Hope can be elusive, slipping through our grasp like morning fog, leaving behind the stark reality of suffering.
For my lighthouse family, the pain runs deep, the wounds too raw, and the system too oppressive. In such a place, to believe that something better is on its way often feels like a cruel lie—a denial of the soul-wrenching anguish. In this darkness, addiction or an early, self-inflicted death can seem like a logical escape—a rejection of life, a numbing path that ultimately leads to destruction.
Yet as a Lighthouse team, we continue to speak of hope—not the hollow kind that distracts from reality, but a hope-filled realism that calls out the name of Jesus into the most broken spaces. It’s a message that doesn’t gloss over suffering but stands firm in the midst of it. Backed by embodied love, this message becomes gospel—‘good news’ that awakens hearts to the person and presence of Jesus. Time and time again, we see this raw, often tear-filled encounter with hope begin to heal even the most wounded souls.
And if hope could be found in a person, it would be in Jesus—the God-Man who dealt the death blow to death itself, and in His rising to life offers hope even in the darkest of days.
Hope whispers my name,
And speaks to my soul.
‘Rest a while,
I have a healing balm and will tend your wounds.’
I counter,
‘But have you seen the pain,
The poison runs deep,
The beasts run wild.’
And hope speaks,
And addresses my wounded heart,
‘Indeed,
I know.
The night is darkest just before the dawn.
On cursed tree,
Through whip and nail,
The evil of empire,
& the sickness of sin
sinned against me.
Alone in pain.
I breathed my last ‘
Downcast I spoke
‘The beast has won .
As hope lies silent in the grave.
In the book of life evil will have the last word’
And hope rejoiced
And laughed and sang,
A song of healing love,
‘My beloved one,
This is not true,
The grave did not win.
I was raised to life.
Evil does not have the last word.
Love wins’
And I wept,
And he wiped the tears from my face.
Hope embraced me in his love,
I beheld his face.
We danced
He is making all things new.
- Swales, 2024
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