Quotes from Stasi Eldredge

The longing in the heart of a woman to share life together as a great adventure– that comes straight from God, who also longs for this. He does not want to be an option in our lives. He does not want to be an appendage, a tagalong. Neither does any woman. God is essential. He wants us to need him– desperately.

The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are. —C. S. Lewis, Selected Literary Essays

Your heart itself, as a woman, is an invitation. An invitation delivered in the most intimate and personalized way. Your Lover has written something on your heart. It is a call to find a life of Romance and to protect that love affair as your most precious treasure. A call to cultivate the beauty you hold inside, and to unveil your beauty on behalf of others. And it is a call to adventure, to become the ezer the world desperately needs you to be.

There is no shame here. The places where we still fear are simply the places we have yet to fully receive God's love. Only by his grace and in his love can we let our fear go. Let go and receive. Receive his dreams. Receive his love. It is an exchange of fear for desire. It is an exchange of death for life. There is no fear in love. And I can tell you this with certainty: God does not want you to live in fear. And he does want you to live. Don't be afraid. Just believe.

The voice of Shame says, I basically hate me; I need to get rid of me. The voice of Discipline says, I've got to fix me, because me is not good. God says, I love you; let me restore you. I like that one best. 

There is a song written on your heart and you must sing it. The world is waiting, needing what it is you have to offer. You must live the life you were born to live.

The very fact that we long for the change we do is a sign that we are meant to have it.

They loved God and their hearts were alive and there is nothing more gorgeous than that.

The voice of Shame says, I basically hate me; I need to get rid of me. The voice of Discipline says, I've got to fix me, because me is not good. God says, I love you; let me restore you.

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. Ralph Waldo Emerson

You are you. Unique. Marvelous. Beautiful. Quirky. And imperfect.

We are loved. Born out of love, into love, to know love, and to be loved. Yes, we were born into a fallen, sorry world, which is at the same time more lovely than any fairy tale. It is both. And in this beautiful, heartbreaking world, God—the eternal, omniscient, amazing One—loves human beings. Including you. Especially you.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess. 5:16–18 NIV 2011). Give thanks to God in every situation, not for every situation. By loving Jesus in our pain, we allow him into our pain.

And in this beautiful, heartbreaking world, God—the eternal, omniscient, amazing One—loves human beings. Including you. Especially you.  You are amazing.

The mystery of the feminine heart was meant to be a good thing, by the way. A source of joy.

When you like yourself, you are free to enjoy others, and in your presence people experience an invitation to become and enjoy who they truly are.

We can be so free. It all begins here—with an internal choice to let Christ so invade our hearts that we cannot be held to any sort of bondage internally. We choose to love, to forgive; we choose not to fear; we choose life.

Mothering well is a prayerful art. —Lori McConnell, Restoring Hope in a Woman's Heart

It makes a mess of many good relationships. You know all about this. No matter how much Adam pours into your aching soul, it's never enough. He cannot fill you. Maybe he's pulled away because he senses you're asking him to fill you. Every woman has to reckon with this - this ache she tries to get her man to fill. In order to learn how to love him, you must first stop insisting that he fill you.

There is great evil in the world, my sister, and much of it is directed at women. The source of that evil is not men, or women, but Satan. If you will accept this, you can not only make leaps forward in understanding your life, but you can find your way through the battle to the goodness God has for you and the goodness he wants to bring through you.

How do we live in freedom? We live in freedom when we come to believe, know, receive, and embrace the boundless love of God for us—when we are captured by his goodness, his faithfulness, his honor, his sacrifice, his heart that yearns for us. Then we can dance for an audience of One. Because we are so completely loved. We are safe and secure in the love of God. Every moment of our lives.

Currently, the physical standards of beauty held up in the media as the goal are actually out of reach for 98 percent of the population. 'This is what is beautiful,' we are told. 'Look like this! Try to be this! You will never be able to, but please keep trying because we are making a lot of money out of your continued failed attempts.

Defiant joy does not depend on feeling happy. Defiant joy is solely based on the victory of Jesus Christ and all that He has won for you.

His wife was a tiny woman who I can best describe as being very present. She was not a woman hiding, nor a woman afraid. She was a woman at rest, at home with herself and with all pistons firing. She was alive and beautiful.