Who understands you best right now? With Sanctuary relationhips, we can share joy, fear, and be our full selves. Both life-long and seasonal relationships can provide santuary. The most important sactuary relationship in which we are fully seen is with God, but we also need people who understand us. This is why God makes room for us to have relationships with one another.

Luke 1:24-45 describes the connection between Mary and Elizabeth, cousins who both became miraculously and unexpectedly pregnant. The older Elizabeth struggled with infertility for years, and Mary was a virgin teenager chosen to bear the Son of God. Despite their joy, both women feared scorn and judgement for their out-of-the-ordinary pregnancies. Mary and Elizabeth shared an experience that only they could understand.

God didn't call Elizabeth to be pregnant alone, and God didn't call Mary to be pregnant alone. God made room for a relationship in which the cousins were sanctuary for each other.

God is constantly making room in relationships, sending someone into our lives to bring insight and understanding. Sometimes that person is not someone we expect. And sometimes we reject this gift from God, because we don't see it coming. This week, Pastor Mia describes how we can use the Advent season to cooperate with God in making room for relationships.