Captivating

A guy friend on facebook put it out there today that he was looking to borrow the book Captivating by Stasi and John Eldredge. For those of you who aren't aware, it's a book mainly about women, how we're wired and how to be truly captivating. Not exactly a guy kind of book. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I read Wild at Heart by John Eldredge to help me understand more of the inner struggle of males; why shouldn't guys read about the inner struggles of women.

Before offering up my book, I decided to glance through it to make sure there weren't any notes in the margins that I wouldn't want someone else to read. In doing so, I started reading some of the passages I had underlined. There is some great stuff in this book! So, men, here's a sneak peek, and women, trust me, you'll want to read this book too!

- Every woman I've ever met feels it - something deeper than just the sense of failing at what she does. An underlying, gut feeling of failing at who she is. I am not enough, and, I am too much at the same time. Not pretty enough, not thin enough, not kind enough, not gracious enough, not disciplined enough. But too emotional, too needy, too sensitive, too strong, too opinionated, too messy. The result is Shame, the universal companion of women. It haunts us, nipping at our heels, feeding on our deepest fear that we will end up abandoned and alone.

- We feel unseen, even by those who are closest to us. We feel unsought - that no one has the passion or the courage to pursue us, to get past our messiness to find the woman deep inside. And we feel uncertain - uncertain what it even means to be a woman; uncertain what it truly means to be feminine; uncertain if we are or ever will be.

- If you will listen to carefully to any woman's story, you will hear a theme; the assault on her heart. It might be obvious as in the stories of physical, verbal or sexual abuse. Or it might be more subtle, the indifference of a world that cares nothing for her but uses her until she is drained.

- God invites us to risk trusting him and enter into redemptive friendships with others - to open ourselves up to the possibility of being hurt as well as to the possibility of tasting the sweet fruit of companionship. Yet, no matter how wonderful a taste of relational fullness you have, you will want more. If you had an amazing connection yesterday with someone, when you wake this morning, you will want it again. Eve possesses a bottomless well of longing. Jesus alone s the never-ending fount, which can slake her thirst. No other source, no other relationship will fully satisfy. God made us that way. On purpose.