The following post is written by Kristin Franks, a guest blogger and licensed counselor at Restoration Place Ministries.

Recently I was inspired to complete a Bible study that I originally began when I was on the mission field in Costa Rica, fighting against human trafficking. The study was aptly titled, “The God Who Cares and Knows You: A Study of the Book of John.” Living with a Costa Rican family and learning Spanish, I was feeling quite a bit homesick. I ordered the study and had it shipped to me. I needed to know that God cared for me and that He loved me, especially while being overseas far away from family and friends. Yet even though I started the study and needed it at that particular time, for some reason I didn’t finish. Perhaps it’s like all spiritual discipline. We go through seasons of feast or famine in our walk with the Lord–times of more intense fellowship with Him and times of wilderness and valley experiences. It can be tough to keep up with daily devotions. But God will always faithfully draw us back into His presence.

And He did just that. Like I mentioned, I recently decided to pick this study back up. Although one might think the book is about the disciple John, it’s really not. It is about our God and how He cares for us and intimately knows each of us. However, I found myself wrestling with this idea and asking God the question over and over again: “Are you sure you love me, God? I am struggling financially….Are you sure you love me, Lord? I’ve been feeling really lonely lately….God, do you really care? I am still struggling with the same issues that have plagued me for years!” As I wrestled with these random thoughts, I was reminded of so many of the women I counsel at Restoration Place, who struggle with these same questions as we sit together. One client in particular recently spoke with me about how she had made so many mistakes in her life. She couldn’t possibly grasp how God could still love and care for her. My heart ached for her pain. Lord, how can you love us in all our mess, I pondered?

Then I came across a verse that captured my attention. It’s found in John 9. This chapter is about a blind man who is healed by the Lord. After Jesus heals him, the Pharisees (religious teachers of the day) begin questioning how the healing occurred. When they ask the man’s parents, they respond, “He is an adult, ask him for yourself!” When the former blind man is questioned directly by the Pharisees, he replies, “I don’t know everything about how I was healed, but the one thing I do know is that I was blind, and now I see” (vs. 25).

That phrase captivated me. The one thing I know. The one thing I know. There is much that we don’t know in life. We don’t know what the future holds. We don’t know how this current relationship might work out. We don’t know how or when our circumstances will change, or when we’ll be healed from our past or current pain. But what if we could proclaim as the blind man did, “The one thing I do know is that God loves me! I may not know much more than that, but I do know that the Lord–the Maker of the Universe–loves me, and I live free from condemnation and fear!”

Be encouraged, my friend. There is a God who knows you and loves you, exactly as you are.