A few years ago, my wife and I had this couple that we would eat out with all the time that eventually got to be too much to bear. We actually stopped going out to eat with them because we could not stand that they were not good tippers. They would have a $40 meal and they would get the calculator out and determine the exact bare minimum percentage and that's what they would tip. So we would always end up compensating because here's why: I worked as a carhop as a teenager at Sonic and my wife worked as a barista at a coffee shop so we knew exactly what struggles these workers were facing and most of the time, it had absolutely nothing to do with them.
I'm a firm believer that everyone should wait tables or serve in a fast food role for a year just to gather the perspective of the service industry. When you wait tables or work fast food, you see how hard it is, how hard they work, how fast-paced it is, and how easy it is to forget something like bringing another basket of chips or something like that. When you experience that firsthand, it makes you empathetic and because they had never waited tables, they did not have that empathy.
In light of this story, I'm reminded of Hebrews 4:15 when the writer says:
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin." - Hebrews 4:15
When you think about the God of the Universe wrapping himself in flesh, humiliating it, and humbling himself to live on this Earth, you know that there's nothing you will go through that He wouldn't be able to empathize with. You will never have an emotion that He didn't have. He didn't sin in it, but he felt them! You'll never have pain, heartbreak, or heartache that he didn't feel. You'll never face anything that he didn't already face. That comforting!
He is able to have such mercy and grace towards you because he's been there too. God knows exactly how you feel.