By Pastor Brittany  

I love this story. Zechariah and Elizabeth desperately want to have a child and go most of their lives carrying this burden. Zechariah doesn’t have a son to carry on his name, Elizabeth feels shamed because she cannot bare a child. Yet, one day Zechariah is in the temple when Gabriel appears to him and tells them they will have a child and name him John and he will prepare the way for the Lord. What a special child. I have always loved reading of God’s hand at work in this story, however; recently it brought new meaning to me… this story of God doing something great through a method Zechariah didn’t believe or understand.

After our first child was born Luke and I suffered a miscarriage. After a period of time we decided we were ready to go down the road of trying to have a baby again. This time though, things weren’t happening the way they should. After some time, by God’s grace and with the help of an incredible doctor and modern medicine, we were able to conceive our youngest daughter. Through that journey, we learned a lot about trusting God’s plan, leaning on Him and believing that His ways are better than ours. He did an amazing miracle and I’m forever grateful.

Fast-forward to our youngest’s first birthday. I wasn’t feeling well and long story short… there’s another precious child on the way. What a pleasant surprise… but still a surprise! I kind of chuckled when I re-read this passage; there was a day very recently that I’m sure my face looked a bit like Zechariah’s on that day. Pure shock. Pure amazement. Pure “are you serious, Lord?” Pure “there is no way that’s possible!” Only, it is with God.

One of the many things I love about my God is that He doesn’t always do things the way they make sense for us to be done. We, and our human selves, often times put God in a box and forget that He is GOD. He is able to do more than we can ask or think. He doesn’t need us to understand His ways, He just needs us to trust Him and remember that He is able. He doesn’t always answer our prayers in the way we asked Him to, but He is always at work. Thank you Lord for doing the impossible!