"In the woods and streams and magical night skies of childhood in western Arkansas, I daily caught glimpses of God that drew me into His majesty and mystery; that spoke of a Being beyond my grasp who ever poured out His oils of creation upon a mountainous canvas stretched before me by His loving hand. It was as if the Divine Artist whispered, 'Follow me.' So wilderness trails drew me into adventure with a wild yet tender God...a sacred journey that inevitably comes when we say 'yes' to Christ's beckoning Spirit..."
From back panel of Brenda's bookSong of Christ
Brenda's journey with Christ began at the age of 8 when she was baptized in a cold mountain river in October near her small town of Wickes, Arkansas. The sense of God surrounded her through her family and community and in the natural beauty where she lived until her first spiritual crisis as a sophomore at the University of Kansas. It was here the Lord required her to take the faith she had been handed on a silver platter from her parents and truly make it her own. This was to be the signature of her journey with Christ...sporadic crises that forced relinquishments and new decisions about how she saw God and what she would do with Him. It was from this landscape that she came to know an unfathomable, mysterious God who could be utterly trusted.
Upon her husband's death from brain cancer in 1996, she spent the following year in prayer regarding the direction her life was to take. From that period, in late December of 1997 the ministry of Dayspring was incorporated as a Bible teaching, training and equipping center and established as a non-profit organization.