These are the words of author, Brennan Manning in Abba's Child -- his most recent book. Isn't this the good news about God that your heart has longed for?

Do you see yourself as God's "Beloved"? Do you feel loved by God? If you do not, why not? You are so loved by God that His hand is continually stretched out to you. All you have to do is respond.

Manning continues:
"God speaks to the deepest strata of our soul -- to our self-hatred, shame, and narcissism -- and takes us through the night into the daylight of His truth: 'Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name. You are precious in My eyes.'

"It is God who has called us by name. And, at every moment of our existence God offers us this good news. Sadly, many of us continue to cultivate such an artificial identity that the liberating truth of our belovedness fails to break through.

"God created us for union with Himself -- the original purpose of our lives. And God is love.

"Living in awareness of our belovedness is the axis around which the Christian life revolves. It is not merely a lofty thought, an inspiring idea, or one name among many. It is the name by which God knows us and the way He relates to us."

"The indispensable condition for developing and maintaining the awareness of our belovedness is time alone with God. In solitude we tune out the nay-saying whispers of our worthlessness, and discover that the truth of our belovedness is true.

"Our identity rests in God's relentless tenderness toward us."