Beloved

So, I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child in heaven and on the earth. And I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life. Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God! Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you. Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ—and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity. Amen! Ephesians 3:14-21 Passion Translation

“Regardless of what you have come to believe about God based on your life experience, the truth is that when God thinks of you, love swells in his heart and a smile comes to his face. God bursts with love for humans. He is far from being emotionally uninvolved with his creation. God's bias towards us is strong, persistent and positive. The Christian God chooses to be known as love and that love pervades every aspect of God's relationship with us.” (David Benner, Surrender to Love)

“I hold you and the tenderness of your wounded soul before God. You are a gift, and you are beloved. Someday you won’t have to write it on stones; it will be so inked on your heart!” (Anonymous) That’s Belovedness. To be so entirely filled with love that its presence becomes unquestioned. To feel, quite literally, wrapped in it.

We wonder what that feels like—or what it could feel like. Moving to a place where love is felt viscerally, right down in the marrow, is a long journey. But it is a place I hope every soul eventually finds. Even when it feels impossibly out of reach for me, I hold tightly to the truth of how Abba Father loves me.

In a universe so vast, I am just a girl. Why would I matter so deeply to the God who spoke the stars into place? Yet, when Abba looks at me, His heart swells with a boundless, overflowing love. I am not just tolerated; I am loved, and I am called Beloved. Abba delights in me. Abba chose me, weaving me together in the hidden depths. He calls me precious and honored.

Abba knows every longing, every flickering thought, every paralyzing fear, and the quiet, unseen rooms of my heart. They are completely invisible to the world, but entirely bare to Him. When the stairs of my soul are lined with the dusty boxes of my past, Abba doesn't demand that I clean them up. He simply comes down, sits on the steps beside me, and waits until I am ready to unpack them.

He is there in the triumphant strides forward, and He is just as close when fear makes me take five steps backward. He is there when the future brings sleepless nights, or leaves me completely breathless, overwhelmed by the sheer weight of unprocessed trauma buried so deep even I am afraid to touch it. When I am internally collapsing—when the walls are actively caving inward—there remains a core identity of Belovedness that the church so often neglects to teach.

All I have to offer Abba is the vacancy of my heart and the chaotic mess of who I am. And the beautiful scandal of grace is that it is enough. I don’t have to earn His affection. I don’t have to be perfect, or say the right prayers, or mold myself into who the world desires me to be. I can just be me, and Abba will love me into healing, exactly as I am.

In a world screaming at me to be someone else, I have permanently inked the word "Beloved" onto my skin. It is a physical anchor for a broken body, a visual reminder of who I truly am. I will still have dark days. I will still struggle to believe this identity, and I might have to strive every single morning just to let myself be wrapped in it—but I am His.

I hold you and the tenderness of your wounded soul before God. You are a gift, and you are beloved. Someday you won’t have to write it on stones; it will be so inked on your heart!