Mike Marketed and Sold My Book!

Mike came home last night with the news that he had sold one of my books to a co-worker. The way he told me was a little comical. I was on a Google hangout with some friends that I network with in a Christian Business Group on Face Book. They all heard him come in and Bill, the one who created the group, asked if he had heard Mike come in.

I smiled and said, “Yes. He just got home.”

Bill called out from my computer for Mike to step in front of the camera so he could see him. Mike and Bill had a couple of good laughs and then Mike headed for the shower. He fabricates during the day and comes home with black grime all over himself. As he headed into the bathroom, he called out over his shoulder that he had sold a book.

I was caught off guard and said out loud, “My book?” which made everyone laugh.

He replied with a smile, “Yes, your book.” And I beamed back at him curious as all get out as to exactly how that had gone down.

Bill quickly filled in his business partner about my blog and my books and then we all realized the time was quickly approaching the end of our meeting. We set our next hangout and said goodbye.

I find it a little comical that I was on the computer with Bill when Mike announced he had sold one of my books. Back when I was about 6 months into blogging, Bill had asked me how Mike felt about me blogging out my life. He was asking because I blog about my life which often includes Mike and me stories. At the time I had told Bill that Mike was good with my blog. At the time Bill inquired, Mike was. In a gist, Mike has felt just about every way a person could feel about something; from amused to irritated to impressed to angry to accepting but not happy about it, to accidentally enjoying them, and now to selling my books.

When I first began blogging, Mike and I were on a mini-separation. On December 1^st, 2011, I had walked out and on December 6^th, I created my blog title and URL and wrote my first two blog posts. I say I created it, but it was really God that led me.

By the time we got back together, I had already attended the Great Banquet and had written over 50 blogs and had over 16,000 page views! Now, I have written over 130 blogs and have had over 54,000 page views. It is crazy to think about it. I have been read in countries I did not even know existed until they showed up in my blogger report.

I have always been intrigued by numbers and there patterns. The bible has numbers in it. When I arrived at my Great Banquet, I discovered I was attending Banquet # 44. Ironically it was also the year I would turn 44 and I just so happened to have written my 44^th blog post the day before I attended. The repeating number did not go unnoticed by me!

The Great Banquet changed my life. By the time I went I had gone through a year study on the book of Luke with Rusty tying Jesus to countless messianic miracles. So, when I went to the Great Banquet, I believed that Jesus was the son of God. I believed in the cross. My stumbling block was tied to my own guilt and lack of belief regarding my worthiness when it came to forgiveness. It is in my own understanding of how blind I still was before the Great Banquet that I am so committed to helping others realize the truth themselves.

If you have followed my blog, you know that I wanted Mike to attend his own Banquet. As it turns out the man he has sold my book to has offered to sponsor Mike. To attend the Great Banquet, you have to be sponsored. Mike has been approached by two people at our church in regards to being sponsored to attend the Great Banquet. Now he is working with a man who listens to Christian music all day long and is asking to sponsor him. This morning I said a prayer for Mike.

He is terrified to go. I believe it is because he knows I went in one person and came out another. Not to say I was a bad person or anything, it is just that I was still a prisoner of sorts. When you are a prisoner, joy alludes you. Fear can keep you frozen. When you are set free, nothing can stop you for you know the truth. You have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Father I come before you today and thank you for bringing fellow brothers and sisters into Mike to continually testify to him. Thank you for continuing to reach out to him and find other ways and people to offer to sponsor him for the Great Banquet. I pray he goes. I pray with your encouragement he conquers his fear and allows himself to draw closer to you than he thinks is possible. May he too long to share the good news. Thank you for marketing the book you called me to write through Mike. That was so cool for me. I also come asking for prayers for strength and perseverance. My week is not over and I am so tired today, I feel as if I have run a marathon and am at the last stretch. I pray for a second wind Father. Thank you. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

PS ~ on my way in to work this morning I had the pleasure of hearing this song. 

Wendy, walks with God,

Mom of Many

© Wendy Glidden 2014

Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

Today is March 18, 2014. That would make it Totally Terrific Testimonial Tell All Tuesday! This is my tell all:  It was my belief that the third book God put on my heart to publish would be out before the end of this month. So many obstacles have occurred since the editing process for book two in February that I am not sure You Are Worthy Too: Angels, Answers, Signs & Wonders will be available before months end. I do know the evil one does not want this one to hit the shelves.

An element I had wondered how I would write is what I have written this morning. In each book, I include a Dear Reader letter. I feel it lets the reader know I truly have heart in the game. It is a more personal call out to them than the true life events I share. To me they are truly a very important element of my books if not the most important one.

