Welcome to Your Season of Joy: Finding Biblical Joy
December is here and with it comes something the world desperately needs: JOY!
Not the manufactured kind that fades when the decorations come down. Not the fragile kind that shatters when life doesn’t go as planned. But the real, resilient, God-given joy that sustained Mary through an unexpected pregnancy, guided the shepherds through the darkness, and brought the wise men across impossible distances.
This is the season of joy. And friend, that joy has your name on it.
THE JOY THAT HAS YOUR NAME ON IT
I’ve been thinking about joy a lot lately; what it really means, where it comes from, and how we access it when life feels hard. And as I’ve been reflecting, a memory from childhood surfaced that perfectly captures what I want to say about the joy of this season.
POPSICLE STICKS AND DIVINE TRUTH
When I was seven years old, I wrote a script. A full-blown Christmas production called “Mary & Joseph.”
It was my version of the Christmas story complete with little paper figures on popsicle sticks that my brother and I used to perform the character movements for our parents’ viewing pleasure. I was the narrator, director, and playwright all rolled into one determined seven year old.
I can still picture it: me reading my handwritten script with all the seriousness of a Broadway production, while my brother (who was probably bribed with cookies) moved those little popsicle stick figures across our makeshift stage. Mary. Joseph. The angel. Baby Jesus. All telling the greatest story ever told, filtered through the wide-eyed wonder of a child who believed every word mattered.
You know what strikes me now, decades later? That little girl understood something profound about this season that I sometimes forget as an adult.
She understood that this story—THIS STORY—is worth telling. Worth creating for. Worth celebrating with your whole heart, even if all you have are popsicle sticks and construction paper.
Because the story of Jesus coming to earth? That’s not just history. That’s JOY breaking into our world.
JOY ISN’T MANUFACTURED, IT’S RECEIVED
Here’s what I want you to know as we step into December together:
Joy isn’t something you manufacture. It’s something you receive.
The world will try to sell you joy this month. Buy this. Decorate that. Attend everything. Make it perfect. Create the magic.
But biblical joy? It doesn’t come from perfect circumstances or flawless celebrations. It comes from knowing that God loved you so much, He sent His Son to you.
Mary didn’t have a perfect situation. She had scandal, uncertainty, and a journey to Bethlehem while nine months pregnant. The shepherds were working the night shift when the angels appeared. The wise men traveled for months through dangerous territory.
None of it was convenient. None of it was comfortable. But all of it was JOY, because God was keeping His promise.
That’s the joy available to you right now. Not because your December will be perfect, but because God’s love for you already is.
THE DECEMBER JOY CHALLENGE
This month, I want to invite you into something I’m calling the December Joy Challenge.
Here’s how it works:
Every day in December, identify one moment where you saw God’s joy breaking through. Maybe it’s in a conversation. A sunset. A memory. A small kindness. An answered prayer. A moment of peace in the chaos.
Write it down. Speak it out loud. Thank God for it.
Because here’s the truth: when we train our hearts to recognize joy, we start seeing it everywhere. Not because our circumstances changed, but because our perspective did.
Joy becomes less about what’s happening around us and more about Who is with us.
WELCOME TO YOUR SEASON
When I recalled the story I just shared about writing the “Mary & Joseph” play to perform for my parents, it was the beginning of a dream deferred. At seven years old, I knew I liked to read and write. Fast forward more than 50 years later, and a dream deferred, too many times to count because of ‘life’, I have finally written and published publicly, sharing and celebrating my own stories of how the Lord has worked in my life. My gift to you is my writing and my purpose is to serve God by spreading ‘biblical joy’ everywhere I go!
So welcome, friend. Welcome to your season of joy.
Not the kind that requires everything to go right. But the kind that shows up even when things go wrong—because it’s rooted in a God who never leaves, never fails, and never stops loving you.
This December, let’s reclaim joy together. The real kind. The lasting kind. The kind that a seven-year-old girl with popsicle sticks somehow understood in her heart.
The kind that changes everything.
🗨️ I want to hear from you! What’s one moment of joy you’ve already experienced this week, no matter how small? Share it in the comments below.
Let’s start recognizing God’s joy together!
Joyfully yours, Tina 💖
Love this! Yes, wonderful goal to find JOY this season.