Interesting that. When so much is not all good.
Made me think of one of my favourite heroes of the faith. Have I spoken of her before? Julian of Norwich.
Julian of Norwich (c. 8 November 1342 – c. 1416) was an English anchoress and an important Christian mystic and theologian. Her Revelations of Divine Love, written around 1395, is the first book in the English language known to have been written by a woman. Julian was also known as a spiritual authority within her community where she also served as a counsellor and advisor.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich
Maybe I also like her because one of depictions shows her with a cat.
Her Feast day is in May so I was reminded of her recently and one of the sayings attributed to her.
"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."
So things must have been pretty good for her...
But wait a minute. This is what is said of her:
'Julian was known as a spiritual counsellor. People would come to her cell in Norwich to seek advice. Considering that, at the time, the citizens of Norwich suffered from plague and poverty, as well as a famine, she must have counselled a lot of people in pain. Yet, her writings are suffused with hope and trust in God's goodness.'
I keep coming back to this again and again. How can you say that all will be well in a time of great pain and suffering. Was it easier for her? Hardly likely. Has suffering changed? No. So the only way to be able to say that all will be well is the same as for Julian - to trust in the goodness of God.
That's a strange thing: hanging on to hope. At some points I can recall not really knowing what I thought or believed at all. -except for some kind of trust that there was a thing of goodness.
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