As we prepare to celebrate Easter, we know that Jesus is our ultimate hope. Hear stories of God’s faithfulness in the midst of heartache from a local pastor serving in tornado-weary Kentucky, a Ukrainian chaplain whose friends were killed in the conflict, and a pharmacist that God is using in Ukraine to share the Gospel.

– Billy Graham Evangelistic Association website

– Franklin Graham to Preach an Easter Message in Ukraine

– Samaritan’s Purse Response to Crisis in Ukraine

– Hope After Mayfield Tornadoes

– On the Ground with Samaritan’s Purse Podcast Instagram

Samaritan’s Purse is working around the world in places of insurmountable heartache—walking alongside the local church and believers to serve people in need. Despite the hardships, they are seeing the light of Christ in the midst of the pain and suffering.

This Easter season, Kristy Graham is reminded of the ways God is continuing to use our teams to bring hope in heartache. We first hear from Brad Morris, the pastor of First Assembly Mayfield, who Samaritan’s Purse has partnered with in the aftermath of the tornadoes that devastated the town in December 2021.

“Samaritan’s Purse has built a bridge for the church to reconnect with families that we didn’t have before.” —Pastor Brad Morris, First Assembly Mayfield

Dozens of Samaritan’s Purse church partners are standing up to help in desperate times and stepping in to meet people’s greatest needs. Both domestically in the United States and across the world, we’re seeing churches be the light in the darkness. In Ukraine, our Disaster Assistance Response Team and local churches are working together to provide encouragement.

Many of our national staff—from chaplains to pharmacists—have lost friends and family due to the conflict, but they’re still serving to bring God glory and honor. Ukrainians are walking through immense trauma, and Samaritan’s Purse is positioned to minister in a tangible way.

“Our hope is only God,” shared Vitaliy, one of our national staff in Ukraine. “We understand this. I pray about the people who do not know Jesus— because this is a good situation for them to listen about Jesus. He can give them peace.”

Please continue to pray for hurting families this Easter. Pray that they would know the love God has for them. Pray for our Samaritan’s Purse teams on the ground as they share His hope and peace in the midst of sorrow.

• Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

• 1 Peter 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

• John 16:33 says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

• John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

• John 10:11 says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

• Philippians 2:5-11 says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

• Matthew 28:5-6 says, “But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.”

• Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

• Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

• John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

• John 14:6 says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

• Romans 10:9, 13 says, “9 Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”