Throughout the New Testament, believers are given instructions on how to treat one another. Love one another. Honor one another. Serve one another. Pray for one another. In our flesh, we’re prone to do these things when we’re extended love, honor, and service. But scripture is clear: “As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” Luke 6:31

It’s here that we reflect the heart of our Savior.

This year, we’re prayerfully considering this call to love as Christ does —to show His character in how we speak and extend grace in all our dealings and interactions.

Each month, we’ll highlight a “one another” of Scripture by providing an encouraging and practical article for your edification. We will also provide Bible verses that you can pray back to the Lord.

As we embark on this journey together, we ask that God use His Word to shape and refine our hearts, making them more like His. May we be a radiant reflection of Him as we extend love and grace to others.

 March 2026

“Bear One Another’s Burdens”

by Nikki MacDonald

Life is hard. Day to day, we’re reminded that this world is not our home. Bodies break and fail. Relationships break and fail. Money comes and goes. Expectations go unmet. And then the unexpected comes out of nowhere.

Sometimes the weight of this broken world is clear and obvious. Sometimes it’s quiet and hidden. But we live and walk among hurting women. And according to Galatians 6:2, God calls us to bear one another’s burdens. Stop and think about what that means.  First, to bear one another’s burdens implies that we’re in community, not living in isolation apart from one another. We know each other. We open up to one another. Second, to bear one another’s burdens isn’t one-sided. There are times when I will help carry your load. And there are times when you’ll show up to help me carry mine.

But just how do we do this? How do we show up in the love and grace of Jesus and minister to those who are hurting? We can feel so ill-equipped, can’t we? What if we say the wrong thing? What if we make their pain worse?

For much of my life I believed that bearing the burdens of another meant that I was going to fix their pain. I put so much pressure on myself to be and do and say all the right things. I was almost paralyzed for fear of pouring salt in the wound of the hurting.

I’m still learning that while I can’t save the day, I can move toward and pursue the hurting heart. Bearing one another’s burdens means that we limit our words and simply listen. It means we put an arm around a friend and offer a safe place for her to sit, to cry, to process, to voice the doubts and questions in her heart. It means we don’t rush her through her pain and the Holy Spirit’s work in her life. We patiently stay and faithfully pray. We quietly hold her story and her heartache without words or fixing, simply praying, gently pointing to Jesus.

If you have experienced the comfort, mercy, and grace of our loving heavenly Father, sisters, you are uniquely equipped to minister to others (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) with prayerful, quiet presence that moves toward (not away from) messy pain.

In Mark 2:1-12, we read the story of the four men who lowered their paralytic friend through the roof of the home where Jesus was. They saw their friend’s need. And they knew their own limitations. Try as they might, they knew they were not the answer for their friend. And so they brought him to Jesus. That’s what burden-bearing is, friends. It’s seeing a need, entering in, and laying our loved ones at the feet of Jesus.

Jesus bore our greatest burden—the weight of our sin—upon Himself. He saw our need and our limitations: our inability to do anything about it. He didn’t stand afar off and simply acknowledge there was a need. He moved toward us. He gave of Himself. He showed sacrificial love. May we reflect Him and be faithful to do the same as we minister to the hurting people in our lives.