The Heart of a Woman 1

I have been reading a book called Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge - and the beginning was a bit challenging for me because it seemed a little boring and predictable. I loved the husband's writings so much that without the writer identifying themselves, I could tell who wrote each part of the book! The wife's writings were good too but it seemed to me that she had already gotten to her point and had reached her maximum at the first couple of chapters of the book. Nevertheless, I continued reading, as I MUST finish everything I start...(another problem of mine :) Anyway, the more I read, the more I fell in love with the wife's writings...and it kept me engaged. The book reveals the "unveiling of the mystery of a woman's soul". The writers focus on the strength of a woman, the essence of a woman, and the need of a woman. As a part of this book, Stasi goes on to talk about the different challenges or different encounters we have had as children or even as adults that has shaped our thinking, and our mentality. Often times, she will bring in characters from movies that possess certain personality and strengths. And then she ties them in to how we have become attached to these personalities that we watch, and how it has affected the very essence of the heart of God, which is the heart of a woman. Over a few weeks, we will talk about the different types of women that are discussed in this book. It certainly was an eye opener for me, as I could identify with some of these traits. For example: DOMINATING WOMAN: This woman is sharp, sophisticated, and incredibly controlling. She handles crisis by dominating the people around her. She needs no one, she is in charge and on top of things. (Stasi says that some of us might even admire this trait). She knows how to get what she wants. This might be a good thing if we know how to control the rush but it could be terrible, if we go to the other extreme; which is, that there is nothing merciful about a dominating woman. She is not tender at heart, and certainly not vulnerable. She has essentially forsaken every essence of her femininity. She has forfeited her femininity for masculinity! A woman who has fallen in some area of her life will pick up such an attribute. She will decide from the start that she will be the controller of all her relationships, and will never be vulnerable. And if she cannot secure a relationship, she will kill every desire for intimacy, just so she is safe and in control. She becomes a woman "who does not need anyone - especially a man". According to the book, how this plays out over the course of her life, and how the wounds of her childhood shape her heart's convictions are often a complex story, one worth knowing. But beneath and behind it all, she dominates and controls her relationships because she fears intimacy and fears her own vulnerability. This, to such a woman, would seem a perfectly reasonable way to live. Please ladies, know that this self-protective way of relating to others has nothing to do with real love, and nothing to do with deeply trusting God. It is our own gut-level response to a dangerous world. Consider this: whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23 NKJV) To be continued......