Sandi Patty has been a name synonymous with Gospel music since she released her first album in 1979. She was dubbed \u201cthe voice\u201d at an early age because of her singing ability.<\/p>\n
Patty\u2019s newest book, titled The Voice: Listening for God\u2019s Voice and Finding Your Own<\/em>, takes a deep dive into parts of her life she\u2019s kept private for years. Surprisingly, The Voice <\/em>is not primarily concerned with Patty\u2019s singing voice. Patty was always a talented vocalist. However, she struggled to find her inner voice and speak up for herself.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a shy kid. Words were hard for me,\u201d Patty told Guideposts.org<\/em>. \u201cIt was hard to learn how to speak up and share my thoughts. As the years rolled along it became more and more difficult to speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n For example, Patty\u2019s last name was misspelled on one of her early albums as \u201cPatti.\u201d Instead of correcting the spelling, she went by the name \u201cSandi Patti\u201d for decades.<\/p>\n One of the reasons Patty found it so difficult to use her voice was because of a traumatic childhood experience. At age six, she was sexually assaulted by a female family friend, an experience she opens up about for the first time in the book.<\/p>\n \u201cThe message you get when you are sexually abused, especially at an early age, is that you don\u2019t tell because no one is going to believe you and it\u2019s your fault,\u201d Patty said. \u201cI was already a kid who had a shy personality and tended to second guess myself. That message became a lens through which I saw the rest of my life. In other situations, I would think that doesn\u2019t feel right, but I\u2019m not going to speak up because I\u2019m probably wrong anyway.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n She\u2019s sharing the story of her assault now in hopes that it will help other people feel less alone.<\/p>\n \u201c[Feeling alone] is one of the things that keeps everybody silent about the tough times in our lives\u2014we think we\u2019re the only ones,\u201d Patty said.<\/p>\n She writes in The Voice <\/em>that she felt like it was \u201cher job to make everyone feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially for women, I think we feel this need to somehow personally make everyone\u2019s lives fulfilling and better, which is not even possible!\u201d Patty said. \u201cThe cost of that is we don\u2019t speak up because speaking up causes conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n Friendships were essential to helping Patty find the courage to speak up. They reminded her that she didn\u2019t need to make others feel better because the people she loved didn\u2019t doubt she cared for them.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me having a group of friends that I trusted, and who had lived a lot of life, boy I tell you, that was lifesaving and life changing for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Friends and family were crucial to help Patty confront another struggle she faced: shame. She felt plagued by insecurities about her weight, her divorce and her assault.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard it explained that guilt tells us we\u2019ve done something wrong\u2014shame says we are <\/em>wrong,\u201d Patty said. \u201cShame is probably the last piece we really have to figure out a way to let of\u2014it\u2019s like unwrapping yourself from a wet shower curtain. Counseling was a huge piece of that and continues to be a huge piece for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Shame was a huge presence in Patty\u2019s life\u2014and one she freely admits is an ongoing battle. How does she fight it?<\/p>\n \u201cI have to say, \u2018God you have forgiven me, you have redeemed me and I don\u2019t need to carry this shame any longer. I am going to lay it down,\u201d Patty said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s a process and it\u2019s hard but\u2026 it is so worth the battle.\u201d<\/p>\n Patty hopes readers will be encouraged to find their voice after reading her story.<\/p>\n \u201cI want [people] to know that their story and their voice matter,\u201d Patty said. \u201cWe have to figure out a way to take our pain and put it where it needs to be, without letting it guide our lives. [Pain is] a part of our story. It describes us, but it doesn\u2019t need to define us.\u201d<\/p>\n The Voice<\/em> is available wherever books are sold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sandi Patty has been a name synonymous with Gospel music since she released her first album in 1979. She was dubbed \u201cthe voice\u201d at an early age because of her singing ability. Patty\u2019s newest book, titled The Voice: Listening for God\u2019s Voice and Finding Your Own, takes a deep dive into parts of her life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[185],"tags":[47,230,33],"ppma_author":[467],"class_list":["post-17509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories-of-faith-and-hope","tag-aging","tag-anxiety","tag-celebrities"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n