When life is hard

I read a beautiful story recently.
A man died and went to the next world, where God showed him his life.
It looked like two parallel trails of footsteps in the sand. One set of footprints belonged to the man, the second set belonged to God.
The man could see that through all his life, God was walking next to him. But there were some parts of the journey where one set of footprints disappeared for a while. And he noticed that these lonely footprints coincided with the heaviest, darkest periods of his life.
"Those times when my life became so hard... why, my God, did You choose to leave me then?" he asked.

"You are mistaken," God answered. "When it was very hard for you, I carried you in My arms."
So important to remember it, when life is hard.