The Interpreter led Christiana and her companions into another room. There stood a sheep, quiet and still, while a butcher prepared to kill it. The travelers watched in silence. At last Christiana spoke. "What means this sight, Sir?" The Interpreter answered, "Do you see how quietly the sheep stands? It neither struggles nor complains, though it knows what is before it. So should the children of God learn patience when the Lord calls them to suffer."

Mary and Elizabeth's visitation scene. "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." (Luke 1:6) Some stories in Scripture move quickly. Others unfold over decades. Elizabeth's story belongs to the second category. We meet her in the opening chapter of Luke's Gospel, but by then she has already lived a long life of faithfulness. She and her husband Zechariah had served God for many years. They had prayed. They