Brennan Manning woke up in an alcoholic fog one morning to see a young child looking down at him. The mother of the child quickly grabbed the boy by the hand, saying, “Don't look at that filth. That's nothing, but pure filth,” and with that she kicked him and broke two of his ribs. “That filth was me,” writes Manning, a Franciscan priest and author, “and by God's grace I met Jesus and experienced his furious love for me regardless of my state—grace or disgrace.”

Arising out of Manning's own painful journey, The Furious Longing of God is a love story for the broken-hearted, for people burdened by heavy religion and for those who feel they can never measure up. It is a poignant look at the radical, no-holds-barred love of our heavenly Father that healed Manning's broken life. The book is the fruit of a 30-day silent retreat. His spiritual director guided him to the Song of Solomon 7:10, “I am my beloved's and his desire is for me” (NASB). Throughout the retreat, he prayed this Scripture and experienced the powerful love of God.

This book invites you to a place of “retreat” where you can experience afresh the passionate love of God. I used the book as a personal retreat, taking a chapter a day to ponder what God the Father wanted to say to me. The reality that God's desire is for me swept over me again. He is “furious” in his love for me.

Each chapter concludes with questions to engage the heart and mind. You don't want to hurry through this book; you want to slowly drink it in. It brims with God's grace and readers will come away wanting to be the evidence of God's love in the world.

Manning could be more balanced in his reflections on God's love. God is not always tender. Sometimes he expresses his love through unpleasant discipline and pruning (see Hebrews 12:4-13; John 15:1-2). While The Furious Longing of God is not intended to present a comprehensive, theological picture of God's love, omitting its more complicated dimensions results in an incomplete and potentially distorted view of his holy love. Conclusions about God's love based on personal experiences must be balanced by a thorough understanding of the biblical revelation.

Manning includes poignant illustrations to illuminate what it means to be aglow with furious love. He encourages us to pursue love, to help the hurting, the downcast and the outcast, and thereby bring Jesus to the people around us. Read about a God who is not just following you, but pursuing you, a God who is seriously in love with you. May this book speak peace, boldness, joy and furious love into your heart, a love that will empower you to share Jesus' love with others.