There Is No Hope
- victoriaholloway07
- Jun 1
- 3 min read
After my dad’s doctors gave us the devastating news that the cancer in my dad's body had spread throughout his brain and vital organs, we all sat in complete disbelief. Our doctor was cold and matter-of-fact with this life-altering news. I spoke up, “There has to be some hope, you have to give us hope,” to which the doctor replied… “There is no hope.”
A line that was a twisted dagger in the heart of my family, and left us completely speechless. We spent the remainder of the day in complete shock and working tirelessly at failed attempts to get my dad home and comfortable. Re-living those moments is a continual nightmare for my mom and me, but the ringing sound of our doctor stating that there was no hope was quick to destroy us.
What has taken me a lot of time to understand and a lot of effort to put into my faith is that while the doctor might have been right about my dad's inevitable ending that day, he was also very wrong about us not having hope. Hebrews 11:1 tells us,
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
As a believer in Jesus Christ, I have the blessed assurance of an eternal life where my family's soul exists in the presence of God, our Father, and that my friends is something to hope for!
My belief in heaven is the only thing that I was able to cling to during the beginning stages of my grief. I struggled hourly to believe that God cared for me, but I wouldn’t allow myself to believe that my loved ones were not pain-free and preparing a place for me in the celestial city. While I did hope for an earthly outcome that resulted in my family still being intact while I do still wish that things had turned out differently. I know in my heart that there is great hope for those who believe in Jesus Christ after we pass away.
The most memorized scripture in the Bible is John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever should believe in him will have eternal life."
I’m grateful to know that my dad and sister, and the rest of my beloved are experiencing that eternal life with our omnipresent God, and I’m grateful for the hope that I will experience it too.
There are a lot of devastating things happening now in our world, not just my dad's passing, but wars and genocides, human trafficking in our backyard, women losing their rights in some parts of the world, the economy... the list can go on and on. There are a lot of reasons to choose not to believe in hope, but there is one very good reason to believe in everlasting hope. God sent his son to teach His disciples, hung and died on a cross, providing atonement for all our sins. And not only do we get to spend eternity with Him in Heaven, but we get the opportunity to know Him and His magnificent power and grace while we live. What a gift that is. In a world full of devastation, choose to hope. Hope in each other, hope in yourself, hope in your creator.
I am reminded of this Matt Redman song I want to share with you. My assignment from God's kingdom isn't complete, but when it is, I can't wait to rejoice for eternity with my Savior and my loved ones.
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