Every year, as Christmas Day approaches, I look forward to singing “Joy To The World” because it is a joyous song of announcement and triumph and victory. It is like shouting from the rooftops, “He’s here! Jesus is here! Come see!”

The announcement that came so long ago on that first Christmas day, was one that the people of God had been longing to hear. For over 700 years, since the prophet Isaiah first prophesied the coming of the Messiah, the people of God had been anxiously waiting for the Messiah to come to rescue and redeem them. The good news that they had been waiting on in faith for generations had finally arrived! What joyous news! 

The wiseman followed a star, the shepherds got a heavenly announcement, and Mary got a front row seat to the biggest arrival the world has ever known. How blessed and honored each of these humble servants of God must have felt to receive this very special message from the Lord and be a part of the amazing unfolding of God’s good news of redemption and salvation. They got an invitation straight from the heavens to witness the most miraculous event in all of history–the birth of the Son of God. Can you even imagine the joy they must have felt?

Even Jesus’ cousin, John, leapt for joy at his arrival before he was even born.

“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!’”

When Mary greets Elizabeth, the sound of her greeting is picked up by baby John in the womb, and he does a joyful little leap! The angel had said that John would be filled with the Spirit even in his mother’s womb. And so when Mary greets Elizabeth, the Spirit causes John to recognize that Jesus was there, too. The presence of Christ among us brings us great joy! 

For so long humanity was stuck and lost in a world of darkness, lost to the error of our ways, in need of someone to rescue us. We were helpless to help ourselves. Maybe we didn’t even know we needed rescuing. But then, Jesus appeared and our joy was complete! Jesus didn’t just appear that first Christmas but continues to appear in each of our lives to bring hope and joy and love to this broken world.

Joy can be a difficult thing to have when life feels chaotic and busy or just plain hard. There are so many distractions and difficulties that try to steal our joy. But it’s important to remember that joy is not something that is determined by our circumstances like happiness. Rather, it can be present even in times of sorrow and trouble. It is not determined by our present struggles, but brought about through God’s presence and knowledge of our future destiny with Christ. We can have the joy Christ brings no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in, because the joy of the Lord (and His Good News of salvation) can be our strength.

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalm 16:11

Jesus is “Emmanuel”, which means God with us. His presence brings us joy. Joy came down as a baby on that first Christmas day and He continues to be with us through his Holy Spirit. In Christ’s presence we receive the fullness of joy! 

I want to invite you to take a moment to rest in Christ’s presence and let His joy fill you up as you pray:

Jesus, your presence enters into our life and we are filled with such joy! Help us to believe the promises in your Word that we may receive your blessings. May we receive you as John did, and leap for joy in your presence. Thank you for the good news of Christ! May our joy abound as we spend time with you. Amen.

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When my kiddos were little, our family used to live right smack in the middle of a main street that ran through our town. It was near a busy train station and across from middle school and a high school. The noise from traffic and students and the hustle bustle of life rushing past our front door was constant.

But one winter morning, everything was different. Overnight, almost two feet of snow had fallen, which was unheard of in our town. School was cancelled, businesses were closed, and not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Before I woke up the kids, I slipped on my coat and boots, and stepped onto our porch with coffee in hand. What was normally a cacophony of sounds was now a soft and serene wonderland of snow. I was struck by the stillness and absolute silence outside. There was no noise, only the muffled crunch of my boots as I stepped into the snow. I took a deep breath in and as I exhaled, I could see my breath dissipate into the cold, crisp air. I felt my shoulders relax as my mind downshifted into a lower, slower gear, until the internal noise in my head was as peaceful as the air around me.  

When I think of peace, this moment is one of the first that comes to mind. A moment when the world was blanketed in beauty and quiet serenity. And now, even on busy days, I’ll find similar pockets of peace where I can take a deep breath, even if it’s just in the pickup line at school, or the Starbucks drive thru. 

As the day’s to-do list rattles around in my head, moments like these can be a welcome reprieve and a blessing, but ultimately, its effect is fleeting. Sure, it might be enough to help me power through a busy morning, but won’t sustain me indefinitely. When the days are long, or life’s challenges persist and I feel weary under the weight of it all, I need the true and lasting peace that only Jesus can give. 

In John 14:27, Jesus says that He gives us His peace. Not the temporary kind, but shalom. The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, means more than just the absence of conflict or hardship. It means to make complete or whole, to bring order from chaos, and restore what is broken. To give shalom is to give wholeness, healing, and restoration. 

That’s the kind of peace I think we are all longing for – wholeness and healing beyond our own capabilities, and stability in the chaos of the storm. It’s a peace that helps us not to be afraid of the days to come, or feel troubled at the world around us. The peace that Jesus gives us fills us with hope and a deep conviction that, come what may, “it is well with my soul”. 

