A quiet Christmas reflection on choosing to believe God while waiting, holding faith through unanswered prayers, and trusting His work in ordinary days.

Note: This post has been updated to include episode 64 of the Habits of Hope Podcast. This episode revisits and gently weaves together themes from earlier writings, offering a quiet, reflective space to prepare your heart for Christmas.

Have you ever loved God faithfully for a long time…
served Him, prayed, trusted Him —
and still carried a deep longing He didn’t seem to answer?

Maybe you’ve wondered, quietly,
Why would God let this prayer go unanswered for so long?
Or felt the tension between faithfulness and disappointment.

If so, you’re not alone.

Some stories in Scripture are so familiar
that we stop listening for the nuances in the passage.

We know the ending.
We’ve read the miracle.

Sometimes the best gift we can give ourselves is time to slow down and let God speak.

Let’s step into the story together.

It was just a regular day.

No sign in the sky.
No whisper of anticipation.
Just faithfulness.
Just showing up.

And then — God stepped in.

Luke 1:5-25

5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. His wife Elizabeth was also descended from Aaron.
6 They were both righteous before God, living blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

8 Once, when Zechariah was performing his priestly duties before God, in the order of his division,
9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense.
10 At the hour of the incense offering, all the people were outside praying.

11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
12 When Zechariah saw him, he was shaken and overcome with fear.
13 But the angel said to him,
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
14 He will be a joy and a delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth.
15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth.
16 He will turn many of the Israelites to the Lord their God.
17 He will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

18 Zechariah said to the angel,
“How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

19 The angel replied,
“I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and bring you this good news.
20 And now, because you did not believe my words—which will be fulfilled in their time—you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things happen.”

21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the sanctuary.
22 When he came out, he could not speak to them, and they realized he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home.
24 After these days his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and kept herself in seclusion for five months.
25 “This is the Lord’s doing,” she said,
“now that He has looked with favor upon me and taken away the reproach under which I lived among people.”

One of the hardest parts of this story — and one of the most important —
is that Zacharias and Elizabeth were faithful before anything changed.

Scripture is careful to tell us they were righteous before God,
walking blamelessly in obedience.
And yet — they carried years of disappointment.

They prayed.
They waited.
And God did not answer the deepest longing of their hearts for a very long time.

That kind of waiting wears on you.
Especially when you’ve served God faithfully for years.
Especially when you’ve prayed the same prayer again and again.
Especially when the silence stretches on longer than you expected.

And in their culture, barrenness was not just painful — it was shameful.
It was something others noticed.
Something silently judged.
Something that could make you question what God was doing… or if He had forgotten you.

And yet — they remained faithful.

They didn’t walk away from God because they were disappointed.
They didn’t stop serving because the longing remained.
They didn’t quit trusting, even when the ache stayed tender.

This story matters because it reminds us:
Faithfulness is not measured by outcomes.

Sometimes faithfulness looks like continuing to follow God
even when the prayer you care most about remains unanswered.

And maybe that’s where this story meets you today…

Let’s ask God to let the story of Zachariah become a mirror:

• We are the ones who wait.
• We are the ones who pray prayers that feel unanswered.
• We are the ones who fear and wonder and hope and doubt.
• We are the ones who long to know: Has God heard me?

This Christmas, choose to believe. . . God is working in your ordinary days.

It all began with routine priestly service — nothing dramatic.

“Once, when Zechariah was performing his priestly duties before God…” (Luke 1:8)

He was simply being faithful.
Showing up where God had placed him.
Carrying both devotion and disappointment.

And that is where God broke in.

When the lots were cast, God made a sacred selection.
The moment priests hoped for and most never received.

Zachariah’s name was chosen.

A once-in-a-lifetime calling.
A doorway into holy ground.

He did not know that today, heaven would meet him in the middle of his ordinary obedience.
He was simply doing the work that was his to do.

God is not absent in your ordinary.
He is present there — moving, preparing, shaping, holding.

Have you missed God’s nearness simply because life feels ordinary or routine?

This Christmas…choose to believe prayer and worship make a difference.

“And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside…” (Luke 1:10)

The worship and prayer of the people is an important part of this story.

A turning of hearts toward God.
A holy expectancy.

A moment of reverence and seeking.

Every prayer and moment of worship matters.

This Christmas, choose to believe. . . has heard your prayers.

The angel speaks to the request Zacharias had prayed for years:

“Your prayer has been heard.” (Luke 1:13)

Not:
“You prayed the right way.”
“You prayed enough.”
“You prayed with perfect faith.”

Just:
Your prayer has been heard.

There are prayers you pray standing up, prayers you pray on your knees, prayers you whisper into your pillow, and prayers you stop praying out loud because they feel too tender to touch anymore.

God has heard every prayer of your heart.

You have not been overlooked.
You have not been forgotten.
The long ache that has lived quietly in your chest is not invisible to Him.

Do you have a prayer have you quietly stopped believing God listens and remembers — and could you bring it to Him again today?

This Christmas, choose to believe. . .God meets you in your longing.

The message touches the Zachariah’s deepest longing:

“Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son…” (Luke 1:13b)

In this passage, God speaks to the exact place where the ache lives.

Where hope stretched thin.
Where disappointment has lingered.

This is not a story about getting what we want.
It is a story about God seeing us in the waiting, the grief, the surrender, the longing —and meeting us there.

