If you really want the lifetime mate that GOD HAS CHOSEN FOR YOU, then this is the book for you. Elisabeth Elliot effectively communicates the Biblical principle that if you do things God's way, and not the way our culture says to, then you can find the mate He has chosen for you. And then you can fulfill the plan God has for your lives. As Christians, why would you want it any other way? When I became a Christian, I realized that my choices so far had not been the best ones, and that a sovereign God can, and is willing, to do that for me. When I realized that God did have the perfect person for me, that I just had to wait on him, then to me dating others was a waste of my time. Why indulge my flesh kissing someone I have not plans to marry? I wouldn't want my husband to be kissing someone else before I met him, so why should I? I learned to depend on God during the uncertain, and sometimes lonely times until I married 5 years ago. Elisabeth Elliot gives you a practical roadmap to achieve this. This is one of the best books I have ever read. I have many other friends who depended on God, and not themselves, to provide a mate and are all happily married.

If you want to see a real example of a couple keeping themselves pure before God, this is an awesome book. Yes, she is a little dry but that is what is good about it. She isn't selling fluff that isn't what God is about. She tells a story of her courtship with Jim Elliot, an awesome man of God. I don't care what people say about "I kissed dating goodbye" being better they are wrong. God used this book to change my perspective on purity to be a Godly woman and to know how I conduct myself and not chase after relationships. To enjoy my role and to then encourage other women to stay pure until their wedding day and not pursue men. God used this woman tremendously in my life and the lives of the other ladies in a single women's study to understand what God wanted from us as women. I married a year ago and our first kiss, EVER, was when the pastor said you may now kiss your bride and I am so glad she was obedient to write this book. Buy extra copies you'll need them for your kids.

This book had so much solid information, I will definitely be reading it again in the future! When I started the book, I didn't know how Elliot could possibly write 188 pages about purity in relationships. By the time I closed the book, I knew I had enough facts to live my life on! Elliot uses the story of the relationship she had with her first husband to encourage readers to be pure in their relationships with the opposite sex and with God. For Elliot, purity does not merely mean chastity, although that is a key element. Purity reveals itself as selflessness in relationships, fulfillment by God before man, patience, and many other important lifestyle characteristics. While many nonfiction books draw me closer to the author, this book drew me closer to God. Of the many things that God taught me through the book, one thing that I gleaned was this: contrary to the world's thought process, singleness is a FREEDOM to serve God without distraction, not an obligation (page 57). Also, God showed me that a man who is "prepared to swim against the tide" is the only kind of man worth waiting for (page 129). This book has so much to teach, I recommend that you get your own to read and keep a highlighter nearby so that you can highlight everything that sticks out to you; you'll be glad you did in the end.