Jesus is the Prince of Peace and there is no limit to the wholeness that He brings. (Isaiah 9:6-7) That means there is no situation out of reach, no person too far gone, no circumstance where His peace cannot reign. Jesus faithfully and lovingly pursues us, stepping right into our situation whenever we need Him.

Knowing and believing this changes how I approach the little pockets of peace I find throughout my day. Instead of a chance merely to catch my breath and organize my next step, these moments become opportunities to remember that God is near, to breathe deeply of His love, and rest in the care of the Prince of Peace. I am reminded that I’m a daughter of the King, and that God is actively working in and through me to bring about restoration in my home, church, community, and the world at large. I can trust Him to lead me confidently forward, and I can trust Him to keep me safe. 

I pray that today as you find your own pockets of peace, I pray that you will “let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts” (Col 3:15) and that you too will remember that God is near, breathe deeply of His love, and rest in the care of the Prince of Peace. 

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There’s something about winter that feels like a long season of waiting and anticipation. We wait and look forward to spending time with family and friends. We wait in anticipation for the joyful moments under the Christmas tree with little ones, and look forward to the quiet, cozy moments after the hustle and bustle wanes. Even after Christmas, we wait for the new year, and for the days to get longer and lighter in the eager anticipation of spring. 

Sometimes in the midst of all the joyful waiting, we can also find ourselves in a heavier season of waiting on the Lord – waiting for healing, waiting for a relationship to mend, for provision to come, or for peace that passes understanding. During these times, it can be more challenging to hold onto hope when our hearts long to truly experience Emmanuel-God With Us.

The season of Advent gives us a beautiful opportunity to do just that. During Advent, we pause to remember the eager anticipation of Jesus’s birth long ago. We also take time to intentionally live in that same eager anticipation today, as we look forward to His future return. As we slow down and reflect on God’s faithful love and redemptive plan for us, it reorients us and helps us be awake to God’s love and presence. We gain an eternal perspective that allows us to lean into a hope that is greater than our circumstances. 

It reminds us that even while we are waiting, God’s perfect plans are still unfolding. That the same God who worked powerfully in the past, is still working powerfully now. It reminds us that the hope we have is not founded on wishful thinking or positive vibes, but on the finished work of Jesus Christ and the air-tight promise that He is coming again with wholeness and healing to set all things right.   

I’ll admit that waiting on the Lord is not always easy, especially when we can’t see clearly what lies ahead, and when the outcomes are often out of our control. But Hebrews 10:23 reminds us to “…hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” 

That means in every situation, in every season, God is faithful and holds us each securely in His arms. He is actively working on our behalf, in the waiting and praying, in the wrestling and surrender. He never fails to meet us in our need, walk with us, and bring about beauty and blessing from even the toughest situations. He draws near to us and reminds us that He has good plans for us, and that He is not finished yet. 

Because God is faithful to keep His promises, it is safe to trust Him. We can hold unswervingly our hope in Him because He will never fail, never walk away, and never go back on His word. Our hope in God becomes an anchor for our souls. (Heb. 6:19) 

The season of Advent also gives us a chance to profess the hope that we have to the world around us. It’s an opportunity for us to live out our purpose as God’s children by reflecting the light and love of Christ to those around us. To let our confident hope in Jesus be a beacon into the darkness, pointing others to Him. If you have confident hope in Christ, I guarantee there is someone in your life that would be so blessed to hear about it.

If you are in need of hope, I pray that God will place someone in your life to encourage you and share the hope you can have in God. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for someone to sit with you, to pray with you and remind you of God’s love and faithfulness. Hope is strengthened when we share it with one another..

As we collectively tell the stories of what God has done in the past, it builds up our faith in how God is working now, and helps us all to have hope in the amazing things God will do in the future. 

God’s love for us has no limit, no expiration date, no conditions. It is faithful and eternal. So as we hold unswervingly to our hope in Him, we can confidently profess the name of Jesus. 

Whether you are anticipating the joys of the season, waiting for a miracle, or both, my prayer for you is this from Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

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I live in the Pacific Northwest and this time of year it is dark and dreary most of the time in the winter. Combine that with living in a world that can be full of hard things and difficult situations, it can leave us longing for there to be more to this life (and a longing for the sunshine to return!). I find this time of year to be a mix of joyful longing and weary expectation. 

That’s why I love that Christmas is right in the middle of this dark and dreary time of the year. It is a time when we spend a whole season remembering that Hope came to the earth in the form of a little baby. God sent his only son into the world to be the hope we are all longing for. 

I love reading the Christmas story with my kids each year. We curl up on the couch in front of the fireplace each night before bed, all cozy in our fuzzy blankets and jammies, and read about when our Lord came to earth as a baby (out of his great love for us) to bring us hope and joy and peace.

We read the Christmas story every year to help remind us of the day Hope arrived on this earth to bring us everlasting joy and peace, and to be the Light in this dark world that we so desperately need.

