Walk This Way: How Faith Carries Us Through the Journey
Pastor Kyle Veach
There is something about the Christmas season that reminds us how much we long for clarity, comfort, and certainty. Yet the story of Jesus’ arrival is marked by anything but those things. Advent is a reminder that God is faithful even when life feels confusing, delayed, or difficult. Click the link above for the full message.
We often celebrate the destination—the moment hope finally arrives—but God does some of His deepest work in the journey. The birth of Jesus invites us to slow down long enough to see how God forms faith inside us long before we see the outcome. Faith is not about everything making sense. Faith is trusting God enough to keep moving forward when nothing makes sense at all.
The Journey of Faith Begins Where Certainty Ends
Luke tells us in Luke 2:1–5 that a census required Joseph and a very pregnant Mary to travel more than 80 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Anyone who has ever been around a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy knows this was not a convenient moment for travel. But they went—not because it made sense, but because God asked them to take the next step.
This is often where faith begins: at the end of our clarity.
Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as the “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” We want faith to remove the unknown, but God gives faith that carries us through the unknown.
We rarely get ten-year plans from God. Most of the time, we receive one step at a time. Like Mary and Joseph, we don’t see the entire picture—we only see pieces. Faith sometimes feels like being handed puzzle pieces without seeing the box. Some pieces look random. Some feel out of place. But the finished work is always beautiful.
Faith is not found in the feeling; it’s found in the movement. Mary and Joseph didn’t know they were fulfilling prophecy. They didn’t know history would look back on their obedience as destiny. They simply walked to Bethlehem—one faithful step at a time.
Faith Isn’t Knowing the Plan—It’s Trusting the Planner
Most of us want control. We want God to explain everything, confirm everything, and reassure us before we take a step. But Scripture paints a different picture. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” A lamp doesn’t show the whole road. It shows the next few steps.
Corrie Ten Boom said, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
Faith is choosing to believe God’s character even when you cannot see God’s plan.
Many of us can relate. This past year, our family moved to a new city, new home, new community, and new church-planting journey with few answers. We didn’t have clarity, housing, established friendships, or certainty—but we had a word from God. We had the next step. The miracle is never in the details. The miracle begins at our yes.
When God invites us into unfamiliar places, it is never to confuse us—it is to grow us. Faith does more than trust; faith trains us.
Faith Grows When the Journey Gets Uncomfortable
Mary and Joseph were not walking a comfortable road. Bethlehem brought exhaustion, inconvenience, pressure, and risk. Every step reminded them they were not in control. Yet this is exactly where spiritual maturity forms.
James 1:2–4 challenges us to “consider it pure joy when you face trials” because testing produces perseverance and maturity. Romans 5:3–4 tells us that suffering develops character and hope. And 1 Peter 1:6–7 reminds us that trials refine our faith like fire refines gold—proving that what God started in us is real.
Comfort rarely produces spiritual growth. Resistance does.
Just like muscles grow through repeated tension, faith grows through repeated trust. You cannot build spiritual strength without seasons that stretch you. God uses uncomfortable steps to prepare us for the promises He placed inside us. Mary carried the greatest promise the world had ever known. External pressure did not cancel the internal promise.
Many people quit too early—right before the breakthrough. But discomfort is not evidence of God’s absence. Discomfort is often the evidence of God’s formation.
Hardships don’t stop God’s plans; they prepare you for them.
Faith Leads Us to the Arrival of Jesus
After 80 miles of uncertainty, fatigue, and fear, Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem. Jesus was born—not in luxury, not in comfort, and not with applause—but in a manger, in the quiet, in the dark.
Why did God choose this setting for the Savior of the world?
Because Jesus didn’t come for perfect places.
He came for broken people.
Hope doesn’t arrive where everything is right—hope arrives where everything is real.
When Jesus arrived, every promise God made became true. The Messiah was here. Salvation was here. God’s faithfulness was here. Hope had a name, and His name was Jesus.
Many of us today find ourselves on long journeys:
A season that stretched longer than expected
A problem we don’t know how to solve
A place we didn’t plan to be
A road we didn’t choose
The message of Christmas is this: the same Jesus who arrived in their journey arrives in yours.
Not once you figure everything out.
Not once the road becomes easy.
Not once you feel strong enough.
He meets you in the middle of your faith walk—just like He met Mary and Joseph in theirs.
Wherever you are on your journey today, take heart. Keep walking. Keep trusting. Keep saying yes. Jesus arrives where faith remains.
Further Resources
Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering by Timothy Keller
