The Hope of Easter: my journey from darkness to light – by Emma Heath

For many Easter is a family time, the relief of a long weekend with good food, friends to catch up with and the excitement of the celebrations of Easter Sunday.

Yet for many, especially those gripped in addiction, Easter often feels lonely and just another day of pain, where the longing for community, relationships and family feels out of reach.

What can the message of Easter mean to someone who feels buried under shame and destructive patterns they just can’t seem to break?

The answer: absolutely everything.

The chains of addiction

Addiction doesn’t discriminate. It creeps in, often slowly at first—through curiosity, pain, trauma, or escapism. Before long, it wraps its way into a person’s life, whispering lies that you’re too far gone, too broken, too unworthy to be made whole.

I hit my rock bottom 17 years ago. I felt a deep sense of spiritual disconnection: from God, from others and from myself.

I had been brought up in a loving, Christian home, yet food disorders and an unhealthy relationship with alcohol began at the age of 11. After countless attempts to get better, I felt a complete failure and unlovable.

Lost cause

At the age of 28 I was riddled in shame, felt powerless and believed that I was a lost cause. At my worst I was drinking 2 litres of vodka a day. I could feel all hope disappearing and life was dark. I’d failed too many times for forgiveness to still be an option.

In the bible it often speaks of sin as bondage. That metaphor landed with me: addiction felt like chains—heavy, cold and imprisoning.

Weight of pain

In 2008, I turned up at a rehab. I still get shocked when I see the photo of myself (above) as I started the medical detox.

But as I began a recovery journey I started to hear the promise of Jesus opening his arms wide to welcome the broken people like me. It gave me hope that I too could be forgiven, restored and set free from darkness.

To really understand Easter, we have to pass through Good Friday. And I began to understand that Jesus could carry the weight of the pain and shame that gripped my life. I realised that on the cross, Jesus bore the weight of our brokenness. He took on our mess, not to shame us further, but to lift it off our backs.

Seeing beyond the wreckage

In Luke 23, it says that as Jesus hangs on the cross, a criminal is crucified beside Him. A guilty man, sentenced to death, who says:

“Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

And Jesus simply replies:

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

I love this. Jesus didn’t hesitate or have a second thought. No moral assessment. No twelve steps completed. Just a heart turned toward Christ—and a saviour who sees beyond the wreckage of the past to the soul beneath.

The gift of forgiveness

For years I would wake up from a drunken haze and wish that I’d not woken up, there was nothing then to hope for. But today this Easter Sunday I celebrate my birthday and every day is now a celebration, a victory. I walk in the light and have almost 13 years’ alcohol free.

This is the heart of Easter. Forgiveness is not something we earn. It’s not handed out based on performance or perfection. It’s given freely, because that’s what grace is. Jesus didn’t come for the put-together: he came for the lost, the sick, the ashamed, the addicted. He came for us.

That doesn’t mean the road is easy. Healing takes time. Forgiveness doesn’t erase consequences, but it does remove condemnation. You may still stumble. You may still fight cravings. But now you do it as someone who is loved, not as someone trying to earn love.

The ongoing resurrection

Easter isn’t just one day on the calendar—it’s a way of living. A daily decision to believe that resurrection is possible. It’s not just a clean record—it’s a new identity. You are not your addiction. You are not your worst day.

In Christ, you are a new creation. Redemption is possible. Dead things can come back to life. Death does not have the final word.

If you’re reading this and you’re struggling with addiction—or someone you love is—know this: You are not beyond hope. You are not beyond grace. There is a God who sees you, loves you and isn’t waiting for you to clean yourself up before he welcomes you home.

He’s already done the work. The tomb is already empty. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 puts it:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.”

Let that be your Easter today: not just a holiday, but a resurrection story in the making.

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Emma Heath is CEO of STAR. If you would like some support around addictions STAR has a free 6 week Life Course starting on 24^th April 2025. Contact her at info@starrecovery.org to find out more about training your church to help people in addiction.