Would you like a Slice of JOY?

04/04/2025

On the 1st of April 1990, my beloved and I were recipients of a once in a lifetime gift. It was a gift that kept on giving - when our adored son, Asela Sumith Atukorala was born. My darling Mama too took her first breath in April – April 3rd 1925, exactly one hundred years ago! So … special people are born in April, right?

it was a cold spring day with a light dusting of snow, in April 1990 in Bath, England, when we brought our new born baby home. The three of us enjoyed a blissful babymoon. A precious time it was, of getting acquainted with our little son. I'd gaze at Asela with tear filled happy eyes as he slept, breathing in his sweet baby smell and enjoying the tiny cuteness of him. I'd look at Shan and be shocked! 'What a big face he has!' Of course he'd think the same of mine! JOY was born that April.

So what does JOY look like to you?

Here are a few of my JOY List: (The PG version of course!)

· Licking a cold ice cream cone on a warm summer's day

· The gift of a perfect colour splashed Rainbow outside my kitchen window - wow!

· Hugging my beloved, feeling the security of his loving arms around me

· Praying with my son and then finding the answers to our prayers. Wow Lord! Wow!

· A delightful morning with a friend, sipping cuppas, with sharing, laughter and togetherness

· Reading side by side in bed with my beloved each night, before we turn the lights off

· Playing with my baby Giraffe with plenty of love and cuddles and merriment

· Spending time with my capital B-Beloved – Jesus, as I soak in His tender loving care

· Bobbing around in the wide blue ocean, enjoying the warm silky water that surrounds me

· Hosting a meal with family and friends around my dining table. Yes!

Does any of that resonate with you? Of course there's plenty more I could add and I know you will have lots to share yourself. A few days ago, I began studying the book of James afresh. Verse 2 begins:

"Count it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you are faced with many trials".

But … how do the words trial and joy be part of the same sentence? And not just joy but PURE JOY! How can it be pure when life sucks? How can we consider it pure joy when we are crying in pain or shaking our heads in shock or wide eyed in disbelief at the suffering we are called to endure?

It's pure because any trial God permits is always, always, always, a blessing in disguise. What the Enemy plans for harm, God promises in Romans 8:28 to overturn for good. A blessing is a pure joy right? Then, so is the trial that leads to it! Voila! When I remember the birth of our baby boy, I recall that what preceded his arrival was 25 long hours of agony. So much pain. Too much to endure. Help! And yet … I didn't give that pain another thought after Asela arrived, because my little son replaced my pain with unadulterated pure precious JOY! Jesus promises to transform life's pain as we surrender our fears and tears to Him. He turns tragedies into triumph. But we need the eyes of heaven to understand this truth, because life is hard. And suffering abounds in this fallen world.

Here are three good reasons to be topped up with joy in times of adversity:

I am learning important truths and life lessons through this situation.

Thank You Jesus!

God will be glorified through this circumstance!

What a wonderful cause for praise!

God is refining me to become more like Jesus through it.

My life goal is being realised. I am so glad!

Today I will choose the heart and eyes of Jesus. He weeps with me as I encounter the sorrow and darkness around me. He knows. He cares. He promises to redeem my pain as I surrender to His ways. So as James tells us, Trials = Pure Joy! That's the New Testament definition, where the Great Reversal occurs. Death turns to LIFE. The last become the first. We find life by losing it. The darkness of pain can lead to untold joy.

While I am going through trials, I find it hard to rejoice. But in retrospect, when I look back at tough times, I finally understand. I see the pattern. I can testify today that through many years of pain and uncertainty, Jesus became my Treasure. By being let down by others, (too many times to count), Jesus became my All in all.

He turned my mourning into Dancing and my sadness into Joy!

And so dear one, I hear you. No matter what you are going through, please hold on. Right now, we see dimly. But then, we will see face to face. Now we shed tears, but joy comes in the morning!

One beautiful day, your morning too will dawn. That's a promise! Hold on dear one. Hold on!

Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,

since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18