With this book I was not sure what I was meant to say in my dear reader letter. I knew of one thing that needed to be a part of my letter, but how to take that and stretch it into a letter when it was simply a single truth, well that was an entirely different matter. That brings me to today:

This morning I knew God wanted me up early. Funny enough, a dream I had just prior was so real I was able to share a point of view with Mike because of it without him getting bitter or offensive.

When Mike woke me up at 5:15 AM to ask if I had seen his gloves, I went to look for them. I asked him where he last saw them and he insisted he had left them in his helmet and now they were gone! I wasn't angry at all that he'd woken me up because I already knew in my heart God wanted me up. In my sleepiness and honestly disobedience I was trying to deny what I felt to be the case.

When Mike decided we had looked everywhere that the children may have hidden his gloves, he apologized for getting me up so early. I confessed that God wanted me up anyway so he had done me a favor as I was being disobedient. I was pretty sure Mike had been used to force me to get up. He kind of laughed me off until he went to leave. When he went to put his helmet on his head, he found his gloves inside. He looked at me astonished and said, "God really did want you up."

Everything about this morning makes me smile. It is God that took away the pain that made me dread each morning. That in itself is a wonder. I still hurt a little ~ perhaps a gentle reminder of how life used to be.

I marvel at God and His ways. We all often complain about how God works and his timing, but do not see how weak willed we truly are. In all Honestly, God has been extremely patient with me. All awful moments in my life were never the end of the world. They were just awful moments. I also have many moments I treasure. Some of them, the ones I feel called to share in this volume God put on my heart to share, are within this book.

My next book coming out will be entitled 'In the Midst of Spiritual Warfare'. I thought it would be my second book but it has become my fourth. That just may be so that I am more prepared to write what God wants in it than I was prior to writing my second book and starting my third!

I have been under the craziest attacks since I began piecing this book together. In every way I have been under assault. It has been eye opening amazing to watch God come through for me in all aspects. Each time I have found myself no worse off and perhaps even a step ahead, just in another way, as I have continually walked faithfully in the Spirit come what may. I find myself instantly praying as I have felt myself pulled away from the fruit of the Spirit. I quickly call upon God to carry me through. Refusing to fret and worry as I am bombarded with fiery arrows by being on alert and picking up my sword. By recognizing the enemy at work and being dressed for battle, I go into the fight calling out, "My Lord help me."

I pray as you read this book what you walk away with is an unshakeable faith. A faith that anytime anything in your life begins to take place that your heart frets, you panic, any form of fear or distress weigh in upon you, you find yourself on your knees. You do not always have to be on your knees in a physical sense but that is your posture in a heartfelt sense. You will recognize that force of fear upon you deeply and you will pray in a way that you speak from your heart and He will answer.

If you have read my first two books you know I am NO 'angel'. Yet, when I was at the end, knowing on my own I was not going to make it, I called upon the Lord from my knees. I was desperate but seeking. I wanted help but did not realize quite yet that I was forgiven. It took me a bunch of reading and listening to have that light come on. In all honesty, it was three years down the road before I was able to believe and KNOW I was forgiven. As if I heard Jesus himself say that it was done.

I was at a weekend event called the Great Banquet. I see how God put me there right when I was meant to be there. I was asked to write down anything I felt kept me from the Lord and I wrote it all down. I said them all out loud. I knew in my heart I had repented for all of them. Until that day, I was still convinced that I was unworthy of forgiveness.

When I took that paper with me into the next room, there were 3 crosses on the ground. I went to the one in the middle, picked up my hammer and with three blasts drove that 16 right into that post nailing it all on the cross that Jesus was nailed to as a sacrifice for all sinners. As a carpenters daughter one thing I know is how to drive a nail. It was as if I broke every chain Satan had on me as I drove that nail deeper and deeper. With my final blow I knew I was free and belonged to Christ. I wear my ring and my cross to this day. They remind me of the vow I made; to spend the rest of my life sharing the good news.

We have a way out of this place many truthfully call hell. I get why so many refuse to believe that God is in Heaven cheering them on. I too believed I had fallen too far to ever be picked back up let alone though of. That is a lie! If you seek, you will find but you truly have to seek. You have to give God the best of you every day. You have to rely on Him when trouble hits. As you do these things you allow Him to show Himself to you. We are blind to the heavenly realm. It is beyond our understanding. It just is. I have been blessed to have seen both a person and my Winnebago shrouded in indescribable lights. As if surrounded in a ceiling of diamonds. I wish that mental image did due justice but it truthfully doesn't. More Beautiful than you can imagine. Those two stories as well as how God got me jogging, bending and jumping again as well as strong enough to pick up my littlest one are all shared in my next book.

