More on Women of Faith

I had a great time interviewing Sandi Patty and Anita Renfroe for today’s Religion Section stories on Women of Faith.

Almost every year I get to share stories about some of the speakers and musical guests for the popular Christian women’s conference ministry that typically makes its way to Oklahoma City in the fall.

Both Patty and Renfroe and were quite candid about their lives and the message of hope they will bring to thousands of women planning to attend the inspirational event Nov. 2-3 at the Ford Center.

I had already begun reading Patty’s book, “Falling Forward” so I understood the premise behind her message about failure and redemption.

A few paragraphs about the book were included on the cover of the Religion Section earlier this year when the book was released. We could not tell everything about the book in that short amount of space but my hope is that readers will understand more about it after reading today’s story on Patty.

What I can tell you here in the format (bless this format!) is that Patty shares some of her personal story in the book but she also goes beyond that to give the reader some advice on how to keep from falling, then what to do if one does fall. You might say this is my book review of sorts.

In “Falling Forward,”Patty gives warning signs to look for when one might be headed for a fall from grace and ways to find restoration if failure has already taken place.

Three points are key, she says:

1. We all fall — fail in some way – none of us are perfect. “We are all equally in need of mercy and grace and the Father’s embrace,” she writes.