Part of the story we love to read about is the first miracle birth in the Christmas story, the story of Zechariah, his wife Elizabeth and their miracle baby, John.
 

“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

Luke 1:76-79

These words were spoken by Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, when he saw his miracle child. Zechariah was a priest, and he and his wife, Elizabeth, had just given birth to their son, named John. Zechariah and Elizabeth had been childless for many years and were well past child-bearing age when this miracle happened to them.

John was the one prophesied to come before Jesus and was sent to prepare a way for Him, announcing His coming. Up to this point, the whole world had been waiting in the darkness for the light of hope to come. This story ushers us into the very beginning of the Christmas story–a story of when the light of the world came to “guide our feet into the path of peace”, to bring us hope in salvation and forgiveness of sin. John’s role was to point to Jesus and go ahead of him, giving the people hope that the one whom they have been waiting for, for so many years, is finally here!

In this verse (Luke 1:79) Jesus was called “the rising sun”, because he came to shine light into the darkness, in order to guide us into his peace. It’s a reminder that if we allow the light of Jesus to illuminate the dark places in our life, the peace of Christ will come to us and replace all fear and doubt with rest and assurance. Just like the Christmas lights lit up all over town that bring a bright hopefulness to the darkness of Winter, these words from Luke are a reminder that Jesus came to be the light of the world. 

We no longer have to live in darkness, lost in sin, fear, and hopelessness. Because of Jesus, we can experience the long-awaited hope, peace and joy we long for, all year long.

In the Christmas song “O Holy Night,” the second line says: “Long lay the world, in sin and error, pining. ’Til He appeared, and the soul felt its worth.” This line is so amazing! It is in the moment that Jesus is born, when He appears in the world, that our soul recognizes its worth. How wonderful that God would become flesh for us–to exchange heaven for earth and endure hardship, pain, loss and all this broken world offers. But He came for us! God’s great love sent Jesus for our sake because we are His beloved.

God loves us infinitely more than we can comprehend. He has wonderful things in store for us that we cannot even imagine; the likes of which we have never seen or heard. If you are facing a season of darkness in your life right now that feels a little hopeless, it is my prayer that you will know that God is with you and He sent His son to bring you hope and fullness of life. Turn your gaze toward Him and allow His light to permeate every corner of your life. He will lead you toward the path of peace, hope and everlasting joy!

Father God, we are filled with such joy on this Christmas day knowing that you brought to us the best gift of all–Jesus! Thank you for your great love for us and for sending your Son to redeem us. We are filled with such joy over the good news of Christ! We ask that you help us see the areas of our lives where we need your light to shine forth in darkness. Bring your everlasting peace to our hearts and souls, replacing all fear and doubt, and helping us point others to you, the Prince of Peace. We long for true peace that comes only through your son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

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When I was in second grade, an older kid on the playground tried to push me off the swings. I hollered and protested but to no avail. Thankfully a sixth-grader named Tony heard my pleas for help and crossed the playground with what seemed like a single stride staring down my opponent with a look that no one dared challenge. My bully slinked away defeated, and I was overcome with triumph and pure joy as we celebrated the victory with a triple-under-dog push on the swings. To this day, I don’t remember the fear or trouble of the conflict, only the joy of having found such a friend and defender. 

Often in the Bible, we see that joy and trouble seem to hold hands. It’s easy sometimes to think that joy is the natural response to everything being alright in our world. But if that were true, we would hardly ever experience any sense of joy. Even though we may have seasons where most things are going right, it’s rare they stay that way for long. Joy doesn’t come only in the absence of trouble but is made all the more meaningful and more pronounced by the presence of trouble.

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.”

Psalm 5:11

In times of trouble, those who put their trust in Jesus have reason to rejoice—not because the battle is over, but because they are sheltered in the midst of the battle. God doesn’t always eliminate the trouble, but he does give us protection and will defend us in the middle of it. He is faithful to hear our cries and works powerfully on our behalf when we call His name for help. 

In John 16:33, Jesus acknowledges that there will be trouble in this life, but in the same breath, He reminds us to take heart because He has already overcome anything we could ever face. We can trust Jesus to know what we are going through and to help us in our need. In fact, in the very next chapter, Jesus prays for all believers. That includes us! 

Let that sink in for a second. Jesus prayed for us. And with Jesus praying for us, there’s no trouble in the world that could dim the joy of being loved by the ultimate Defender, Savior, and Friend. 

Yes, life is hard. Impossibly hard at times. We can go through seasons where the trouble never seems to end. But when we choose to turn our hearts toward the source of our salvation, instead of focusing solely on our situation, that same trouble and turmoil can serve to push us into the open arms of Jesus where real joy lives. We can rejoice again because God is worthy of our trust. We can shout for joy because we are His children and He defends us. 

Whatever you are facing today, I pray that you know you are not alone and that there is joy waiting in the arms of our Savior Jesus. Let Him hold you close as He restores your heart, and renews your joy.

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