In a chat about her new biography during a live Georgia Public Broadcasting program Tuesday, former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears recalled her second thoughts about her place in history.

It was 1992. She was 37. She was already young for her old job as a Fulton County Superior Court judge. Gov. Zell Miller had just appointed her to the Supreme Court, making her not only the first woman to serve there but the youngest person ever.

She was driving to work on I-285 when the enormity of the moment started to overwhelm her, she told host Tony Harrison, sitting in for Celeste Headlee for the “On Second Thought” program. Then this sustaining thought came to her: “God did not put you here to fail.”