VANCOUVER, Wash. (WordNews.org) April 21, 2012 – Legendary Christian singer Sandi Patty would have done some things differently if she knew then what she knows now.
“I would have taken breaks early on” as her career gained “downhill momentum.”
“I would have learned to say no to things so that I could have personal breaks and be able to be connected into a group of women that would speak into my life, that would hold me accountable,” Sandi told WordNews.org.
Sandi has received the most Grammy and Dove awards of any female artist. But she said her career took off so fast.
“Things started happening so fast and there was just really me and my husband and a few family members and things happened quickly in the career,” she said. “We did not take the time to be strategic and get a covering of a church and a covering of accountability.”
If she had that covering and accountability group, Sandi said some of her choices would have been different.
“You don’t’ wake up one day and go, ‘You know, I think I’m going to decide to have an affair today.’ There are little things that happen, safeguards that are not put up, boundaries that are nonexistent and that is definitely one thing that I would do—be accountable to a group of women, to a body, a fellowship.”
The affair took place in the 1990s and she and her husband divorced. But there was reconciliation, Sandi said.
“We went through counseling for reconciliation even though we were not going to be married,” she said. “He was at a different church and I was at a different church but both of our pastors counseled us. It was really one of the hardest things ever because you had to be so verbal and conscious and so – it’s just not pretty to just verbalize how you let the marriage down. But it’s very healing and if there are couples who are in a place that can do that, I would highly recommend it.”
Sandi said God has used her bad choices for His glory.
“I don’t think that God ever accomplishes His will through sin. Ever! But I do believe He will use the choices, broke and unbroken, that we bring to Him and submit to Him. I do believe that He picks those pieces and He fashions them into something new. I would not be talking with you today if I didn’t believe with my whole heart that that was true.”
What’s on Sandi’s Bucket List?
“If I never did anything else again in my whole life, my life is full and complete and I am so grateful.”
One item on her Bucket List was to create the album “Broadway Stories,” featuring her favorite show tunes. She recorded that last year.
“So I suppose sometime before I kick that bucket, I would love to do a very short run on Broadway to say I have done Broadway,” she said. “I’m telling you, the bug really bit me big time. That would be amazing.”

Related:

Saturdays with Sandi Patty: The gift of reconnecting (Part 1)

Saturdays with Sandi Patty: Entering a new season (Part 2)

Saturdays with Sandi Patty: Who’s the best? (Part 3)