Come, Follow Me for Littles · December 28, 2026

An older husband and wife in modest ancient-Israel robes standing together in a sunny courtyard holding hands and looking hopeful and patient, with potted flowers and green vines around them.

Monday

A Very Long Wait

Today's idea Heavenly Father answers prayers in His own time.

Happy new year! This week we start a brand new book — the New Testament. And it begins with two people who had been waiting a very, very long time.

Zacharias and Elisabeth were old. They loved Heavenly Father, and for years and years they had prayed for a baby. And for years and years, no baby came.

One day Zacharias was doing his job in the temple, and an angel appeared right beside him.

The angel said, “Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard.” They were going to have a son, and his name would be John.

Look at what the angel said, though. Not “Heavenly Father has finally noticed you.” He said thy prayer IS heard. It had been heard the whole time.

Sometimes an answer takes a long while to arrive. That is not the same as nobody listening. Zacharias and Elisabeth waited most of their lives — and then the answer came, and it was wonderful.

A young woman in modest ancient-Israel robes standing in a sunny room looking up in gentle wonder at warm golden light streaming through an open window, with a green garden visible outside.

Tuesday

Nothing Is Impossible

Luke 1

Today's idea With Heavenly Father, nothing at all is impossible.

Six months later, the same angel — his name was Gabriel — was sent to a young woman in a little town called Nazareth. Her name was Mary.

Gabriel told her she was going to have a baby, and that her baby would be the Son of God.

Mary was amazed. She asked how such a thing could possibly happen.

And Gabriel gave her an answer that is only five words long, but it is one of the biggest sentences in all the scriptures: “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

Nothing. Not one single thing on the whole list of things that seem too hard.

That does not mean everything you want will happen exactly how you pictured it. It means there is nothing Heavenly Father CANNOT do. When something looks impossible to you, it does not look that way to Him.

A young woman in modest ancient-Israel robes kneeling calmly with hands folded and a peaceful trusting smile in a warm sunlit room, with an open window onto a bright green garden.

Wednesday

Mary Said Yes

Luke 1

Today's idea You can say yes to Heavenly Father even before you understand everything.

So there was Mary, a young woman in a small town, being told the most astonishing thing anybody has ever been told.

She could have said, “Are you sure you have the right house?” She could have said, “Ask somebody older.” She could have asked for a week to think about it.

Instead she said this: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”

In our words, that means: I belong to Heavenly Father. Whatever He says, yes.

She did not know how it would all work. She did not know everything that was coming. She said yes anyway, because she trusted who was asking.

You can do that too. When you feel a little nudge to be kind, or brave, or honest, you do not have to understand the whole plan. You can just say yes.

Two women in modest ancient-Israel robes greeting each other with a joyful warm hug in a sunny doorway, both laughing with delight, with flowering vines around the door.

Thursday

The Baby Who Jumped for Joy

Luke 1

Today's idea Good news is best when you have somebody to share it with.

As soon as the angel left, Mary did what you would do. She went to find somebody to tell.

She hurried off to see her cousin Elisabeth — the very same Elisabeth who had waited so long, and who was going to have baby John.

Mary walked in and called out hello. And the moment Elisabeth heard Mary's voice, the baby inside Elisabeth jumped for joy.

Even before he was born, John was excited about Jesus!

Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost and said out loud, “Blessed art thou among women.” She just knew. Nobody had to explain it to her.

So there they were — two people who had each been given something impossible, standing in a doorway, laughing about it together. That is what good news is for.

A young woman in modest ancient-Israel robes singing joyfully with her arms lifted in a sunny green meadow, head tilted back happily, with songbirds flying around her.

Friday

Mary's Song

Luke 1

Today's idea When your heart is full, sing about it.

Mary stayed with Elisabeth for three months. And somewhere in there, Mary was so full of happiness that words on their own were not enough.

So she sang. People have been singing her song ever since.

It starts, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

To magnify something is to make it look bigger — like a magnifying glass over a ladybird. Mary was saying: I want to make Heavenly Father look as big and as good as He really is.

Then she sang about how He notices the small and the ordinary, and fills up the hungry with good things.

Mary was young. She was not rich or important. And she sang about how Heavenly Father is exactly the kind of God who notices somebody like her.

An older man in an everyday striped tunic and cloth head wrap writing on a small wooden tablet with a delighted amazed smile while his wife holds their newborn baby, with friends smiling around them.

Saturday

His Name Is John

Luke 1

Today's idea Doing exactly what Heavenly Father asked can turn out wonderfully.

When the baby finally came, all the neighbours and cousins came round to celebrate. And everybody assumed the baby would be named Zacharias, after his dad.

But Elisabeth said, “No — his name is John.”

Everybody was puzzled. Nobody in the family was called John! So they turned to Zacharias to settle it.

Now, Zacharias had not been able to speak this whole time. So somebody handed him a little writing tablet.

He wrote four words: “His name is John.” Exactly what the angel had said, all those months before.

And the moment he wrote it, he could speak again — and the very first thing he did with his voice was praise Heavenly Father. Everyone in the hill country talked about it for ages afterwards.

A kind father in an everyday striped tunic and cloth head wrap and a young mother in modest ancient-Israel robes standing together looking down tenderly at their newborn baby in her arms, both smiling.

Sunday

God With Us

Matthew 1

Today's idea Jesus's names tell you exactly why He came.

Joseph was a good man, and he was worried. He did not understand what was happening to Mary, and he did not want anybody to be hurt or ashamed.

So while he was worrying about it, he fell asleep — and an angel came to him in a dream.

The angel said, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not.” Then the angel told him about the baby, and gave him the name: “thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

And Matthew added something that might sound familiar, because we read it back in September. He said all this happened so that what Isaiah wrote would come true: “they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

Do you remember that name? Isaiah said it seven hundred years earlier. And now here it was, happening.

That is where the Old Testament and the New Testament shake hands. Everything the prophets promised all year — a star, a shepherd, a child, a name — arrived. God with us.