Let There Be Joy

Written By Carol McLeod

I love it all! 

I love everything about this miraculous, melodic, much-anticipated season of the year. 

I love the cards that daily flood my mailbox with heartfelt greetings from long-ago friends and far-away family members. 

I love the calorie-laden goodies and the family recipes passed down from generation to generation.

I love holding the same recipe card in my hands that my grandmother held over 50 years ago as she prepared the fresh cranberry salad for Christmas dinner.

I love the smell of Christmas! 


My heart swells at the fragrance of the evergreen, peppermint, and cinnamon that fill my home from just a few days before Thanksgiving all the way to New Year’s Day. 

For eleven months of the calendar year, I, as a woman of the twenty-first century, believe shopping to be a total waste of time … who has time to walk up and down the aisles of a store designed to swallow up my hard-earned money?!

However, when Christmas rolls around, I can’t wait to spend time at the mall buying just the perfect gift for those I know the best and love the most. 

There is nothing quite like hearing the delight in my children’s and grandchildren’s voices on Christmas morning exclaiming over the ideal gift.

I love the childlike wonder that wraps itself even around the cynical world of entertainment. 

Christmas movies, holiday classics, and specials decked with the songs of the season fill the primetime schedule on most everyone’s TV.

Even the entertainment industry pauses to celebrate the most amazing event in the history of mankind. Oh … I will admit they don’t know how to celebrate … and they don’t understand what they are celebrating … but what they do realize is that there is something wonderful happening and they want to be “in” on it.

I love the music ... Oh! How I love the music of Christmas!

Even now, as I write these words, I could just weep thinking about the lyrics of the songs that are particular only to Christmas. 

“Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod?

When you kiss your little Baby, you kissed the face of God!”

“Immanuel! God is with us! And if God is with us, who could stand against us?!

Our God is with us, Immanuel!”

“I will hold you in the beginning, You will hold me in the end, every moment in the middle,

make my heart Your Bethlehem, be born in me!”

“Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!”

“Joy to the world! The Lord has come!”

But what I love the most about Christmas is the story itself. 

I am breathless and humbled with the realization that, like Mary, I have been chosen to carry the Christ-child to my lonely world. 

I am filled with the awe and wonder of the shepherds, that the joy of heaven would explode into the darkness of planet Earth. 

I humbly join in worship with the Magi as I, too, am invited to bow before the Infant King and give Him the gift of my heart.

The first recorded words of God in the Bible are revealed in the first chapter of Genesis. 

“Let there be light!” was the declaration of our Creator as He obliterated the darkness and void of the world pre-creation. 

His vibrant and powerful words washed away the dominion of darkness, and He became the eternal Light of the world! 

Thousands of years later, when Jesus came to restore what sin had stolen from creation, the angels made a declaration on behalf of the King of heaven.

Into the darkness of sin and shame, an angelic chorus heralded the news that delivered Jesus to earth, 


“Behold, I bring you good news of great JOY which shall be to all the people;

for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Luke 2:10

When heaven announced the presence of Jesus into the battle-scarred world over Bethlehem, they sang, “Let there be JOY!” 

And when you received the Christ child into your heart and life, the declaration of heaven was the same … “Let there be JOY!”

My prayer for you this Christmas season is that you would rediscover the joy that belongs uniquely to Christmas. 

I pray you will hear the song of the angels in your dark world and that you would join in the triumphant chorus all of humanity has sung for centuries, “Joy to the world! The Lord has come!” 

I pray you will never be distracted by the trappings of Christmas but that the song of your heart will be dynamic and sincere. 

A Savior has come - and He has brought with him heaven’s joy! 


Thanks for listening to my heart this week.  As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me.  And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!

Christmas Devotional

There’s still time to countdown to Christmas with this incredible 25-day devotional. Each day of this December journey presents either a true story that reflects the richness of the Christmas season or teaches a riveting lesson from the treasury of Christmas scriptures.

Some days the reader will laugh...other days the reader will weep...and hopefully, every day of this Yuletide devotional, the reader will be challenged to embrace the eternal message and meaning of the season that causes the world to stop in awestruck wonder. In addition to the daily devotional readings, each day also presents Bible reading suggestions as well as the opportunity for practical and personal application.

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Carol McLeod
Carol says, “I am just a girl who is head over heels in love with Jesus ... passionately addicted to His Word ... and find all of the joy that I need in time spent in His presence." Carol is a Christmas-aholic, loves ACC basketball and the beach! Like all menopausal women, she is overly fond of chocolate and enjoys a good read. She doesn't like cleaning her house and is an expert in carry-out dinners. She hates to shop … loves to jog … and somehow finds time in her busy life to hang out with small children. She is the kind of woman that you could laugh with over lunch, cry with over disappointment and shout with over a victory! But … if you need her official bio … read on! Carol is an author and popular speaker at women's conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. She also hosts highly successful Just Joy! outreaches. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. Carol has written three books, "Holy Estrogen!", "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart" and "Defiant Joy!" which was released by a subsidiary of Thomas Nelson. Her teaching DVD, "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart", won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award, for excellence in religious programming. Carol has also been featured on YouVersion (the smart phone Bible app) with several devotionals, including: "For the Journey Set Before Him", "Jolt of Joy", and "Joy to YOUR world", " Carol has a daily radio program, "Defiant Joy! Radio" which is available in several national markets including Youngsville PA, Warren PA, Buffalo NY, Roanoke VA, Norfolk VA, and Nashville TN.  A 1977 graduate of Oral Roberts University with a degree in Music and English, Carol has the distinction of being both the first Women's Chaplain and the first woman to speak at the university's Vespers.  Carol currently serves on the ORU Alumni Board as chaplain.  She is married to her college sweetheart and love of her life, Craig, who serves as senior pastor of Life Church, a church near Buffalo, NY.  Craig and Carol have been happily married for nearly 37 years and are the parents of five children and three delightful daughters-in-law. Craig and Carol are thrilled with the joy of being grandparents to five precious grandchildren! Carol has written three books, "Holy Estrogen!", "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart" and "Defiant Joy!" which was released by a subsidiary of Thomas Nelson. Her teaching DVD, "The Rooms of a Woman's Heart", won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award, for excellence in religious programming. Carol has also been featured on YouVersion (the smart phone Bible app) with several devotionals, including: "For the Journey Set Before Him", "Jolt of Joy", and "Joy to YOUR world", " Carol has a daily radio program, "Defiant Joy! Radio" which is available in several national markets including Youngsville PA, Warren PA, Buffalo NY, Roanoke VA, Norfolk VA, and Nashville TN.  A 1977 graduate of Oral Roberts University with a degree in Music and English, Carol has the distinction of being both the first Women's Chaplain and the first woman to speak at the university's Vespers.  Carol currently serves on the ORU Alumni Board as chaplain.  She is married to her college sweetheart and love of her life, Craig, who serves as senior pastor of Life Church, a church near Buffalo, NY.  Craig and Carol have been happily married for nearly 37 years and are the parents of five children and three delightful daughters-in-law. Craig and Carol are thrilled with the joy of being grandparents to five precious grandchildren!
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