Patty’s Message

A few years ago, Patty Jones found me through the Edisto Island church web­site and began send­ing me mes­sages of encour­age­ment. Patty offers prayers for our con­gre­ga­tion and has been a great source of per­sonal encour­age­ment for me. Somehow, Patty finds the strength to spread Christ’s love and hope despite many per­sonal tri­als that she faces.

This sum­mer, Patty was very sick. Many peo­ple thought that she would not live much longer. In the midst of her pain, she sent the fol­low­ing to her friends to offer encour­age­ment. I am happy to report that today Patty, my friend and sis­ter, is still fight­ing to let her light shine. With her per­mis­sion, here is her message:

I woke this morn­ing to the sounds of the birds singing and the rain softly falling on the roof. All day long we hear dif­fer­ent sounds and for­get them quickly. I love to lis­ten to sooth­ing music and the beau­ti­ful voices of my fam­ily. Some noises are dreaded: the cry­ing of a child in pain, an emer­gency siren and the phone ring­ing late at night after a hard day. When we lie down and wait for sleep to come noises take on a life of their own. We often want to cover our heads and hide at each bump in the night. Sometimes at the end of the day I tend to go over the mis­takes and short­com­ings in my life. I can almost hear the beat­ing of my heart. But, out in dis­tance, I hear a sound that took place over 2000 years ago. I can hear it as if it were right out­side my door. It is the sound of metal strik­ing metal. A swish sounds in the air and again the pound­ing over and over. It is a hor­ri­ble sound that makes me trem­ble. I want to shut it out and yet that sound freed me from my past and gives me a future. It gives me peace from my heav­enly father and you must hear it, too. It is the sound of the ham­mer dri­ving the nails into the hands and feet of my Lord. With each stroke I hear my heav­enly Father say­ing because of this, my child, you can have the gift of eter­nal life.

My dear friend Patty won her bat­tle with the trou­bles of this life on Wednesday, February 16, 2011. I look for­ward to see­ing her at the end of my race.

Tagged as: encouragement, Patty Jones, salvation