That it is hard does not mean God is far away

When something good continues to cost after praying, you may think that God is not helping you or that your struggle is purely human. You expected grace to replace the difficulty with immediate ease. Jesus does not watch your struggle from afar. His grace acts in the mind that recognizes the good, in the will that chooses it again, and in help that arrives on time. It does not cancel the human dynamic of learning, practicing, tiring, and starting over; it unites it to him. Nor does effort prove self-sufficiency if you know from whom you receive strength and what you are fighting for. You can ask for help and, at the same time, use every means. Sometimes God's closeness is not felt as sensible relief, but as the capacity to take the next step with him.