Four Days to Acclimate!

It was noon on January first. Months had gone into planning how and when I would turn myself in on an outstanding warrant. I had been promised child care and then witnessed how much my children were treated differently than their cousins.

It is good that I know as much as I love my children that God loves them more. It is good that I know He is their true provider and protector or I would have never had the strength to do what I did.

As I sat in the lobby with Mike waiting on them to call me, I was silently crying. I knew God would see me through it all, I was just unsure what all I would need to be seen through.

I would never change one minute I spent behind bars and it is my intention to share every moment in this next book that will be called 16 days and two head counts.

This video will lay out a little bit of what is to come. It took me four days to acclimate to the scene I faced behind closed doors. It has taken even longer to get back into the grove of life on the outside. No wonder there is a revolving door! There is so much work to do and I welcome the challenge. I found my purpose and I am blessed to have known that the Lord of Jacob is and forever will be my stronghold! Shalom!!! <3

Today I come to you Father with great appreciation for the work you completed in me during my stay behind bars. How you humbled me and opened my eyes. I love to minister to others and realized the depth of my passion for the message of Grace and sharing the Gospel while behind closed doors. I will never be the same and for that I am thankful. Please put a hedge of protection around all those who find themselves in this kind of hell. Humble the so called correctional officers. Bring their dirt out into the open Father and expose them all for who they are as well! I look forward to becoming all you have destined me to become and am so blessed to have answered the call! Please move others to donate time, energy and resources to the ministry you have both placed and expanded on my heart. I love you. I thank you. I am blessed beyond measure! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen!

Keeping Jesus in The Middle!

Today is Tremendously Thankful Thoughtful Thursday. As I say it's full name, it makes me inhale deeply as I close my eyes and send a virtual hug to my Heavenly Father. Perhaps it is the word Thankful I placed in it that causes the surge in my heart. I will forever be thankful to God for everything. It's where I am at. I think it's referred to as rest. I am so much better about not fretting. I KNOW my God has it. Whatever ails me, or haunts me, I give it to Him now and it is my Faith that allows me to see the mountains placed in front of me turn to dust. I am blessed for such visions.

Today I am also thankful that I put God in the middle of my marriage to Mike right from the beginning. You see, if you have previously read the blog "A shotgun wedding" you know I never wanted to marry Jeff. I felt like I was robbed. Once divorced, marriage no longer held as much significance to me. So much so that I married my next two husbands for all the wrong reasons. I divorced them without guilt. I had never gone before God and requested his blessing on any of those unions. I never prayed on or over any of those marriages.

When it came to Mike, he was the first man I WANTED to marry. So much so that it caught me off guard. I wanted to be good with God where we were concerned. I remember standing with him, holding hands, looking at each other as we asked God to bless our union and said our vows to each other. We were in his mother's condo. It was February 14th. The same day Michael was conceived. While it may seem weird, I had never felt more married in my life. There was no license involved. There was no witness in the room other than God and the twins. When we finished our vows, my heart soared.

I truly believe Mike and I were meant to be together. I feel blessed to be loved by him. The major factor in me seeking God for help when it came to our marriage honestly has to do with the lack of love Mike was showering me with. It's not that he stopped loving me, it was that his heart was hardening. At one point in our relationship you could say he was so miserable, living with him was overwhelming. I saw so many blessings in our life. I would often ask him, "Why are you so miserable. Look at where we are, what we have together. We are blessed. How can you not see it?" He would all but snarl at me.

At one point I put his oldest son's picture in a collage on our wall. I thought his hardening of the heart was connected to the loss of that relationship. Having his son taken from him had hardened his heart so much so I feared Mike would never find his way to to Faith, Hope and Love. I encouraged him to get in contact with the mother of his child again. Due to how things had abruptly ended between them, Mike's entire family had honored the agreement between Mike's step-father Larry and Sarah. They all felt Mike did not deserve to have any contact with his son. His brother refused to give Mike any contact information. Knowing what I did about Mike's parent's pasts, I was astounded by the judgement and lack of love and understanding from Larry more so than Marie, Mike's mom. Mike's brother refused to give Mike any contact information. He and Mike have a unique relationship for brothers. Mike then begged his mother for a number or an address to write them. His mom, after having Mike promise he would not cause any problems, provided him with a number for a parent or a step parent of Sarah's. She reminded Mike to stay civil in all conversations. Mike called a couple of times and left messages saying he just wanted a chance to build a relationship with his son. No one ever called back. I encouraged him to not give up, but Mike was more negative in those days. He felt defeated in the matter.  This greatly impacted everything. When all seemed hopeless, I turned to God for help. I prayed fervently over it. If you have read my blog, "Show me a sign", you know a little about where our relationship was heading a few years ago. By keeping my focus on Jesus, I was shown how to handle things with love.

This weekend, Mike is going to get to meet his son for the first time since he wrecked his car while in a high speed chase with the police. At that time John was a mere 18 months old. He was in the back seat, strapped in his car seat when that event took place. I find it ironic that he was arrested close to independence day and he will be reunited with his son a few days before independence day 12 years later.

I pray this will bring things full cycle for Mike where his heart is concerned. I know how deeply Mike loves John. He may have an inkling himself, but just like after the birth of our first son Michael, (one of the stories God inspired me with this week), Mike is going to be hit with emotions he has never experienced. All I pray is he feels God with him when the damn breaks and the water rushes forth.

