'There's Something Fierce in the Heart of a Woman'

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So if we bring all this to God, even though we're still doing the same chores and duties-

JE: Life changes.

SE: Oh, it does! Because God romances, in the midst of it, in the midst of the mundane; in the busyness and the laundry and the lists, he loves to come. He's not limited by our limited circumstances. So as a woman brings her heart to God, we want her to do that because those are desperate, lonely times--when you're trapped in your house and you're not having an adult conversation.

Getting back to the point raised earlier, how can women be feminine warriors?

SE: Well, there's something very fierce in the heart of a woman. We all know that. Try to insult a woman's best friend or her husband or, if you want to risk your life, insult her children. (Laughs) And that fierceness was given to us for a reason, for a purpose; we battle, but mostly for relationships.

JE: But a woman needs to realize that she does live in a world with evil. She will live a nave life if she doesn't take evil seriously.

You say that Satan focused on Eve because she was beautiful-she reflected God's glory and she gave light. What are the pitfalls-what kind of evils out there are women vulnerable to?

JE: Unless you interpret your life as a woman as involving a villain who hates you and doesn't want you to have rich relationship and doesn't want you to have a meaningful career and doesn't want you to have children that love you-

SE: -and doesn't want you to believe that you're beautiful and doesn't want you to know that you have something of incredible value to offer.

JE: Then you will just think it's your inability to get your life together.

So you have to realize there's an enemy out there?

JE: You have to.

SE: It's not all you.

JE: Otherwise you just live with shame.

And this enemy is the devil? Or society or...?

JE: Absolutely. [Now] it's the devil. He uses people, right?

SE: Absolutely.

JE: And society has done terrible things to women. But what we're trying to help them see is the source behind them. Because if you try and fix the blame on a man or men or culture, you'll miss what's really driving evil.

SE: And we know, women know. Open a newspaper, about what's happening in any country. The brunt of war is falling on women and children. The sexual assault against women-the statistics are horrible, and yet it's so underreported. It's much worse. So we know we're living in a dangerous world, but we have to realize that it's not just what's coming against us physically; it's what's coming against us spiritually.

JE: Especially against your hearts, what you live under: the accusations, guilt, condemnation, shame, reproach, fear.

John, how has co-writing a women's book-"Captivating"-and immersing yourself in issues of women's hearts influenced your feelings about your men's book, "Wild at Heart"? With hindsight, are there things you would change about "Wild at Heart"?

JE: Oh no, not a thing. It only confirmed all of it, deepened it, challenged me more in it, showed me my own shortcomings. Where a man's strength and courage is tested most is in the way that he treats women, the way that he loves.

Part of "Captivating" mentions how lonely women can be. What can help women get through their struggles with loneliness?

SE: One of the first things is a revelation-It's not just you. We share so much as women. We really are in this together. Yes, we are unique; we have unique gifts, unique talents, different callings, but there is also much that we share.

Then with the book, it's all about Jesus. The core question a woman is asking, the only one that can answer that question profoundly and deeply and well is Jesus. The invitation is to take to him. All of us women who carry wounds, the only one that can heal our wounded soul is Jesus. And that's why he came. That's the offer. He's come to heal the broken hearts, set the captives free.

The loneliness, the ache, the only one who can fill that to the depth that we need it filled, the only one that can touch that is Jesus. So there's good news. It doesn't mean that you're never going to hurt, but you can be healed.