Captivating Ch. 2

Women Struggle with self worth
-due to what we were created for...

We must go back to the beginning to understand: Creation (Eve)
~Re-read the creation story
-notice the importance that each creature is more intricate than the last
-God creates his masterpiece, Adam, but still missing something
-God creates Eve, she is breathtaking
*she fills a place in the world nothing/no one else can fill
--she is a crown creation

We are made in his image, something he wanted to reveal about himself:
1.He is relational to his core, just like women. Most women define themselves in terms of a relationship and the quality they deem those relationships to be. This is not a weakness, it is glory that reflects the heart of God.
2.He has a heart for romance. the desire and capacity for intimate relationships is Gods desires just as a woman's are too. He yearns for us, He cares, He has a tender heart. For how much we yearn for our own men to love us, do we have that same yearning for God?? We tend to be more jealous, which God has the same characteristic for us.
3.He wants adventure. Women have heart for adventure and a mission and that mission he put in our hearts is to be fruitful and multiply. God is essential, wants to be needed like we need to be needed. He is also irreplaceable and that's how women want to feel.
4.He is beautiful and has beauty to unveil to us. Beauty is the essence of God. John described God in heaven as radiant, beautiful like gemstones and isn't that what women love to have and feel beautiful? (oh diamonds) His beauty and our beauty is inside and out. God created our bodies to be beautiful. (men are captured best in motion to show strength, not beauty)

Why Beauty Matters:
-Beauty is powerful and dangerous because it matters
1.Beauty speaks- "All shall be well" If a woman is comfortable with her beauty, she is fun to be around
2.Beauty invites- "Captivating" draws you in, holds your attention and wants you to come back for more. All of what both God and women desire
3.Beauty nourishes- God created a woman's body to be able to feed our babies
4.Beauty comforts- We send beautiful flowers during someones loss because only a gift of beauty says enough. Also, we have a sense of peace or awe at a sunset or at the beach.
5.Beauty inspires- "You make me want to be a better man"-As Good As It Gets.
6.Beauty is transcendent- Its the most immediate experience of the eternal. It speaks of heaven to come when all shall be beautiful. Its the most essential and misunderstood of all of Gods qualities and women's too.
*Why so much heartache over beauty?
-women worry, try products, diet, surgery, etc to be beautiful

Every woman longs for a beauty to unveil. This is not just culture or the need to "get a man." This is in her heart, part of her design

Why beauty to unveil?:
-One of the deepest ways a woman bears the image of God is in her mystery
-God yearns to be known, he doesn't throw himself at us
-He says you must seeks me, pursue me. I wont let you in unless I know you love me. He has dignity about it. (this is how we are to be with our men. Let them pursue us and have dignity)
*Like God, a woman is not a problem to be solved, but a vast wonder to be enjoyed