Today would have been Britt’s 36th birthday and so many of us who love Britt are missing her terribly this week. In the midst of such a hard and memory-filled week, God did something special. Radiant Hope hosted their annual fundraising event, A Night of Hope, this past Thursday, May 2. This organization, which exists to support and encourage those whose lives have been impacted by cancer, blessed Britt and my family on our cancer journey. Radiant Hope’s Executive Director, Joanna, found Britt’s joy and faith impactful and wanted her story to be shared as a “live testimonial” at the event. It was very meaningful to do what we all know Britt would have done, what we all wish she would still be here to do, and briefly share her story and how Radiant Hope impacted her with so many at the event who did not know her. May the copy of the speech below and video from the event, remind you of Britt and remind us all to “outshine the dark” with true and lasting Hope.

Britt specifically told me that she wanted to support this organization as her way to continue to give hope to others who still face cancer. And as this is referenced below, if you visit their home page and scroll down to the video and click play, you will hear Britt’s voice and see a few video clips of her talking with Joanna about Radiant Hope.

Radiant Hope Links: 

• Donation page for anyone who feels inclined to give hope to others facing cancer, on behalf of Britt: https://donorbox.org/nightofhope2024
• Home Page: https://www.radianthope.com

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The photos are from Thursday’s event (family and friends) and from Naomi and Micah joyfully releasing butterflies, for Britt’s birthday, at their Mom’s grave. As so many of you ask, I am amazed at how God continues to carry the kids through this time. 

(The Johnston's were also at the event but unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of them to share...though they did help by recording the videos and getting the butterflies to release)

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From Thursday, May 2 at Radiant Hope’s “A Night of Hope”

Video Link: https://youtu.be/Wh2K33UdIpM

Good evening. What an honor it is to share with you on this night of hope. My name is Benjamin Horst and 14 years ago, yesterday, a mile from here across the highway at Messiah College, I asked Brittney if she wanted to start formally dating shortly before we graduated and went to live in different states….well…she probably wants me to be more accurate and say that after a few dates, Britt had to tell me that I was supposed to ask her to start dating and not just assume….thankfully, I didn’t repeat that mistake when a few years later, I asked Brittney to become my wife.

In October of 2020, after 8 years of marriage Brittney and I had two children, Naomi and Micah, who were then 4 and 2 years old. It was at this time, at the age of 32, Brittney was diagnosed with an aggressive version of Stage IV breast cancer. After a little over two years of chemo, radiation, natural therapies, second and third and fourth opinions; two years of medicines that worked for a time and then failed; two years of prayer. After two years, Britt died from this cancer…but not before she had two years to model to all of us how to have joy despite her circumstances. 

Why am I telling THIS story on a night of hope? Well, we all need to put our hope in something. As Britt said, radiant hope is finding joy and having hope in something that is eternal and not putting your hope in medicine. How beautiful, how powerful, to get to the point where you realize that nothing of this world can give you real hope because this world, while we are living between the two gardens, is not meant to be our home. 

If you pull up the Radiant Hope website, there are multiple videos of Britt speaking about how much this ministry meant to her. At one point during the extended version of this video interview, Brittney referenced an Emily Dickenson poem, “hope is the thing with feathers”. How fitting because, as I understand it, Radiant Hope’s logo is a feather that comes from Joanna’s story and from a few references from the Psalms. When I look at their logo, I see the feather on the one half but on the other half I see the head of a sprig of wheat which I find equally fitting because hope is also the thing with wheat….bread. Something that you may eat here in a few minutes but in scripture, the illustration of bread often represents provision and dependence on God. Most significantly, Jesus uses the breaking of bread as a way to communicate to us that He is going to sacrifice His body, His life, for ours. God’s son, the bread of life, dying to give those who believe in Him, the ultimate provision of hope, eternal hope. This is why, like Britt said, we do not need to put our hope in the successful treatment of cancer… because God can make even cancer right, even if we can only see it on the other side of Resurrection. This is Radiant Hope. 

Britt’s first exposure to this ministry was with a box showing up on our doorstep shortly after her cancer diagnosis. And a few months later, our little family of four was treated to the Holiday Hope program where we received, what seemed to be a never-ending supply of Christmas gifts, all thoughtfully curated…including the ice cream maker that my kids and I used just this week to prepare ice cream to honor Britt’s 36th birthday on this coming Saturday. What an incredible blessing it was, during that Christmas season, for Britt and I to have less planning and less financial stress, while she was undergoing aggressive chemotherapy. 

While, yes, the Box contained the physical items that she needed to get through the day of treatment and yes, the Holiday Hope gifts gave my family both things we needed and things we wanted. These physical things gave us hope that we could get through that season…what meant so much to Britt, and to me, was that the box and the gifts were intentionally prayed over before they were given. This is Radiant Hope. 

Britt’s two-year journey with cancer was greatly impacted by this ministry. Her life was better because of Radiant Hope. A sincere thank you to everyone here tonight and everyone involved in this ministry. 

And after I lost my wife, Joanna connected me to a group of fellow widowers to help me in my healing process. You see, the prayer before sending the boxes, asking how you are doing, and making these personal connections, these things show you who the people of Radiant Hope are, and how much they care about the larger community of those impacted by cancer. This is a group of people that get it…they understand the sinking feeling when you first get the diagnosis, they understand the importance of reaching out to you and calling you a friend after you just met a new enemy, called cancer. Because it takes an army of friends to defeat cancer, no matter which way you ultimately defeat it.

In her final two years, Britt’s journal often took the form of simply writing scripture. She wrote these words in her final weeks, when according to medicine, she had good reason to be hopeless. This was, in fact, the final set of words in her journal… from Romans 5…”our confident hope of salvation…and THIS hope will not lead to disappointment.”