My Friend Gayle

I have spent the last 4 days with Gayle. Ted Haggard's wife. She's a pastor's wife, like me.

It's been a nice 4 days. I want to spend a snowy day with her by the fire and hear some more because she's warm, calm, and has stories to tell. I feel like we're friends. She pours out her heart in the book and has a universal story of redemption.

It was a book I didn't want to finish. That's when you know it's been good, right?

Gayle Haggard has been to Hell and back. Maybe literally. If you're not familiar with her story, here are some details.

-She is married to Ted Haggard, who was the mega-church Evangelical pastor in Colorado Springs.
-She has 5 children, one being "special needs."
-Her husband, Pastor Ted, was sexually involved with a male massuse, used meth, and apparently had a dark, secret life until it all blew up in the media. Everyone knew Ted's secrets and talked about them and blogged about them and wrote about them. We discussed them. And all the while, she was (still is) married to him. She was the real victim here. The victim of infidelity and betrayal. And she suffered publicly. And has forgiven Ted and everyone else in this horrible mess. Miraculous.

She now has my attention. And the attention of the world. She has now been on talk shows from Oprah, Larry King, HBO, and news stands across the nation. Gayle and Ted are making a comeback focused on GRACE and FORGIVENESS.

She has embodied the scripture "love covers a multitude of sins." She is inspiring me.

I highly recommend Gayle Haggard's new book Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made in My Darkest Hour. I plan on writing about 2 more posts on her book covering a few other topics.