The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down

This morning we read the meditation written by Nyambura Njoroge in the EAA advent calender. When she invites prayers of thanksgiving for Africa's grandmothers caring for so many she speaks from experience. Many of our African colleagues have lost family members in the HIV and AIDS pandemic.
When I hear the figures of death from disease, from war, from famine and poverty I'm left wondering just how much grief individuals can bear. And we read the crazy religious hope in the Psalms that there will somewhere be comfort for the broken hearted and a lifting-up for those bowed down by grief and toil and poverty ...