April 20, 2023

Joy Comes

Psalm 30:5 “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” In July, 2015, when we went on our Hawaiian vacation just after Elisha passed away, we arrived at the airport, my husband and I and our 18-year old son. As we were waiting for our plane, we saw Drew Breeze, the football player, and his family sitting in the same terminal. They would be taking the same plane as we were to Kauai, however, they were sitting in first class. As I sat and watched their family interact with each other, and how people watched them, smiled at them and wanted to talk to them, I thought to myself “they are special.” I have always loved to travel with my disabled child because when Elisha was with us, I always felt special. When people saw Elisha, he attracted people because he was always full of joy. We were used to having people come and talk to us; they would see him and smile at us and I always felt significant when I was with him. Now, we were just like every other family and I thought to myself, we are not special anymore now that Elisha is gone. As I sat and thought about why Elisha attracted people to himself, I knew it was because of his joy, we always called him our joy boy, because no matter what the circumstances or what the situation, he always had a smile on his face, he always was completely care free and there was never a time when he was not full of peace and full of joy that just spilled out from him. Isaiah 65:14 says, “My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit.” One of the reasons Elisha’s life impacted so many people was because his joy was infectious and people loved to be with him because when they were with him, he made others feel happy and joyful, as well. Now that Elisha is gone, it seemed that my joy went to Heaven with him and now all that is left is an anguish in my heart and a brokenness in my spirit. When I got on the plane, I decided to do a word study on joy. The scriptures are filled with the word joy, but one significant verse I found in the Bible was John 15:11 where Jesus says, “I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” I felt special with Elisha because he had Jesus in his heart and there was nothing else there but the purity of the love and joy of Jesus Christ. The cares of this world never crept in and choked out his joy; the stresses of the day never robbed him of his peace, and he never ever took it personally when people were unkind and mean to him. He just loved everyone, no matter who you were and it didn’t matter to him whether you were crabby or not, he just always maintained his joy. In this passage of scripture Jesus maintained that His obedience to the Father was the basis of His joy, and what He was saying is that if you as a believer abide in His love and are obedient to His commandments you will experience the same joy. And as a matter of fact, your joy will be complete. As I was pondering this scripture, I looked up the word “complete” and it is defined as “not lacking anything, not limited in any way, not requiring any more work, entirely done, fully carried out, total, absolute, whole and perfect.” One of my least favorite scriptures in the Bible is James 1:2 which says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” James is saying that we are to make a deliberate and careful decision to experience joy in the midst of our troubles and trials. This is not easy for any of us to do, but it is possible. As I was on my way to one of the most beautiful islands in the world, I stepped back and looked at the bigger picture and for just a moment I realized that my suffering and grief, as heavy as it was, would ebb and flow, it would only last for a little while or a season, but joy would come in the morning, or whenever I allowed my Lord to dwell and abide in the depths of my soul. I am special and I will always attract others because the joy of the Lord dwells within me no matter what my situation and no matter what my circumstances. – Melody