A Thrill of Hopeنموونە

Have you ever received extraordinary news and felt the weight of carrying it alone? Sometimes God gives you something sacred or hard to explain, and you know not everyone will understand.

That’s where Mary was. She just said “yes” to an extraordinary call. Yet, she was just a young girl facing questions, whispers, and uncertainty.

What did she do? She hurried to see her cousin, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was older, wiser, and living out her own miracle. When Mary walked through the door, Elizabeth’s baby leapt inside her womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit.

“Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:45, ESV)

Elizabeth didn’t question Mary’s story—she celebrated it. Mary was seen, and understood. That’s the power of a godly community.

We aren’t meant to carry our callings alone. God designed us to be a body; each part connected and building one another up.

How different that looks today! It’s easy to isolate, stay home, scroll online, and convince ourselves that we can follow Jesus without the church. But we need each other.

We need the conversations that happen in the church foyer after a hard week, the prayers shared in small groups, the friend who notices you’ve gone quiet and reaches out. Those moments are where our faith is strengthened and loneliness loses its grip.

Mary didn’t journey alone. She sought out community and God met her there.

Maybe God’s inviting you to do the same: to re-engage with community, show up again, open up, receive and give encouragement. When faith meets faith, something leaps inside us, and the promises of God start to feel alive.

Today, ponder this: Are there people in your life who speak faith into your calling the way Elizabeth did for Mary? What does being part of the “body of Christ” look like, and how might God be asking you to reconnect? Is there someone who needs reminding that God still sees them and hasn’t forgotten them?

Lord, thank You for the gift of community and for people who remind me of Your promises when I forget. Help me not to isolate when life feels heavy, but to seek out the relationships that breathe life into my faith. Show me how to encourage others, so that together we can reflect Your love to the world. Amen.