Eldredge - Captivating Revised & Updated

Captivating

OTHER BOOKS BY JOHN ELDREDGE

Love and War

(with Stasi Eldredge)

Wild at Heart

Fathered by God

Walking with God

Waking the Dead

Epic

Desire

The Sacred Romance

(Coauthored with Brent Curtis)

Captivating

UNVEILING THE MYSTERY of a
Womans Soul

JOHN AND STASI ELDREDGE

2005, 2010 by John Eldredge and Stasi Eldredge

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, TN, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Published in association with Yates & Yates, LLP, Attorneys and Counselors, Orange, California.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted Alter are from Genesis: Translation and Commentary. 1996 by Robert Alter.

Scripture quotations noted NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NASB are from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations noted NKJV are from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4002-0038-2 (TP)

ISBN 978-1-4002-0282-9 (revised)

ISBN 978-1-4002-8101-5 (IE)

The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows:

Eldredge, John.

Captivating / John and Stasi Eldredge.

p. cm.

ISBN: 978-0-7852-6469-9 (HC)

ISBN: 0-7852-2325-8 (SE)

1. Christian womenReligious life. I. Eldredge, Stasi. II. Title.

BV4527.E435 2005

248.8'43dc22

2004028651

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 RRD 5 4 3 2 1

To the captivating women we
are blessed to call our friends.

Contents

N ow we are on holy ground.

Writing a book for men (Wild at Heart) was a fairly straightforward proposition. Not that men are simpletons. But they are the less complicated of the two genders trying to navigate love and life together. Both men and women know this to be true. The mystery of the feminine heart was meant to be a good thing, by the way. A source of joy. Yet it has become a source of shamewomen almost universally feel that they are too much and not enough. At the same time. (Which is crazy-making.) And men tend to pull away from the deeper waters of a womans soul, unsure of what they will find there or how to handle it. And so we have missed the treasure that is the heart of a woman, missed the richness femininity was meant to bring to our lives, missed the way it speaks to us of the heart of God.

Rest assuredthis is not a book about all the things you are failing to do as a woman. Were tired of those books. As a new Christian, the first book I (Stasi) picked up to read on godly femininity I threw across the room. I never picked it up again. In the thirty years since, I have only read a few I could wholeheartedly recommend. The rest drive me crazy. Their messages to women make me feel as though, You are not the woman you ought to bebut if you do the following ten things, you can make the grade. Maybe. They are, by and large, soul-killing. But femininity cannot be prescribed in a formula. There is no one size fits all pattern for Gods women.

We have women friends who love tea parties and china, and friends who break out in hives at the thought of them. We have women friends who love to hunt, bow hunt even. Women who love to entertain and women who dont. Women who are professors, moms, doctors, nurses, missionaries, dentists, homemakers, therapists, chefs, artists, poets, rock climbers, triathletes, secretaries, salespeople, and social workers. Beautiful women, all.

Sois a true woman Cinderella or Joan of Arc? Mary Magdalene or Oprah? How do we recover essential femininity without falling into stereotypes, or worse, ushering in more pressure and shame upon our readers? That is the last thing a woman needs. And yet, there is an essence that God has given to every woman. We share something deep and true, down in our hearts. So we venture into this exploration of femininity by way of the heart. What is at the core of a womans heart? What are her desires? What did we long for as little girls? What do we still long for as women? And how does a woman begin to be healed from the wounds and tragedies of her life?

Sometime between the dreams of your youth and yesterday, something precious has been lost. And that treasure is your heart, your priceless feminine 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.

So we invite you to take a journey with us, a journey of discovery and healing. For your heart is the prize of Gods Kingdom, and Jesus has come to win you back for himselfall of you. To help your journey, weve written Captivating: A Guided Journal. You might want to use it as you read this book. And gather a group of women and go through it together! We pray that God will use this book in your life, in your heart, to bring healing, restoration, joy, and life! And if God does that, it will be cause for a wonderful celebration. With teacups and china. Or paper plates. Whatever. One day we will all celebrate together. In anticipation and hope, may this little book draw you closer to Gods heartand your own.

FIVE YEARS LATER

It has been five years since John and I wrote Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Womans Soul. The stories that have poured in over that time are breathtaking. What God has done for many, many women has been... glorious. He is setting his daughters free to be the women they are created to be. He is transforming hearts and minds and lives and families and communities and nations.

There is more to be done. More to be known. More to be healed. More to be released. More love to receive and more love to pour out. People today are desperate for meaning. They long to know that it is possible to live a life that matters. They are hungry for truth and dying of thirst for the Living Water. There is no greater mission on earth than to be part of Gods great invasion and bring it to them; bring Jesus to them! But first, always first, we must bring ourselves to Jesus.

I love the story in Mark 5 of the woman with the issue of blood who out of her desperate need pushes through the throngs of people surrounding Jesus in order to touch the hem of his garment and be healed. You remember how it went. She had been bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all she had on the many doctors and treatments available to her. None of it had helped. In fact, she had only gotten worse. Now, broke and heartbroken, she has an unlooked for opportunity.