Patricia St. John - Publisher's Preface

One of the greatest privileges of my life was becoming personally acquainted with Patricia St. John. It was in the closing years of her life that I obtained her address and decided to visit her in her home in Canley, Coventry. She received me with such warmth and took such a personal interest in me that I left her house feeling that I, not she, was the important one! She had a unique gift of making everyone she touched feel accepted and valued. The last time I visited her was within a few months of her death.

In the providence of God I had the joy and privilege of meeting Janet St. John, Patricia’s beloved sister-in-law, in May 2002. I was visiting Hazel, Patricia’s older sister, collaborating with her on a reprint of the biography of her father, Harold, and Janet just ‘happened’ to be there. Less than a year later I met again with Janet, together with Ron Newby, founder and chief executive of Global Care, and it was decided that Kingsley Press should reprint Patricia’s autobiography. Permission to reprint was sought and obtained from the original publishers, Authentic Media (formerly OM Publishing).

Janet and her son, Paul, have graciously made additional photographs available for this new edition. Janet has also written an excellent foreword. In accordance with their wishes, this first Kingsley Press edition of Patricia’s autobiography maintains British spelling and punctuation throughout, despite its being published in America. During preparation for the press, a number of inconsistencies in punctuation and usage have been discovered and corrected. However, nowhere have Patricia’s actual words been changed – only the punctuation that surrounds them.

Anyone who has read Patricia’s books already knows how her stories come alive, and this account of her own life is no exception. Her powers of description make the story leap from the page with such vividness as to immediately transport the reader into far off places and times; and the people and the things she describes can almost be touched, smelled and seen. Her account of a trip she made with her sister re-tracing the steps of St. Paul almost makes one wish to pack a suitcase and travel to the Holy Land immediately!

This book deserves a wide circulation because of the life it portrays – a life laid at the feet of Jesus to be used as He saw fit. Patricia was the embodiment of all she taught through her ministry and through her books. She was so utterly human, prone to mistakes and failures like the rest of us, and yet her life was suffused with the love of God and a contagious joy and peace that was like the bubbling up of a perpetual fountain.
May many others, through the reading of these pages, find for themselves the secret of abiding joy and peace through living a life of devotion to others for the Master’s sake.

Edward Cook
Kingsley Press
August 2004

Pinterest

Comments

Be the first to write a review!