Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
(Hebrews 12:2 NKJV)
Do you feel like your spiritual endurance is running on empty? Are you navigating trials that make celebrating Christmas hard? It's sad to watch people suffer, but especially during the Christmas season when everyone else is so festive, baking delicacies, decorating their homes, and attending Christmas festivities. However, the life of Christ was anything but joyous.
Jesus suffered many hardships on this earth. They beat Him multiple times, plucked out His beard, spat on Him, and finally nailed Him to a splintered cross as He gasped for His last breath.
As Christians, we must walk in His footsteps and feel His pain. Trials are unpleasant, and we want to initially respond by running from them. Stick with me, friend, as we traverse our troubles in the same manner that Jesus did. He traversed terrible circumstances.
It may surprise you that we will find joy in the same trials that discourage us and leave us weary. Let's examine how Jesus found joy in going to the cross and discover how we can experience joy this Christmas, even in the midst of trials.
I don't know what your struggle is today, but the enemy works overtime to darken our Christmas spirit. Three years ago, my joy ran far below full, running on fumes. I hobbled around on a cane in intense pain until some injections freed me from the pain long enough to attend church for Christmas. I know how pain can bring you down and how isolating it can become, especially when you cry out for healing, but it doesn't come.
Biblical joy is not a feeling. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We choose joy, so don't confuse it with happiness, which comes from external happenings. Joy comes from within where the Holy Spirit dwells.
The writer of Hebrews commanded us to look unto Jesus. In Greek, that implies looking away from something and putting our eyes on Jesus with intentionality. Jesus removed His eyes from Friday's crucifixion and set His eyes on Sunday, the day of victory and resurrection.
Therefore, we must take our eyes off our temporary problems and place them on Jesus, who is eternal.
Instead of being focused on the pain that tormented me, I should have looked ahead to the day the pain would be tolerable, and I could write about those troubles, encouraging someone like you. I should have looked towards heaven and the day when pain will no longer exist for any of us.
We have hope because of who Jesus is, the author and finisher of our faith. We have no connection to our faith. Jesus gives us that faith from the beginning to the end of eternity.
How can you find joy beyond your relentless struggle this Christmas season, friend? We find true happiness when we commune with God in prayer and read His Holy Word, meditating on it. We encounter divine joy as we sing Christmas carols and worship music, praising our Lord.
Look around you. What do you see that brings you joy? God's creation brings us joy in the golden lights of a sunrise as a new day greets us. A fresh, pure snowfall reminds us of God's pure holiness and offers us joy. Joy also arises from the loving faces of our family and friends, or as we cuddle with our furry pets. It can be found by sitting next to the flickering flames of the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee, feeling the warmth.
Sweet friend, what is your gaze on today? If it's due to your problems and circumstances or the busyness of the season, would you like to shift your gaze? Let's change our landscape by looking beyond the horizon of eternity and focusing our gaze directly on Jesus, our Lord and Savior. We will experience joy during trials when we follow the example of Christ.
Lord Jesus, help us focus on You for our joy, now and throughout the year. Renew our joy. In Jesus's name. Amen.
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Xsandra
Carolyn Dale Newell is a best-selling author and certified speaker. She knows the bitter taste of suffering from blindness to chronic pain. Her passion is to encourage women to keep their eyes on Jesus and not their circumstances in her devotional, Embers of Endurance: Rising Above Chronic Pain and Illness. You can connect with Carolyn on her website and her women’s ministry group on Facebook.
Related Resource: Instead of Doing More This Summer, Maybe You Need to Do Less
If you've been feeling tired, overwhelmed, depleted, or just quietly wondering where God is in the middle of a very full life — this episode is for you. And honestly? It might be for me too, because I'm recording this in one of those seasons myself.
Today we're doing something a little different. Instead of going deep in a passage, we're talking about what to do when deep feels like too much — when you need less, not more. Specifically, I'm walking you through one of my favorite practices for weary seasons: handwriting scripture.
Not typing it. Not scrolling past it. Actually writing it out, slowly, in your own hand — because something happens in your brain when you do that. The words land differently. They go deeper. And over time, they become part of that personal library of God's voice that the Holy Spirit can pull from when you need it most. That's what Psalm 119:11 means when it says I have hidden your word in my heart — it's scripture moving into your long-term memory, where it lives and stays even when you haven't opened your Bible in weeks.
I'm sharing the five verses I wrote out for myself today — and why each one hit me fresh even though I've known some of them for years. This episode is part of our How to Study the Bible Podcast, a show that brings life back to reading the Bible and helps you understand even the hardest parts of Scripture. If this episode helps you know and love God more, be sure to follow the How to Study the Bible Podcast on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
Originally published Thursday, 25 December 2025.
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