You Helped Us Paint Hope

by Jake Rosen

As an artist-missionary and the son of Holocaust survivors, I’ve learnt that sometimes spiritual truths need to be seen before they are heard. This is why I was so honoured to be asked to paint a faith-based mural for an art show at Upside Down (the coffee, art and community space that Jews for Jesus operates in Los Angeles). 

I painted a deep red backdrop symbolising sin, with grey and black symbolising thick darkness and, in Hebrew letters, the question Solomon asked when he dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, ‘But will God indeed dwell with people on the earth?’ (1 Kings 8:27). 

What I did not know (but God did) was that this art show would be opening in the aftermath of the 7 October attack on Israel – the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. In God’s grace, He arranged for us to comfort and assure people that God does indeed dwell with us and bring us hope even during indescribable darkness. 

We provided red and black markers so visitors at Upside Down could write or draw on the mural, which led to many conversations with spiritual seekers. One conversation started when someone wrote a particularly odd phrase on the mural: ‘Long live our freak brother!’ My wife, Jeanne, also an artist-missionary, asked the writer what those words meant. Mariah* explained that she had stopped on her way to lay her brother to rest, and being able to paint those words on the mural was cathartic and meant so much to her. She felt God was truly among us in the space.

Please pray for Mariah to find lasting comfort in Yeshua (Jesus). And thank you for your support of creative ministry initiatives that God is using to show His love to people living in darkness.

*Names are changed to protect privacy