Despite disappointment
When you are young, suffering can bring you to God. You appeal for help when all else fails. For a time you feel close to God and there seems to be progress and a payoff. Later in life, when you are not so sure of things, when you thought this closeness to God would yield good results you are disappointed. It is at this point that it is hard to hold onto God. The suffering has built up, the lines in your face become indented from stress, and it is hard to feel close. You experience bitterness. You originally thought that your new alignment with him would yield meaning and fulfillment. But the good things expected didn’t come. It is hard to be close to God when you see destruction in your life.
This is just one take on the subject, but an undeniable one. People think their new relationship with God will save them. It doesn’t. The trick is to continue to hold onto belief in a maker even though you have been disappointed.