Captivating

Captivating, by John and Stasi Eldredge

This book is subtitled, "Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul." Quite an endeavor to try to undertake, even with a woman coauthoring it. Even I don't understand women sometimes.

When I started reading I thought, "yeah, yeah, another book about women." In some places, I felt that Stasi's description of a woman or what a woman wants or needs in a relationship, didn't match up with how I felt. But the more I read, the more I liked, and the more I thought, "wow that's true too."

Here is a basic outline of the book: Everyone, male or female, is living imperfectly, because of the sin Adam and Eve brought into the world. But its about more than just our sin. Our hearts have been wounded by the sins of others (for example, a person who was verbally abused by their parents at a young age is going to have to heal before living the way God intended them to live). At the core of every female heart, women want 1) to be romanced 2) to have an irreplaceable role in a larger adventure (its NOT all about us!) and 3) to have a beauty to unveil. In each of those three things there is healing that needs to take place, and the book talks a lot about people who have been hurt and how that hindered them from either allowing themselves to be romanced, being a part of an adventure, or showing their beauty. And yes, its ok to show off our beauty. But there's a right way to do it. This book has a chapter for each of those three aspects as well as chapters that go back and look at what was actually happening in the Garden of Eden between Adam, Eve, Satan, and God, chapters about the battle we are in that is life, the wounds we take, and our healing.

As I often do, I underlined a lot of passages that jumped out at me, or even interested me in the slightest way. Overall, however, I didn't have any major epiphanies while reading this book. I read it slowly, and about halfway through, I noticed a slow transformation occurring in myself. I found that I felt more sure of myself throughout the day, more decisive, and more perceptive to the things BEHIND the things going on around me. Accepting that I am part of a bigger picture (part of a war God is fighting) made me think about things differently. Almost without realizing it, instead of feeling run down when something happens, I started thinking, "Ok, what's really going on here? Is this part of the battle?" To put it simply, I feel like some part of me came alive, or at the very least, woke up.

This book may not be for everyone, but it is at least worth a shot if you are curious about yourself or the woman in your life.