With Hope

Steven Curtis Chapman's “With Hope” was written after the death of his young daughter Maria, and the first lines say so plainly. This is not how the family thought it was supposed to be. They had many plans and dreams for her, and now they are left with memories of a smile and nothing that can take away the pain of losing her.

The chorus is the answer the family holds to: we can cry with hope, say good-bye with hope, because the good-bye is not the end. They can grieve with hope because they believe there is a place where they will see her face again. The second verse admits that nothing has been harder to understand and that he has never questioned God's plan more, but through the cloud of tears he sees the Father smile and say “well done.” He imagines her where she wanted most to be, with her dreams come true, home and free. The last section calls this hope an anchor, because everything God promised is true, and repeats a list of opposite actions, waiting, aching, holding on and letting go, all done with hope. The plain wording and the gentle piano have made it a standard at funerals and memorial services, and it also serves anyone in the first days of loss.

Grieving with hope is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14. Hope as an anchor is Hebrews 6:19, and the end of death and tears is Revelation 21:4.