Blessed are You!

“Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." Luke 1:45

Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, and cousin to Virgin Mary, proclaimed these words to Mary when Mary visited her to share with her the "good news" that she was pregnant. 

Don't we all need Elizabeths in our life? Someone to share with, someone who will support us, walk with us, is interested in our personal life story and will love us in spite of our idiosyncracies or strange happenings in our life? Someone who will say, “Blessed are you!" 

We are truly blessed when we have people around us, family or friends, who will be the face of God for us, who want the best for us, and who will stand up for us. Life is not easy. It can get complicated, messy, when we navigate it’s rough roads. The namesake of Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth Taylor, once said, “You find out who your real friends are when you’re involved in a scandal.” Hopefully we never have to get involved in a scandal to find out who our real friends are. We need friends who are not fair weather friends, who will be around for us through thick and thin. We also need friends who will tell us the truth no matter how hard the truth is. Yes, we need Elizabeth’s around us and they are gifts from God. 

But even more important, are we Elizabeths to those who need an Elizabeth?