Captivating

I'm reading this book called Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul by John & Stasi Eldredge. Its kind of like the sister book to Wild at Heart by John. It was mentioned by one of the mom's in our group (who was previously obsessed with Wild at Heart) and as soon as I heard who wrote it I perked up, so she lent me her copy. I'm still wondering if I should get my own so that I can make comments in the margins... I like to do that. Anyway, here are some of my favorite quotes from my reading so far:

"Finally, most women doubt very much that they have any genuine beauty to unveil. It is, in fact, our deepest doubt. When it comes to the issues surrounding beauty, we vacillate between striving and resignation. New diets, new outfits, new hair color. Work out; work on your life; try this discipline or that new program for self-improvement. Oh, forget it. Who cares anyway? Put up a shield and get on with life. Hide. Hide in busyness; hide in church activities; hide in depression. There is nothing captivating about me. Certainly not inside me. I'll be lucky to pull it off on the outside." pg. 45

"Why is she always trying to 'improve' herself?... Why is she trying so hard? Doesn't she know how amazing she is? What makes her search so frustrating is that she doesn't know what is wrong with her. She simply fears that somehow she is not enough. Many women feel that, by the way. We can't put words to it, but deep down we fear there is something terribly wrong with us. If we were the princess, then our prince would have come. If we were the daughter of a king, he would have fought for us. We can't help but believe that if we were different, if we were better, then we would have been loved as we so longed to be. It must be us." pg. 69

"But the wounds don't stop once you are grown up. Some of the most crippling and destructive wounds we receive come much later in our lives. The wounds that we have received over our lifetimes have not come to us in a vacuum. There is, in fact, a theme to them, a pattern. The wounds you have received have come to you for a purpose from one who knows all you are meant to be and fears you." pg. 75

Wow! That speaks so strongly to me... and simply because of that statement, I utterly respect the authors and wholeheartedly recommend this book to women and men alike. We can never forget that there is a spiritual battle going on in each of our lives... because as soon as we do, Satan has won.