Luke 1 – Mary and Elizabeth;
Can you imagine how Mary must have felt?
One moment she was planning a wedding. The next, an angel was telling her she would carry the Son of God.
She had just said, “May it be to me according to your word,” but obedience doesn’t always erase uncertainty.
Then Gabriel gave her more than a promise.
He gave her a person, a mentor, a friend, a companion.
“Your relative Elizabeth is also going to have a child in her old age…”
Elizabeth wasn’t simply evidence that nothing is impossible with God.
She was God’s provision for Mary at a time of uncertainity, possible shunning, gossip and shame from the small village she stayed in.
So Mary left with haste, running to her solace.
I wonder if she cried on the journey. I wonder if she replayed the angel’s words over and over in her mind. I wonder if she longed for someone who would understand.
When she arrived, before Mary could explain herself, Elizabeth welcomed her with joy.
The baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth didn’t question Mary’s story. She didn’t criticize her age or worry about what others would think. She blessed her. She encouraged her. She reminded her that the God who made the promise would also fulfill it.
Isn’t that what godly friendships do?
They remind us of God’s faithfulness when we’re struggling to remember it ourselves.
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months.
The Bible doesn’t tell us everything that happened during those months, but we can imagine the beauty of that season.
Elizabeth was already six months into her pregnancy. She had lived through the nausea, the exhaustion, and the emotional ups and downs of those early months. Mary was just beginning.
I imagine Elizabeth saying, “Rest. I’ll finish preparing dinner.” Or probably “Take Ginger, it helps with the nausea.”
I imagine them sitting together in the evenings, sewing tiny garments with hopeful hearts. Talking about the babies they carried. Laughing one moment and crying the next. Sharing the aches, the excitement, the fears, and the wonder of what God was doing.
Perhaps Elizabeth offered the quiet wisdom that only an older woman can give a younger one, not because she had all the answers, but because she had walked a little farther down the road.
There is something deeply beautiful about that picture.
Long before Paul wrote in Titus 2 that older women should teach and encourage younger women, we see that calling lived out in Elizabeth’s home.
She didn’t simply open her door.
She opened her heart.
She created a place where Mary could rest, process, worship, ask questions, and grow stronger in her faith without judgement, a safe place.
By the time Mary left three months later, the circumstances waiting for her hadn’t changed. She would still face misunderstanding. She would still walk a difficult road.
But I don’t think she walked back the same woman who had arrived.
She had spent three months in the company of someone whose faith strengthened her own.
We all need an Elizabeth.
An older woman who reminds us to trust God when life feels uncertain. A woman who speaks blessing instead of criticism, wisdom instead of opinion, encouragement instead of fear. Someone who gently points us back to God’s promises when our own hearts grow weary.
And perhaps, as we grow, God calls us to become an Elizabeth for someone else.
Because sometimes the greatest gift God gives us in the middle of His calling isn’t an easier path.
It’s a faithful friend who walks it with us.
When I read Luke 1, I don’t just see the story of two miraculous pregnancies.
I see the heart of God for women.
God didn’t simply give Mary a promise.
He gave her a place to belong.
He sent her to Elizabeth.
An older woman who had walked through disappointment. A woman who knew what it was like to wait on God. A woman whose first response wasn’t judgment, but blessing.
Before Mary faced the opinions of the world, she first experienced the encouragement of another godly woman.
And I believe that picture is still God’s heart today.
That is the vision behind Nest Atelier.
To create spaces where women gather the way Mary and Elizabeth did.
Places where Christian women and mothers can slow down, create with their hands, share stories, encourage one another, pray together, laugh together, and remind each other of God’s faithfulness.
Places where older women naturally pour into younger women, just as Titus 2 describes, not only through formal teaching, but through shared life.
Around a picnic blanket.
Over cups of tea.
While making something beautiful.
While children play nearby.
Because discipleship often looks less like a stage and more like a table.
Less like a program and more like a home.
My prayer is that every Nest Atelier picnic feels a little like Elizabeth’s house. A place where women leave lighter than they came. Encouraged in their faith. Strengthened for the season they’re in. Reminded that they were never meant to walk this journey alone.
May every woman find an Elizabeth.
And by God’s grace, may each of us become one for someone else.
Nest Atelier picnics are about cultivating Christ-centered friendships where women are known, encouraged, and formed together. One conversation, one shared meal, and one faithful friendship at a time.
Join our WhatsApp group or buy your ticket here: Nest Atelier Picnics
Shalom,
Cheering you on;
Following God’s Ways,
Natasha Chetty.
