August 28, 2008

Guest: Patty Armstrong: editor of "Amazing Grace for Families"
Featured Saint of the Day: St. Augustine

Today Deacon Rick and Jenny spoke with Patty Armstrong, editor of "Amazing Grace for Families." Patty shared how the stories in the "Amazing Grace" series although like "Chicken Soup for the Soul" go deeper than that as they are stories of God's Grace. She said that God's grace can transform us if we let it. In "Amazing Grace for Families" Patty went to the families in the book and interviewed them, and from there the stories were compiled. When asked how she finds stories, Patty answered, "God brings them to me."

Patty shared a few stories from the book with us and encouraged readers to find her book at Divine Treasures in Des Moines or on-line. In one story, a woman was visiting her parents in Colorado with her family. They were on their way to Hot Springs and had stopped to look at a cabin Joy's parents were interested in. While the kids waited in the car it popped into gear and began rolling toward the edge of a cliff. Joy and her father saw what was happening and ran for the car. Joy got there first and put her body in front of the car to try to stop it. Being a small woman, the car pulled her underneath it and she was run over by the car and she subsequently lost all feeling in her legs and blacked out. What she didn't see whas that when the car rolled over her the bump was enough to open the driver side door that hadn't clicked all the way shut. Her father dove into the driver's side and was able to stop the car three feet from the edge of the cliff. Joy thought she was going to die and in the darkness she heard a voice that told her that she could choose to live or die, but to live would take a lot of work. It was the voices of her children calling out to her that helped her choose to live and to this day she is in a wheelchair. Her family, though, was changed forever. (This story was paraphrased from the interview with Patty Armstrong. To experience the original flavor of the story, find the book "Amazing Grace for Families" at Divine Treasures or a Catholic Bookstore near you.)