle and she and her husband conceive John the Baptist. Mary is a young virgin when she is visited by an angel who tells her that she will be the mother of the Son of God.

Upon hearing from the angel that her relative Elizabeth is going to have a baby and is in her sixth month, Mary rushes off to see for herself. Mary travels the long way to Elizabeth’s house and Elizabeth greets her with these words: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42, 43)

Wow! First of all, Elizabeth reaffirms the news the angel had given Mary, before Mary could share it with her. Second, Elizabeth encourages Mary with the repeated use of the word blessed.

Mary’s response implies how much Elizabeth’s words may have influenced her: “My soul glorifies the Lord!” I imagine that when Mary arrived at Elizabeth’s, she was apprehensive about everything she’d heard from the angel. But after hearing Elizabeth reaffirm it, her apprehension turns to rejoicing!

The story doesn’t end there. “Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months” (Luke 1:56a). Mary gets to spend three months with a woman who has just experienced everything she would be experiencing during her own pregnancy! And not just any woman, an encouraging woman who was “upright in the sight of God” (Luke 1:6). What a marvelous gift that must have been to Mary.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be like Mary’s relative, Elizabeth. I want the first words out of my mouth to be those of encouragement. On my own, that would be impossible, but Elizabeth didn’t do it on her own and neither do I. “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:41b), the same Holy Spirit who fills me and you today.

GOING DEEPER:
1. Is there a “Mary” in your life that you could speak words of encouragement to today?
2. Do you believe you’re too old to be used by God; will you reconsider the possibilities as you reflect on how God used Elizabeth?

FURTHER READING:
Luke 1; Romans 5:5

Lisa has been married to Ted for 18 years and they have two teenage sons. She is a co-leader for a Junior High girls’ small group at Oakwood Church.