Today Father, I come before You and pray that everyone realizes a marriage without your blessing is nothing more than a legal document. That is it. Nothing less, nothing more. I know this as truth for I have been married to 3 different men with a license to do so. All three marriages failed and in the same manner I was divorced by man's laws. However when I was at my wits end with Mike, I sought out Your blessing to leave him because I sought your blessing to be married to him in the first place. Having you in the middle truly makes all the difference. I pray you open the eyes of all who have curiosity regarding this matter of marriage. I also pray for protection over our trip and Mike's reunion with his son. May the evil one be kept at bay. May he find no entrance to enter into the situation. Fill both Mike and Sarah with a calm that cannot be denied comes from You Father. Allow John to see the love his father truly feels for him. I truly believe it is Your will for these two to be united again and I thank you for again always being Faithful Father. Your Grace is such a gift. Only you can pull of such miracles when it comes to the healing of hearts. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! In Jesus name I pray. Amen!

I end with a song that touches my heart every time I hear it for the truth it reveals. Enjoy!

Wendy, Mom of Many

© Wendy Glidden 2013

It's All in the Soundbite!

Tonight while working out at the YMCA I was trying to piece together what my next blog was supposed to be on. I have had so much flash across my head today. So many topics. I was climbing on the Olyptical (I think that's what it is called.) The machine says I'm climbing but I feel like I am jogging without impact. I like it a lot! Anyway, I was on the machine and I was talking to God as I often do these days. All of a sudden I heard "Be Still and Know that I am God". I thought I KNOW you are God. Why do I keep hearing this verse? And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Knowing that He is God means knowing when it is Him speaking to me. I need to listen closer. It dawned on me, I recognize the voice of the enemy quicker than I recognize the voice of God!

This realization came at me so hard and quick I actually laughed out loud. How funny God must think I am. Takes some of us a little longer to hear what is being said! There is a big difference in hearing and listening. So now that I was focusing on listening and knowing when God was trying to tell me something, I voiced to God, "You have flashed so many things to me today. What am I to focus on? What is my next assignment?" I then heard, "It's all in the soundbite."

As I often do I questioned. . . is this me thinking about one of my favorite catch phrases at Glidden Fence? I tell someone every day, "You know, It's all in the soundbite." and then I'll explain a little deeper what I mean. This is usually brought up when talking about Cedar.

Again, I heard, "It's all in the soundbite." and then I had soundbites from the past that I no longer 'buy into' flashed to me. God was showing me some of the 'Lord of Air's' soundbites that had been whispered across my own mind just a few short months ago. And I was like, "Oh! Wow!! Right. You want me to share this again."

Next I heard "The Top Ten Soundbites God Wants To Share With You" and I thought, "Is that to be the title?" and again clear as day I heard the title of this Blog, "It's all in the Soundbite" and I saw the top 10 list as a subtitle inside this blog.

Again I laughed out loud. You see all my life my big dream has been to work for God. If you have read my story you know as a child I thought it would be awesome if He made me into a well known author. I reasoned I could be wealthy enough to change the world and how people felt about life and themselves.

Today, I AM working for God. I am thrilled every time one of my blogs receives 100 page views or more in one day. I am positive at least one of those 100 strangers have read something that resonates within them. I am simply a tool for the Holy Spirit to begin to work in others. Glory be to God! All you need for this to begin is to be open to taking a look into the word of God for yourself! I am not going to give the Devil his due by quoting his soundbites. I will simply say if it is not good and it is not from Love then chances are pretty darn good what you are hearing are the 'Lord of Air's' soundbites. I promise you they are lies! Recognize this for Truth. If you find yourself doubting what I proclaim, I challenge you to take a look at God's Top Ten Soundbites for yourself. Don't just look up the scripture I quote, give each one a thorough glance. Read before and read after. Read as long as the words make sense. You see, God's Word will leap off the pages at you. Like a good book that you can't put down. To understand that and know it as Truth, you will need to first pick it up!

Here are this weeks Top Ten Soundbites from Our Heavenly Father.

1.  Be Still and KNOW that I am God *Found in the book of  Psalms, Chapter 46 verse 10 **  Seriously         cool Chapter. I would advise reading the whole thing it's short but Wow!

2. Little children guard yourselves from idols * Found in the Book of 1st John, Chapter 5 verse 21     ** Again wild chapter. Worth reading!!

3. Beloved do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. * Found in the Book of The 3rd Epistle of  John, Chapter 1 verse 11   ** Sounds like common sense doesn't it?!?

4. The Thief comes in the middle of the night to steal and to kill and to destroy, BUT I CAME so that you may have life and have it abundantly.  * Found in the Book of John Chapter 10 verse 10. ** If that doesn't give you cause to take notice at what God has to offer you, I honestly don't know what will!

5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and Lean not on your own understanding  * Found in the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 3 verse 5 ** This was my scripture for last year. It really helped me.

6. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.  * Found in the Book of Hebrews, Chapter 13, verse 2

7. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. * Found in the Book of Philippians Chapter 4, verse 8

8. Grace to you  and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  * Found in the Book 1st Corinthians, Chapter 1 verse 3

9. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you Free from the law of sin and of death.  * Found in the Book of Romans, Chapter 8, verse 2. ** Romans is an awesome Book!

10. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. * Found in the book of Philippians Chapter 2 verse 5

I don't know about you but I personally think those are some fabulous soundbites. Worthy of one's attention. I am 100% positive no harm will come to you should you do a little reading on each one of these soundbites! What you gain from it is up to you!

Tonight my prayer is that more people who have never given God an honest chance will begin to open themselves up to the Word of God. I pray that more and more and more people looking for an answer to their purpose turn to the one book that has been around longer than all of the self help books ever published. If you are looking for "the key" tonight I pray you find yourself a study bible and invest a little time in learning what God has to say about life here on earth and how to survive the death trap. Today I pray for the seeds of Hope, may they land on fertile ground. I thank you Father for all the blessings you have bestowed upon me. I thank you for allowing me to be a tool in your hands. I thank you for allowing me to witness your never ending love for others. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Wendy, Mom of Many


.