I am a woman. An image-bearer of God. The Crown of Creation. I was chosen before time and space, and I am wholly and dearly loved. I am sought after, pursued, romanced, the passionate desire of my Jesus. I am dangerous in my beauty and my life-giving power. And I am needed.
As a woman who has been ransomed and redeemed, I can be strong and tender. I speak to the world of God's mercy, mystery, beauty, and his desire for intimate relationship. I am inviting; I can risk being vulnerable, offering the weight of my life as well as my need for more because I am safe in God's love. I labor with God to bring forth life--in creativity, in work, in others. My aching, awakened heart leads me to the feet of Jesus, where I wait on Him and wait for Him. The eyes of His heart are ever upon me. The King is captivated by my beauty.
The world needs me. The world needs me to awaken to God more fully and to awaken to the desires of the heart that He placed within me so that I will come alive to Him and to the role that is mine to play. Perhaps I am meant to be a concert musician or a teacher. Perhaps I am meant to be a neurologist or a horse trainer. Perhaps I am to be an activist for ecology or the poor or the aged or the ill. I am certainly called to be a woman, wherever else He leads me.
And that is crucial. Whatever my particular calling, I am meant to grace the world with my dance, to follow the lead of Jesus wherever He leads me. He will lead me first into Himself; and then, with Him, he will lead me into the world that He loves and needs me to love.
It is by Invitation.
[An excerpt from Captivating; altered to reflect the first person]
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