I leave you with a smile on my face this morning for I have fretted about what I was going to put in my dear reader letter. It is, after all, a very important component of all my books. I want you to know I am truly interested in helping you find your unwavering faith. It is a vital part of your armor and in my opinion one of the coolest elements of your suit!

As you read my book you will see that I have had run ins with angels. As a word of caution, do not get caught up in the angels themselves. Remember that it is God that created them. Should you find yourself amazed or curious about them be more amazed and curious about their Maker. He is the one that sends the angels to you.

I pray this book finds you building your own relationship with the Lord. As a child I talked His ear off and asked many questions. It was when I mistrusted Him that I cut myself off. I truly was that teenager with the worst attitude toward my loving Father for a decade. Then for two more decades I was convinced I had to find a way to work my way to forgiveness and worthiness. I was so lost. The truth was hidden from me by my own misunderstanding and lack of effort. Don't repeat my behavior then, repeat my behavior now. For as boldly as I talked to God as a child, I talk to Him today. As much as I depended on Him then, I depend on Him now. He is my Lord and Savior and He loves me. Should I be weak, I call upon Him for strength. When I feel myself becoming who I was through anger or frustration, I quickly realize I am in the flesh, and I do not like how it feels at all. I give my situation to God and let it go. Often I walk away for a moment and quickly call out to God to help me with my tongue. I pray you get here too, because here is where life becomes amazing.

With that, I leave you with this final statement; Be blessed AND BE A BLESSING

Wendy, Walks with God,
Mom of Many

© WendyGlidden, You Are Worthy Too: Angels, Answers, Signs and Wonders 2014

Convicted by God

Superlicious Silly Sing Song Saturday! Here is K-Loves Encouraging word for the day:

And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace.

~ Colossians 3:15, NLT

Does that sound like Heaven or what?!!!!!! I am hanging with the super six at play McDonalds this morning. My lap top is fired up and I'm about to finally write my next chapter I was hoping to get to by Thursday "Convicted by God" . . . I'll post the link as soon as I finish!

Have a Superlicious Silly Sing Song Saturday Everyone!! If you are looking for an inspirational true life story to dig into, I cordially invite you to check out my blog. I've written 87 posts to date. The first one is titled "In the Beginning" I cover things like abortion, adoption, running away, dropping out of high school, being married against my will, being divorced, being assaulted by a stranger, Hearing angels singing, having prayers answered, receiving a message from God, Being spoken to during prayer and so much more.

It was God that called me forth to tell my story. While fearful I stepped out in Faith. I am blessed beyond measure in doing so. Who knew?!? All I ever ask is that you share my link should you find yourself encouraged or inspired www.youareworthytoo.com

This last Thursday on my way to work I was listening to K-Love as my teenager truly enjoys the humor and the songs. Funny how you can hear and sing a certain song 100 times or more and then out of the blue have it affect you so deeply. This is exactly what happened to me! This was my post from Thursday on my Facebook Page also titled You Are Worthy Too:

Tremendously Thankful Thoughtful Thursday. You know how in the mornings it seems your connection to God is sometimes stronger? This morning on my way to work a song I've sang 100 times came on. I am horrible with titles so it will require a google / youtube search. The line that struck me with great emotion was 'I find you when I fall apart'. It got me thinking about this journey of mine. I've had... bumps in the road like anyone else has. Moments I have been on my knees. But I will forever remember the day I fell apart for it was when I was convicted by God. I felt a huge pull on my heart to share how all that came to happen. It is out of order from the current 3 chapters of my life I am blogging on but when the Holy Spirit speaks, I am driven to listen. Look for my next blog I will publish before the end of today. I am calling it "Convicted by God" have a Tremendously Thankful Thoughtful Thursday my friends..

That line, 'I find you when I fall apart' struck a chord and I fell back in time to the minute that God convicted me. He is a loving Father. I have heard of others being convicted and how it changed their life but until I experienced it for myself, I really did not understand. I mean I have been down and out. I have balled my eyes out; I felt like I have fallen apart countless times in my life and honestly I have. But when I truly fell apart was when I was convicted by God. It’s not like He came down and chastised me. No. Nothing like that. It’s more like being moved in a way by the Holy Spirit that causes you to catch a glimpse of yourself and your life through God's eyes while He holds you in His arms as you deal with the truth. I think some have even called this process walking through the fire.

