Broken on the Back Row

By Sandi Patty

Book Overview

Sandi Patty, the most awarded female vocalist in contemporary Christian Music, saw her stellar career go into a tailspin. Now she tells the story of her long road to restoration. From the agony of divorce nearly ten years ago, Sandi has moved from center stage to the back row of the church balcony and back into the spotlight. This book is the heart-touching narrative of her years as an acclaimed recording artist balancing her role as adoring mother to four children, her fall from public acclaim, and the steps she worked through with her church and pastor to find forgiveness and peace --- all under the harsh glare of national media attention. Sandi's story also includes insightful vignettes from their bustling blended family (Sandi's four children and three stepchildren) and the inspiring way God worked in the adoption of an eighth child, their precious Sam. Sandi's performance schedule is full once more but there's a difference in her music and her heart that reflects the unforgettable journey she's made to reach the other side of hurt and find healing and forgiveness in Christ.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582294267
• ISBN13: 9781582294261
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Howard Books
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Great Book

This book tells the story about redemption and reconcilation with God and man. It is filled with lots of bible principals and if you have been thru divorce and need healing this is a great book to read to inspire you with hope.

We All Need Forgiveness; We All Need His Grace

Thank you, Sandi for writing this book! At times after my own divorce I took on far too much responsibility for it --- and felt like a failure. This book is a wonderful reminder that God loves us --- before, during, and after our mistakes --- or other people's misunderstandings. This is an excellent book that will remind the reader of God's mercy and care. Barbara Sheldon, M.S.W. I also highly recommend: Happily Remarried: *Making Decisions Together *Blending Families Successfully* Building a Love That Will Last

A hymn of redemption

Are the fallen forever out of the race? Then we're all parked on the sidelines! Not one of us can cast the first stone. Our loved one desperately needed to know that he had a second chance, could begin again, could know redemption. He picked up Sandi's book and found exactly what his wounded soul required. Hope poured in. Good overcame evil. God is the God of fresh starts. Give a copy to someone who needs to begin again, then hold them while they do. Then pray to God that when you need to start over, someone is there to hold you.

Let freedom ring!

If the events surrounding Sandi's past were in any other genre of music, they would have long been forgotten and forgiven. But she was in the Christian music industry on a pedestal where her fans and the industry placed her. Her fall from grace caused her to be shunned from the very industry she help build, and from the very people who should have helped her find her way(and I am not talking getting her cd's played on the radio). But God knew a way to find her, even on the back row in the balcony as He set up the events that would lead her to freedom,which is what this book stands for. It is obviously the only way she would be at the place she is in today: happy and appreciative of what she has, and willing to share her forgiven past because she knows who holds her future. Broken on the back row is for anyone who wants to be inspired to find peace no matter which row of life you are sitting. Shine on.

Full of hope and grace to encourage your brokenness

Being a long time fan of Sandi's who was eager to read the book, I have since read it twice. It is the heart of a dear woman who has failed in her marriage, in her relationship with God, and with her fans yet found herself broken at the foot of the cross ready to do whatever it took to find forgiveness and restitution for her poor choices. It is not a book of excuses or justification but a heart-felt story of hope and forgiveness and grace that is available to all of us. Sandi shares about her beginnings in the music industry and a little of her first marriage. She shares about the difficult years when she strayed from God and subsequently found her self divorced from her first husband, the subject of talk in the public eye for the affair she was in, and the damage it did on her family, her career, and ultimately her relationship with God. But the story does not end there. She continues and shares how she found herself back to God and the steps she took with her church and pastor to restore her relationship with God, her family, her church and her career. For anyone finding themself ever broken on their back row, you find comfort, encouragement, and hope as Sandi shares her private journey to restoration.