When life is hard...

Today has been really hard. That happens sometimes. I have spent a lot of today crying about the pain of life. Then this afternoon I picked up a Christian book about love with a smug looking family on the back (always a bad idea!) and it was full of 'life will be rosy if you just do this...' and 'answers' which quite frankly didn't scratch anywhere near where I was itching. So I thought 'Bobbins to that' (or words to that effect!), threw it on the floor and picked up my Bible. I had a look through at Job, Ezekiel and other interesting characters who know all about real life and real struggles and who also know the real God who is bigger than all that. Life's complicated, messy, excrutiatingly painful and just plain crap at times, but I'm glad that I know a God who doesn't try and 'explain away' suffering but instead bottles my tears, listens to my ranting with compassion and never leaves me even when I can't stand to be with myself. And he's the only one who is able to promise that there WILL be an end to all the pain. Amen to that!