Captivating

It has been a beautiful morning. My run this morning was a beautiful, warm, sunny run and shortly after I got back it started to cloud up. I am thankful for the sun. It has been so cloudy this spring!

I have started to reread Captivating by John and Stasi Eldridge and I would like to share some thoughts with you. I read the book either in my senior year of high school or my freshmen year of college and it really transformed my life at the time. I decided to read it again, now that I am married, and I have found that God is showing me so much more. I believe this is a book I should go through every couple of years. Life changes so much and in each season I believe he has something new to show us! I hope these highlights speak to your heart as much as mine, but I would encourage you to take the time to read it or reread it yourself and see what he is speaking to you!

A question asked in the book was what is a woman telling me about God? What characteristics does she hold that are his, since we are made in his image. I loved this question and found myself looking at women differently. When a woman would walk into work I would look for the ways she might show me a picture of God's character. John and Stasi suggested that a woman shows us God is relational to his core, he has a heart for romance. God longs to share adventures with us--adventures we could not do alone. And God has a beauty to unveil, a beauty that is captivating and powerfully redemptive.

This does something to my heart. I feel like it helps me develop a truer view of God. Our perspective of God shapes our faith and I am always look to hold a more compete view of God. Relational to his core: I long for conversational intimacy with Coleman, God longs for conversational intimacy with me. God longs to go on adventures with me that I can't do with out him. This thought stirs inside of me a hope and an excitement to release the control I have over my world and allow him to take me on a ride! And finally, a beauty to unveil. I never have thought of God as beauty himself. His creation is beauty. But Him? What does that mean. As I began to process through this I found myself defining beauty, and what beauty meant to me: peace, rest, joy, light, life, simplicity... These things are the core of God's character. Again, my view of God is shifting.

I would like to encourage you to take a minute and define beauty in your heart. When you think of beauty what do you think of? Once you do that, apply those words to God. Does it change or shape your view of God?

Also, something I loved was the idea that when I come in contact with someone asking myself, what are they showing me about God? See if this question changes your heart towards people, because they were made in his image and they are his child!

I hope these thoughts have touched your heart like they have mine!

May you see his work in your life today!

--Abby