Captivating

I started re-reading the book Captivating a week or so ago. I read the book a few years ago but I definitely think it is a good one to read every so often during the different stages of your life. I’m learning new things about myself. This book helps me see where the root of some of my issues are and is also helping me embrace my role in life as a woman and the desires that come along with it. For some reason it hasn’t been easy for me to be okay with being that “little girl twirling her dress, asking to be delighted in and told that she is beautiful.” It’s always been simpler to accept the independent tomboy side of me that is outdoorsy and a little crude and easily hangs with the guys. I can definitely see how my parents influenced these areas. My dad was a great man.. he just wasn’t great at giving affection or communicating love vocally. So I related to him on his level. I felt close to him and was able to spend time with him doing the things he was interested in.. which were the outdoors and fishing/hunting. I felt the most accepted by him by being like him. And the womanly example I had in my mom growing up was most often an emotional mess that was not stable and created a lot of drama. Of course my mom has a lot of good qualities that I think I have taken on.. but I certainly shied away from the outwardly emotional or needy tendencies she has.

I think one thing I am really taking away from the book right now is the fact that since women were created in God’s image.. that desire to be pursued and delighted in is a characteristic that comes straight from Him. And that helps me in many ways. It shows me how it is more than okay to have the desires that I do, and also how important it is to feed God’s own “womanly” desires and even romance him. That is just one thing I am soaking in from this book.. I highly recommend reading it or re-reading it. =)