At this point in my life, I was pregnant with Jeffrey Thomas; the baby God had told was a blessing when I was in desperate prayer over my lack of faith in my being able to take on another child. If you are curious enough that post is titled “On My Knees”. I was past the house fire I have also shared under the post “Saved by an Army of Angels” I spent no real time on the internet. I still consider myself the worst googler in the world! The only things I did online involved looking for free ways to advertise for Glidden Fence. I had built a webpage for us on Merchant circle. I blogged on that site and posted fence pictures and I emailed customers for my day job at Glidden Fence Company Incorporated.  I had a Facebook page as well but I didn’t get on that sit very much in those days. Somehow, I found myself listed on a site called LinkedIn. One day about a month or so before my 41^st birthday, I received a message from a childhood friend asking if I was The Wendy Glidden that lived on 71^st St. in Indianapolis as a child.  I was so thrilled to have been found by her, I instantly wrote back.  We began emailing back and forth every week catching up on each other’s lives.

The weekend after my birthday, when I opened my email account, I saw I had an email from my friend. When I first read her letter, I was confused as to who she was talking about. In a gist, she informed me that she hated to deliver the news that Danny had passed away on my birthday. I sat there staring at her email for a minute trying to rack my brain about who on earth she was referring to. What Danny did we both know and know well enough for her to assume I’d know who she was referring to with just the first name. Danny, Danny, Danny. I actually said his name several times and then it hit me like a lightning bolt. She meant Danny Joe. I had introduced them once.  I fell back in my chair as if I had been blown back by an invisible force. I was stunned. I sat back for a moment without moving. How long had it been since I had even thought about him? Danny Joe had been my first love and even more importantly, at a transitional time in my life, he was also my best friend.

I cannot begin to tell you how this news rocked my world. I replied to her email asking if she knew what had caused his death. She informed me there were a few rumors and advised me to read his obituary. I did not stop there, I searched his name. I wondered what had happened to him. In my search I discovered he’d had two children with a girl named Wendy her last name also started with a G. I also discovered he’d never married. I cannot tell you how hard this information caused me to cry. As weird as it may seem I was morning Danny Joe. At one point in my life I had believed he was my one and only.  I wept uncontrollably. I remembered he had a younger sister and I recalled her name. I checked out the page that was posted on the mortuary that was hosting his funeral and I posted a comment. I don’t know why but I also searched him out on Facebook. I was curious to know more about him. I didn’t find him but next I typed in his sister’s name and found the one I though was her and sent her a message asking if she was Danny Joe’s sister. Indeed she was. She invited me to his funeral but I was pregnant and there was no way Mike would have ever been okay with me going.  It was in Danny Joe’s passing that I was forced to see how drastically far from friends Mike and I had become.  I wondered if I was the reason Danny Joe had never married. We were going to get married. That was the plan. I questioned whether me pushing him to sleep with me as revealed in my blog “Forcing My Destiny” was the reason he ended up being a young father. I tortured myself wondering would he have waited for me.  

As I continued falling back in time and seeing things through the lens of truth, I was convicted again and again. It was when I truly felt apart  that I became open to all God had to offer me, including the truth about His Son Jesus. Tracy invited me to hang out with her group of friends that got together once a week and took a deep dive into the bible. This is when I met Tiffany and Jordan. I am the only one out of that original study that still attends the small group. Funny enough we are growing again. I keep inviting friends to come. It is through Tracy that I also found Leavener and began fellowship every Sunday there. Not long after I began going there every week, Rusty began the study on Jesus by following along the gospel of Luke since he told the gospel in chronological order.  I found the ministry of Jesus amazing. Rusty took the time to tie in the Old Testament prophesies and how Jesus fulfilled them leaving no doubt that Jesus was indeed the messiah. I found myself a believer of Jesus Christ.  The full message of Grace did not penetrate my brain until I attended the Crossroads Great Banquet in February, 2013. When I wrote down what I felt were the ‘sins’ keeping me from forgiveness and then nailed them to the cross it all changed for me.

When God convicts you, you are forced to see the truth. You see how He has been with you through trial after trial after trial. You cannot deny how much He loves you. You see how judgmental you have been towards your heavenly Father. Or at least that was how it was for me. I pushed hard questioning where did it all go wrong for me and I suddenly I saw it all so clearly it broke my heart.

Jeffrey Thomas was indeed a blessing. It is a good thing that my father and uncle came up with his name. Mike had no desire to have any input. I asked how he felt about the name Jeffrey Thomas and he said he didn’t care. I gave him a full 24 hours after Jeffrey was born to come up with something. As it has sadly been after the birth of each of our children, Mike was not there for me.

