Daily Devotionals for Women - Today's Encouraging Word from Scripture

WHEN PREGNANCY IS TENUOUS

And Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months, and then returned to her home. Luke 1:56

When Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit, she picked up her things and went straight to Elizabeth's house. When Elizabeth saw her, she knew something momentous had taken place. She immediately prophesied over her and provided a place for Mary to spend the most tenuous time of any woman's pregnancy - the first trimester.

When Mary experienced the most severe symptoms of morning sickness, she was safe in Elizabeth's care. When Mary first deliberated the cost of carrying the son of God, she was with one who was safe for her spiritually. When Jesus' life was the most fragile, his mother cared for him best by securing the best possible environment.

Have you ever been pregnant with God's calling? The first days and months, even years, after God has spoken to us is the most critical time for us to be guardians of that 'new thing'. That is the time when we are prone to question what we heard Him say and because of that, we are the most vulnerable to others talking us out of it. Until His Word is established in our hearts and has fully taken root, we must be diligent to keep company with the likes of Elizabeth. We must secure an environment of safety where His Word can be confirmed, not questioned and destroyed.

Solomon said, "Walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous." The 'righteous' does not always describe every child of God, only one who is also able to hear and obey the voice of God no matter the cost. This bears out with the story of Elizabeth. She was also pregnant with a child who would bring great controversy.

(John the Baptist) She was one who also knew what it was like to be visited by the Spirit of God and called according to His purpose. Who better to nurture Mary in her most vulnerable time than another woman who was also pregnant with God's call!

I choose my company wisely and guard my heart against any whose cancer of unbelief might spread to undermine what I have been called to do.

I love to hear Your voice - but oftentimes it stretches me and I second guess that I heard correctly. Show me how to guard what is so precious. In Jesus' name, Amen

For more from Christine Wyrtzen and Jaime Wyrtzen Lauze, please visit www.daughtersofpromise.org