A Grace Disguised
In an instant, Jerry Sittser lost three generations of his family, his mother, his wife and his daughter, to a drunk driver. The book, A Grace Disguised, is an incredible and honest accounting of what he did with the loss, but equally important, he shares what any of us can do with faced with loss of one kind or another.
Sitter, his wife, Lynda, mother, Grace, and four children had gone to participate in an American Indian Pow-Wow. On the way home, they had only driven a few miles when Sittser noticed car headlights approaching him at a high speed. Sittser slowed down and moved to the side, but it didn’t help. The car was driven by a drunken driver with his pregnant wife, who was also drunk. Driving 85 miles per hour, they hit Sitter’s mini-van head-on. His wife and mother and four-year-old daughter were killed in the accident.
The book deals with the his grief, but more importantly, his approaches the grief that all of us have to bear in one way or another.
For the Tuesday Mornings in September, I will share quotes from the book. September 21, I will be leading a book study at 9:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Parlor.
The gift of divine forgiveness will help us to forgive ourselves. Without it, regret becomes a form of self-punishment....we know that there is nothing we can do to reverse the consequences of our actions. Yet, a holy God imparts forgiveness if we sincerely ask for it; a just God shows mercy and embraces us in love. If such a God can forgive us, then surely we can forgive ourselves. If such a God lavishes us with grace, then surely we can stop punishing ourselves and live in that grace. Divine forgiveness leads to self-forgiveness....We will not be delivered from suffering, but with God’s help we can be transformed by it. (104-105)
Together in Christ,
Stephen
