So hey you there, with heavy heart and hard circumstances beating down your door, there is blessing there, because the joy of the Lord alone, is our strength and in His presence alone, is joy beyond our comprehension. I know it sounds so cliche doesn’t it, to say there’s blessing tucked away in the hard places? But the Apostle Peter knew that blessing, like ‘treasures’, lay hidden in trials as he wrote to encourage the persecuted Christians in his day! Still today, beautiful one, his words echo through to us, right here, right now, in this season of celebration of our Lord’s birth, piercing through our dark days, hard times, isolation, loneliness and rejection. This season of holly, jolly? It’s not about comfort, good things, and happiness, and although the world places high emphasis on such things, It’s not about that! It’s about a sense of deep, inner peace in our Saviour’s presence and a trust and contentment in all things that He works in our waiting. It’s focusing on His presence in us that brings a sense of trust to our hearts and minds to erase the depth of the struggle, the intense fear, and the painful aloneness and replace it with a joy unspeakable. 
1 Peter 1:7-9 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world….though you do not see Him now you trust Him and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of your soul.”
Let’s come now into this third week of our Advent celebration and light the candle of Joy.
The candle of ‘peace’ glows still with the precious gift of it heralded in by our Savior’s birth, and what a delight to know Him in this glorious Advent celebration. What a delight to know the peace that only He can give in times of sure uncertainty!
But now let’s light the candle of Joy; to let it sparkle and glow in a peaceful and hopeful Advent season! Joy in this world? It’s hard to come by, so where on this earth is Joy? It’s not in our stuff, our surroundings, our circumstances or our happiness but as we worship the Saviour, we find It’s lodging in our own heart! Yeah, right there within us and sometimes, in the middle of nothing good, it still burns brightly in that soul because joy isn’t about things or situations or friends, or finances! Joy is about contentment in our Lord and knowing that in Him we have all we need. So let’s all just breathe now and know that He will provide, and care and grace us daily with His good gifts. Yeah, in your deepest self, and deepest soul, That’s where we’ll find it. Even when the world is reeling in anguish and joy appears non-existent, our beautiful souls can praise the God of our Salvation and sing “Joy To The World, the Lord has come” to a world that has none and needs lots. Oh how marvellous are His works and how wonderful are His ways. So come now and light this precious light of joy and shine it in your night and in the night of those in your circle of influence.
A pieced together shack lined with straw for the animals? Yeah, but it was shelter for the night and a place to lay a couple of weary heads, and hearts and minds, so it was all good. 
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 