My favorite story of a family in the Bible really may seem a little bit unusual at first, but I'll explain why. It's Zacharias and Elizabeth. They are two older people who have faithfully served the Lord. The scripture says that they were righteous before the Lord. And these two people trusted in the Lord.

I find it very interesting. As he went into the temple to pray, as That was the custom for him to do at this time. It was his allotted time. And of course we all know that he saw a vision of an angel, and the angel spoke to him and he said, your prayers have been answered. And so we see a man who had obviously given himself to praying because children were seen as a blessing from the Lord.

Not that not having children didn't make him a family, he was a family because he had a wife, but he wanted the fullness of God's blessing. He wanted to see the joys of children. And God, after many years of praying for this, answered his prayers in a miraculous way and we know that as the baby was to be John the Baptist and this child was going to be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. So we see in this picture really one of one of my favorite things that that we see joy coming into the life of faithful people who love the Lord and who had great joy when their child did come.