'Captivating' thoughts

                                              

  Since the devotional-like book 'Captivating' by John and Stasi Eldredge is such a good, healing book for a woman's heart (their 'Wild At Heart' is excellent for you guys out there ;) ), and because I'm honored to be embarking on a Bible study that's branching off this book with lovely miss Emma Bond and other ladies this fall...

 I thought I'd share a few snippets from the book that illuminate some bits of a woman's heart, and are particularly stirring to my own heart.

                                    

  'So— is a true woman Cinderella or Joan of Arc? ...What is at the core of a woman's heart? ...God has set within you a femininity that is powerful and tender, fierce and alluring.  No doubt it has been misunderstood.  Surely it has been assaulted.  But it is there, your true heart, and it is worth recovering.  You are captivating.'

                                         

  ' "Whatever comes, cannot alter once thing.  If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside.  It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in a cloth of gold, bit it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it." '            (—Frances Hodgeson Burnett, 'The Little Princess')

                                         

  'A woman in her glory... is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy enough.  She knows in her quiet center where God dwells that He finds her beautiful, has deemed her worthy, and in Him, she is enough.

...He will quiet you with His love.  (Zeph. 3:17)  A woman who in the depths of her soul is at rest, trusting God because she has come to know Him to be worthy of her trust.'

                                           

  Do not give way to fear.

                                                       1 Peter 3:6

                                   

  'True beauty comes from a depth of soul that can only be attained through living many years well.'

                                     

  They looked to Him and were radiant.

                                                                       Psalm 34:5

                                       

  '[A woman's true] radiance stems from a heart that has had its deepest questions answered.

  ...Yes. Our God finds you lovely.  Jesus has moved heaven and earth to win you for Himself.  He will not rest until you are completely His.  The King... finds you captivating.'

                                       

(Quotes that are not Scripture, with the exception of the quote from 'The Little Princess', belong to John and Staci Eldredge's book 'Captivating' -- pictures belong to their original owners.)