One unseasonably cool night in July of 2007, I was feeling desperate to get alone with God. I was dealing with an unsettling feeling in my soul and I just wanted to pour everything out at His feet. My bedroom was not quite far enough. I decided to go outside – out the back door and toward the mountains. Looking for a dark, remote place where I knew it would only be the two of us, I somehow was not concerned about the critters that often lurk in the night. I finally settled upon a little hilly spot just beneath a perfectly hung half moon tinted with golden hues and framed with glistening stars. I sat there and began talking with Him, kind of like a little girl chatting with her Daddy as she holds onto his big, strong pinkie while they walk barefoot on the seashore. I started to name, one by one, all of the desires of my heart to my Abba Father. He was so patient with me. I could never begin to count how many times I’d done this before. Over the years it had been so beautiful to see Him change my desires into His desires for me. Tonight, none of them had really changed since last time, except I really wanted to emphasize asking Him to use me for His glory and His Kingdom above all else. As I talked with Him, I could almost see the tenderness in His eyes – eyes that never grow sleepy during my long conversations. I could feel Him smiling on me, so pleased that I trusted Him enough to share the dreams from the depths of my heart. I could hear Him listening so attentively to every word I spoke as if He’’d never heard one of them before. When I finished spitting out my long list of desires, I knelt again and opened my hands wide. “Lord, I am giving them back to you . . . again. I want You to accomplish Your dreams for me, not my own.” So that night for the umpteenth time, He lovingly received my dreams and He ever so gently collected my tears into His bottle (Psalm 56:8) and He took me seriously when I asked that He would use “such a worm as I”. Only minutes later, I had a swelling vision of beginning a newsletter for young Christian ladies who are not yet married. I’d been there for a long time and I knew how those in the “same boat” needed to be encouraged in the Lord! God gave me the details so quickly, I was struggling to write them all down. So . . . out of my nothingness and fear of never being fit to be used by my King, came His greatness and His all-sufficient grace. Watching for the Morning, God’’s dream was born in my heart. Wow! He never ceases to amaze me.Thank you for being a part of this ministry and receiving this little newsletter. I pray that it will encourage you in your walk of singleness and “datelessness” as you walk solely with the Lord. Some of you are still so young that you are not hoping to be married for several years. Other readers may feel as though time is somehow running out for you. Isn’t it comforting to know that the God you belong to is the very Creator of time itself?! No matter which “camp” you’re in, may you always guard your heart and may you find abundant rest for your soul as you daily hand over the pen of your life and your love story to your Creator. I am so excited to see what God is going to do! May you never stop dreaming the dreams He has for you!

Update: More than one year since the newsletter was birthed in my heart by the breath of God, I still have a great passion to see a generation of pure hearted young women, not given to compromise, willing to be “radical” for the Lover of their soul. Knowing full well that it’s not about us, but all about HIM, these beautiful ”brides” will shine His amazing love to all they meet. They know that purity doesn’t come by our works alone, but they recieve the precious blood of Christ to make and keep their garments “white as snow”.  They are different, peculiar, and set apart. Let us never grow weary in well doing. Let us rise up and be an “Esther” generation!