When defeat rests heavy on your shoulders, when you’re spiraling down and you can’t remember how it feels to be free and light, when you’re exhausted and broken, when you don’t know what direction to head, or even what step to take next, when everything you knew to be familiar and safe feels foreign and strange—please remember that you are a child of God.

You are a daughter or son of an Almighty force, of a passionate deity, of a powerful being who loves and values you beyond measure.

Yes, you will have days when you don’t know if you have the strength to rise. Yes, there will be moments where you feel lost or lonely, where you lose someone you love and get angry. Yes, there will be times where your faith will falter, your hands will shake, and you’ll wonder whether you even matter or what your purpose is.

But rest assured that you have a reason for being here. Know that, beyond a doubt, you are loved. Remember that sometimes bad things will happen because this is life, but that doesn’t mean your God has abandoned you.

Please remind yourself—in both your highs and your lows—that you are His. And that will never change.

Some days are harder than others. Some mornings you’ll wake with confidence and pep in every step you take, and some you’ll toss and turn in your bedsheets, hitting snooze and dreading the day. You will have nights with good friends and good food, laughter filling you and a smile flashing effortlessly across your face, and some nights you’ll be alone, staring at the walls, waiting for a text that never comes, letting your thoughts run anxious and wild across your mind.

But in every moment, every obstacle, every beautiful and broken moment you face—God is good.

So remember when you are happy to praise Him, to seek Him. Remember when you are sad to yearn for Him, to lean on Him. Remember when you are blessed to thank Him. Remember when you are destroyed to love Him because He is never far.

Remember, most of all that you are His child. And there is nothing that could happen to you that He can’t save you from; there is nothing you could do or say that would ever make Him turn His back.

It is easier said than done to follow Him sometimes. When life is good, when the burden is light, when the pain is manageable, you feel as if you are fine on your own. We all are guilty of this. But then life throws us into an obstacle course and suddenly we doubt. Suddenly we question. Suddenly we think our God no longer cares about us, simply because He’s not answering our prayers, or doing what we want on our terms.

But the thing about faith is that it’s rooted in trust. It’s dependent on believing in the unseen and standing with unwavering strength, even when it feels like you’re standing alone.

The thing about faith is that God promises to never leave or forsake us. He promises to never let us go to battle alone. He promises that we are His and that promise doesn’t change, simply because we are going through a hard season.

So please, do yourself a favor and take a deep breath. Reread His word and remind yourself of His truth and strength. Then slow down. Trust.

And remind yourself that no matter what you go through, no matter what you do, no matter how you are treated by the people or things of this world—your eternal home is in the arms of your Father.

And you are forever safe, forever claimed as His.