Sandi Patty- Living on the Edge

I recently reviewed Sandy Patty's book and liked her comments on forgiveness. I figured she knew a great deal about it since she had trouble with men and there was talk about adultery and etc. At the time it was a scandal in religious circles. I always assume that someone who has been through the mill knows something about forgiveness from both sides of the circle. She says:

"It's God's grace, his promise to forgive us when we ask, that lets us live life on the edge..Choosing to accept forgiveness and take advantage of a do-over means we have to change.

I handwrote in my trusty notebook that my fleece takes me wherever God wants me to go. I had another episode with family about my daughter taking a brass bed from her Uncle Jim --one that had caused immeasurable damage already since one sister wanted it for her granddaughter and Jim did not want her to have it so it was literally taken off the truck. I don't know if there was talk about this and I did not stay around to hear about it.

My birthday is Friday and I am keeping away from all sides. It is my prayer that the family will reach out to me and seek conciliation. I need to be inactive and placid in all of this. I have tried to send branches of peace but this time, I sense God's presence and seek peace. When I try to do it all, it is an uneasy peace. Somehow, I know, intuitively that there are people who are God's hands in this world who are members of this family which is crumbling. I shall put out this fleece like Gideon and wait.

Right after I made this decision, Susan Burton called me from the office. I have not heard from her since I retired. We have definitely been at odds and this telephone call was a sign, to me, that God was already working on me and my situation. Not in the way I intended but in his Way, which I had not foreseen. It, to me, was a fleece which could not be denied.