The Carol that Quieted a Battlefield

Claire Black: Welcome to True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. I’m Claire Black. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us, one Christmas carol at a time.

Cozy up.You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!

This season of the True Girl podcast is all about The Wonder of Christmas. Join Dannah Gresh by the fire on her Pennsylvania farm, as snow falls softly outside and the Christmas tree twinkles. We’ll explore the backgrounds of three favorite carols. Each story will point your heart back to the greatest wonder of all: Jesus.

First up, a song that helped stop a war. Temporarily, anyway.

Grab a Christmas cookie, and let’s listen to episode one of season 22. It’s called “The Carol that Quieted a Battlefield.” 

Oh, wait! I almost forgot . . . it’s Dannah’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Dannah!

Dannah Gresh: Thanks, Claire! I’m just reading this nice birthday card from Staci! Wish she could be with us today.

But welcome to you, True Girl. I’m so glad you’re here! I can’t think of anyone I’d rather spend my birthday with than you. Want a sugar cookie?

Okay, well, I’mgonna have one! Hmmm . . . now this is what I call birthday cake! 

Oh, and speaking of birthdays, it’s not really mine I want to talk about. It’s Jesus’ birthday!

See that little nativity set over there? That was my first birthday gift. My mom and dad got it for me the year I was born. Just one week after I showed up on this planet, I was celebrating Christmas!

By the way, shout out to all the December birthday girls who always get combo birthday-Christmas gifts from their aunts. Yeah! Or whose friends are always traveling for the holidays and can never come celebrate your big day. I see you! 

There was a time I really grumbled about it, but then, well, with the right perspective you can always find a way to make something that doesn’t turn out how you’d like into something wonderful. And you just never know how that might impact other people.

Pull your chair closer to the fireplace. I want to tell you a story.

It was another quiet night like this—more than two hundred years ago. The year was 1818. The little village of Oberndorf, Austria, sat tucked beside a river. It was Christmas Eve, but all was not calm and bright.

The church organ had broken—completely. No booming chords, no grand hymns for the celebration of Christ’s birth.

A young minister, Joseph Mohr, worried that his Christmas service would be a disaster. But he remembered something—a poem he had written two years earlier. He took that poem to his friend, Franz Gruber, the village schoolteacher and organist.

“Franz,” he said, “can you make this into a song we can sing with a guitar?”

So, in the glow of candlelight, the two men worked quickly, writing a melody that was tender, gentle, and peaceful.

That night, “Silent Night” was sung for the very first time. Just voices and a guitar. Simple.

Of course, it was in German, so it sounded more like stille nacht, heilige nacht.

Minister Mohr didn’t just grumble about that organ problem of his. He pressed through, and a song was born.

Over the years, the song traveled far beyond that snowy village. German-speaking families carried it across Europe. Missionaries and soldiers carried it across oceans. Soon it was translated into dozens of languages—the quiet hymn of one little church becoming a global chorus of worship.

But perhaps the most astonishing moment came a hundred years later, when “Silent Night” found its way onto the cold battlefields of World War I.

It was called that because so many countries were fighting. That war lasted from 1914 to 1918. People didn’t call it the “first” world war back then, because they’d never seen anything like it before. They called it “The Great War” because it involved so many people and caused so much pain.

It was the first Christmas Eve of the war—1914. There was this one area of battle called the Western Front. Well, it stretched for hundreds of miles—muddy trenches, barbed wire, frostbitten hands gripping rifles.

But as darkness settled over No-Man’s Land, something unexpected began to happen. British soldiers heard faint singing from the German lines far in the distance.

“Stille nacht, heilige nacht.”

They recognized the tune—and began to sing along in English!

Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright.

Voices rose, one by one, across the battlefield. Then lanterns appeared. Men climbed from their trenches—unarmed—and met their enemies between the lines.

They shook hands. They shared chocolate. And for one night, the war paused. It’s remembered today as the Christmas Truce of 1914.

When I think about that moment, I imagine heaven leaning close, watching as enemies dared to sing the same words: “Christ the Savior is born.” And I wonder if God smiled, because even on the darkest nights, He is still the Prince of Peace.

I want to read to you from the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 9:6:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

That’s who they were singing about when those soldiers sang “Silent Night”—not just a baby in a manger, but the Prince of Peace, who will one day end all wars.

And that moment? It happened that way because one frustrated minister decided to turn something he didn’t like much—a broken organ—into something that honored Jesus.

I like that!

My birthday being seven days before Christmas wasn’t always great. But some time, a long time ago, I decided it was pretty cool to share my birthday month with Jesus. And now I have a lot of peace in my heart instead of grumbling.

Jesus does that. He brings peace.

What are you frustrated about this month? I don’t know if you have a broken organ or drum kit or if your birthday is this month and you wish it weren’t. Or Christmas reminds you of death because you’re missing your grandma for the first time.

But I do know this: if you look hard enough, you’ll see a way for Jesus to bring peace to anything.

Claire: I never knew all that about the song “Silent Night.” I’m so glad Jesus really does bring peace to hearts. 

True Girl, if you want to grow closer to Jesus and experience His peace, it’s important to spend time in your Bible. It helps you understand Him and know Him better. 

And if you’re not sure how to get started in that, we have some things to help you.

First, ask your mom to check out our True Girl subscription box. We’ll send it right to your door every sixty days! It comes with devos written by Dannah, Staci Rudolph, and others. It’s also got Scripture memory cards and lots of special things that will inspire you to get in your Bible. To kick off 2026, we’re shipping The Wisdom Box. It features a new book by Dannah, called Perched in His Presence: A Wise Girl’s Meditation Guide through the Book of Proverbs. We hope it’ll help you grow closer to Jesus! Find out more about it at MyTrueGirl.com. 

Second, we want to invite you and your mom to read through the whole Bible in 2026! Does that sound like a big challenge? Well, it is, but if you decide to do it, I think you’ll be glad you did.

And if you’re going to be a teenager soon (or maybe you already are), True Girl partnered with Revive Our Hearts to develop the Wonder app! It’ll motivate you and encourage you in your journey through the whole Bible. It’s meant for girls aged thirteen to seventeen, so if you’re there, ask your parents about it! 

It has a daily video devotion that feels kind of like those short videos you find on YouTube. They’ll set you up to spend time in the Bible, which is right there in the app. You can highlight, make notes, and use special stamps to mark verses with important themes. Go to TheWonderApp.com to learn more. 

Okay, True Girl. That’s it for this episode. I hope you’ll be back next week to hear about another Christmas carol! 

Song: Silent Night

Thanks to Chris Tomlin and Kristen Getty for that music. And earlier we heard the Bristol Man Chorus.

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts, calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!

“Silent Night (feat. Kristyn Getty) [Live],” Chris Tomlin, Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship (Live) ℗ 2015 sixstepsrecords LLC.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.