02/19/2026
I’ve heard it said that if you want to be intentional about dating and marry someone who shares in your devotion to God, run the race and see who runs with you. This is your dating pool. These are your people. There is no better Biblical example of this than Mary and Joseph, Jesus’s earthly parents. The Bible states that the Lord found favor with Mary. Her devotion for the Lord allowed her to be blessed. Because of this, she was visited by an angel to inform her that she would be miraculously pregnant with the Son of God. The angel also encourages her to leave town and visit her cousin, Elizabeth, because the Lord has affirmation for her and mutual encouragement for them both. This means that when she returns to town, Joseph, her fiancé, can see she is visibly pregnant. The Bible doesn’t explicitly state how that made him feel, but we can imagine he could have felt hurt, anger, betrayal. Yet, he still decided to break off the relationship quietly, when he had every right in that time to shame her publicly. His honorable character shows through in this time of crisis. Then Joseph is also visited by an angel in a dream, telling him what Mary said is true, and he is also called to raise the Son of God.
Each of them were called individually to raise the Son of God, together. This is what mutual calling can look like in marriage.
If you are unsure what your mutual calling might be in your marriage, I encourage you to seek the Lord both individually and together. Mutual calling can give your relationship a stronger foundation, a mission statement, if you will, increasing intimacy during times of crisis.
Hebrews 12:1