Where have you been afraid to hope because disappointment has been real?

This Christmas, choose to believe. . .God can bring you joy.

“He will be a joy and a delight to you.” (Luke 1:14)

Sometimes joy feels far away.
Sometimes grief takes up space in us longer than we expect.
Sometimes we can even forget what joy feels like.

But God is the restorer of joy.

Not the forced, smiling, “make it look okay” kind of joy —
but the deep joy that rises quietly
like a warm light from within.

Joy that doesn’t deny sorrow —
but lives alongside it.

Joy that knows tears and still says,
There is goodness yet.

Where has joy felt out of reach — and could you trust Him to restore your joy today?

This Christmas, choose to believe. . .God will fill you with the Holy Spirit.

“He will be filled with the Holy Spirit…” (Luke 1:15)

John’s birth gave us a glimpse of what God was going to make possible for all of us. In ages past, the Holy Spirit was sometimes given to rest on individuals to empower them for a specific calling.

In goes deeper than on.

John was filled with the active presence of God working from within. One of the ongoing gifts of Christmas is that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Holy God takes residency in the manger of our lowly hearts.

The extraordinary meets the mundane.

No longer in need of angels to convey messages, we can be filled with the Holy Spirit, the presence and purpose of God.

This is the great mystery of the gospel:

By faith, you do not live this life alone.
You do not carry your faith by your own strength.
You do not have to manufacture peace, hope, trust, or belief. It is a gift of God.

The Spirit breathes in you.
Fills what you cannot fill.
Strengthens what you cannot hold.
Sustains what you cannot carry.

Have you received the Holy Spirit by faith in Christ? Where do you need a fresh filling of the Spirit in your life?

This Christmas, choose to believe. . . God is still reconciling hearts.

“He will turn many… he will turn hearts…” (Luke 1:16–17)

Christmas is a story of God drawing near.
Softening what has become hardened.
Restoring what has been strained.
Bringing home what has wandered.
Lifting what has been heavy.

You may be carrying relational weariness.
A conversation that ended poorly.
A distance you don’t know how to close.
A wound that still stings.

God is still turning hearts today.

Is God inviting you to release something, forgive someone, soften something to prepare your heart for more of Him?

This Christmas, choose to believe. . . God will work in your wait.

“They had no child… and both were advanced in years.” (Luke 1:7)

The waiting was long.
The waiting was painful.
The waiting shaped them.

And yet —
God had been present in every year of waiting. And He is present in our waiting.

Your waiting has not been empty.
Waiting is not punishment.
Waiting is preparation.

How has waiting changed you — strengthened you — deepened you?

This Christmas, choose to believe God is bigger than your doubt.

“How can I be sure of this?” (Luke 1:18)

Zacharias didn’t reject God —
he simply didn’t know how to hold hope anymore. His questions were bigger than his faith in the moment.

I’ve been there. That very issue is the source of many moments of anxiety in my life.

Maybe you know that feeling.

Maybe you’ve tried to protect your heart.
Maybe you’ve learned to hope with caution.
Maybe belief feels tender.

God does not abandon Zachariah in this moment —
He stays.
He continues the promise.

Where is belief tender in your life — and can you allow God to meet you there?

Had I been standing beside the altar listening to the voice of an angel, would I struggle to believe?

The struggle to take God at His word is also part of the first message of Christmas. Will we believe the message? Will we accept the one before us, the miracle of God clothed in the skin of a baby?

Like Zachariah, we can point to logic and count our problems.

We can look back instead of forward.

We can lose sight of what can be in the face of what is.

Like Zachariah, we can get lost in our, “how can this be” questions.

And yet, Zachariah’s doubts did not disqualify him from God’s plan.

God still fulfills the promise.
God still brings the child.
God still writes the story.
God still speaks favor.

The same is still true today. Bring your doubts to God.
Your story is still unfolding with God’s faithfulness woven through it.

Clinging to our desire for certainties, we can cheat ourselves of the wonder of faith. We can let doubt silence faith, or we can ask for faith that silences doubt.

The choice is ours.

Maybe the greatest consequence of disbelief renders us unable to tell of the wonder of God. I count so many times I have struggled. What gracious blessing to see that our frailties of faith do not stop God.

Today’s Habit of Hope

Name the place where your heart needs God right now,
and choose to believe He is working there.

Try this simple prayer:

“Lord, this is where I need You.
I choose to believe You are working here.”

This Christmas, choose to believe in the favor of God.

The story of this first Christmas message continues with the rounding belly of a woman pregnant with longing fulfilled.

In quiet content with life growing strong within her, Elizabeth completes this first message of Christmas. With joy, she feels that sweet favor kick against her ribs.

“The Lord has looked with favor upon me.” (Luke 1:25)

Favor means:
God comes close.

Right where you are.
As you are.

You are seen.
You are known.
You are loved.

Let the story of Zachariah whisper to you in your ordinary days:
God sees you.
God hears you.
God is nearer than you think.

Let His peace settle over your questions.
Let His joy rise again in the places where you’ve felt weary.
Let His favor remind you that you have never been forgotten.

Before we end, take one more breath.
Let your heart open just a little wider.
Let the hope of this story settle into the places where belief has felt fragile.

Christmas is a season of sacred expectancy—
a reminder that God breaks into ordinary lives
with extraordinary grace through the redeeming gift of His son.

From my heart to yours, Merry Christmas, friend.

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