NO-ONE said this life would be easy.

It would be absolutely great if everything in this world was wonderful for us all. yet the events of recent weeks have put the lie to that. Awful suffering in so many places across the world and nearer to home, poverty on a huge scale not seen for a long time.

Just this week, I heard of the mental anguish some young people are feeling, for various reasons, and my heart goes out to them. Their world is not at all right and it needs loving and caring people to help. Life can so easily get on top of them leaving them out of their depth and so fragile. We need to be able to help, whoever we are.

As in most of the things we face, there is an answer. ‘Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you’ we read in the Bible and so many people, in the heat of their personal battles and anxieties, have done just that and found that care and encouragement that Jesus brings into a person’s life.

I don’t think there is one of us who would not want to know the feeling of being cared for, and where we are the centre of attention of that care. That’s how it is with Jesus. He cares for each one of us personally. He has that marvellous ability of being there for us at every turn, no matter how we are feeling, good or bad.

Elsewhere in the Bible God says to us ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ That’s for you and me, no matter how we may be feeling.

Give Jesus a chance in your life. Bring all your troubles and anxieties to Him and ask for His help in sorting them all and giving you fresh hope. He wants to show you Himself and He uses His Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to you. He can fill your heart with joy, despite all you may be facing. And He is the most faithful of friends.

As the author CS Lewis wrote in one of his books, he was ‘surprised by joy’ and joy is one of the things in short supply these days. God is ready to bring real joy into your life.