I find it funny that I have come full circle again. I can want Mike to be a man of God all I want. I can see how great he could be, but until Mike wants that for himself, he will never be that man. It breaks my heart to know he has no desire to follow Jesus. He mocks me for as much. My new nickname is often, "Oh Great One" which is crazy. I don't get his cruelty. It has puzzled me for years. 

Last Thursday night, I found myself so fed up with Mike I again went to my Father God in prayer. This time I kept it simple. Either convict this man or remove him from my life. The next morning I awoke and found Mike in one of his moods. While looking for a heavy sweater, he began tearing clothes out of the cabinets on my side of the room. I asked what on earth he was looking for and he said a sweater. I climbed up on the bed, opened the cabinet on his side of the room and pulled out the bottom sweater. When it came out, low and behold, my Great Banquet cross that says “Christ has chosen you” fell out of the shirt and landed on my bed. I have looked everywhere for this cross. I lost it back in May. The last time I had seen it I had taken it off after I had fallen asleep because when I went to turn over I got tangled up in it. The crocheted braid it hangs on is truly long.  I shook my head. If this was not a sign I don’t know what is! When I went to work that morning I remembered I needed to email Marie’s teacher and when I reached for her business card, I flipped over a coupon that was also on my desk. On the other side of the coupon was an advertisement for an apartment complex less than two minutes from where I work. It also just happens to be in the same school district as my children currently attend. I no longer believe in coincidences, I prefer to see them as signs from God. I picked up the phone and inquired about the three bedroom units. Ironically they are less than the cost over a years’ time as I was paying for childcare. There is a waiting list to get into them. As all things are in God’s perfect timing, I know that when my apartment is available the timing is going to be perfect.

This weekend, I informed Mike that my boundaries are set. I let him know I wanted no fake gestures for it was not up to me who he decided to follow. There are only two teams in my mind, Team Jesus and Team World. I am completely on Team Jesus. Mike likes the lusts of this world and that is fine for him. It just won’t work for me. I need a household to raise my children in that has their focus on the right thing. I really do love Mike. He says he loves me but his actions speak otherwise. Who am I to try to get him to see things my way? You cannot force someone to love you and treat you accordingly. They are both capable and willing, or as in Mike’s case, where I am concerned, they are not.

I prayed to see clearer and while the changes that have occurred due to my lack of blindness have been painful, I look forward to the days ahead of me. I have been praying the same type of prayer for too many years now. I have been given signs and honestly have been like, “Okay God, got it. You are all I need. I can make it financially without Mike, but . . . “. This makes me chuckle at myself. Look at how patient our Heavenly Father is with all of us. We pray for answers and signs and even when He gives them to us, it takes us forever to get it through our thick skulls. It is no wonder we are referred to as sheep in the bible.

Mike knows I am leaving when my apartment becomes available. We have an understanding. For the time being we are parent partners. He has 120 days before I leave. Miracles happen every day. I guess he could still find himself convicted by God but honestly I am not holding my breath. I am resolved. Lately I have found myself reflecting on a conversation I had with the girl who returned my wallet. She is still at a point in her life where she does not want to be revealed and her name is unique enough that I will continue to honor her request and not mention it, but one day she asked me about this thought she had had. She said, "Don't you think that sometimes Satan is so determined to keep us from our purpose that he puts people in our lives to keep us from it?"  I have heard her in my head saying that several times in the last week. I cannot help but wonder if that is truly what he is using Mike for where I am concerned. It would certainly seem that is what the Spirit is warning me about. I have another friend that recently had the pleasure of seeing Mike as he has often been when no witnesses are around. There is no denying Mike has worked hard to keep me down. Someone should have informed him, “I’m an Overcomer!”

It has taken me three full days with many breaks taken mid- sentence to write this post. I hope it flows well for you. May you be blessed enough to find yourself convicted by God.

Father God, I come to you today so thankful for how loving you truly are. Throughout my life even when I thought you had abandoned me or were punishing me, you were actually watching over me, guarding me from absolute evil. How foolish I was to deny you, to challenge you, to question you. Thank you for such wise advice such as Trust in You with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. Thank you for all the wisdom you have granted me. What a loving Father you are indeed. Thank you for such awesome undeniable signs. Thank you for your patience with me. Help me be as awesome as a parent to my own children as you are to me. Help me extend more grace. Help me model true love. Help me laugh through all the craziness the evil one attempts to put in my path. Help me see even clearer. Open my eyes and my ears to all you have to show and say. I am your humble servant Lord. Use me to the fullest. In Jesus name I pray.

Wendy, Mom of Many

© Wendy Glidden 2013