Listening to my friend tell me how after reading my book Wounded and on the Run she felt that I’d written it just for her was both humbling and confirming. The journey I’ve been on as I shared this message I felt needed to be written, was indeed anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit. And as my friend shared her story on the phone, she stopped and said the most profound thing. “Wendy, God wanted me to find you”.

I swear, if I could’ve climbed down into that phone line, I would’ve hugged her. Honestly, I would have. I had hidden in my shame and wounding for too many years and knowing God wanted me to do something about this problem, I did. I wrote a book so that you, the wounded one, would find the courage to become an overcomer and claim back the narrative of your story. 

It has been clear over the past year since Wounded was released, that the story weaved through its pages was about you, dear reader. Yes, I told my own story of decades of wounding, however, I was just the guide so that you would discover the healing power of Jesus’ scars and experience His goodness on a much deeper level. 

God wanted me to find you, the wounded one who felt like you weren’t even important enough to be found in your hiding because nobody had tried hard enough to seek you out. The time for playing that hide-and-go-seek game is over for you, dear friend, as no one is too hidden for Jesus to find. It’s time for you to come out of the shadows of your past and dust off those ashes because, in a way, deep wounds have caused you to lose yourself, caused you to keep reverting back to staying hidden. I know, you’re scared of awakening something inside of you, so you choose to hide instead of rising. 

Sadly, this is what the hunter, Satan wants. He wants the voices of the wounded to stay silent instead of being heard, the ones he’d love to see enslaved by their past, hidden in the ashes of every fear and anxious thought because we, the wounded ones, have forgotten who we are. 

What you need, dear friend, is a follow-up shot, a weapon that has been melded and shaped into a song with the lyrics to a melody many of us have forgotten how to sing. A beat sheet that sets the pace as you forge ahead with each courageous new step that will take you on a journey toward the Living Waters that will quench even the driest of souls.   

Many of my readers were so impacted by the elk analogy and how it applies to their own blood trailing, that they asked if I was going to write a sequel, a follow-up shot so to speak, something they were able to aim at the hunter, Satan that could slow him down in the chase. A weapon that made sure he wouldn’t be able to reload his bow or rifle so quickly this time and take aim at their fresh scars causing old wounds to seep back into a blood trail that kept them running.

To be honest, in between doing my theology degree and other writing projects, I wasn’t planning to write a follow-on book because I felt my first book, Wounded and on the Run was a powerful, stand-alone message that required no follow-up shot. Why would my readers need a follow-up shot when they had become equipped with God’s armour? They understood the redeeming power found in the scars of Jesus, they had discovered each one of the hunter’s schemes, surely they felt bold and courageous enough to move beyond the safety of the little wooden cabin in the forest and rise up, ready to lead others to the One who had been wounded first. Right? 

Perhaps. 

And despite the fact we had hugged and said our goodbyes outside the narrow cabin door in the pages of Wounded, the little cabin with the window boxes full of brightly coloured flowers that represented the saints who had marched in before us, a great cloud of witnesses cheering us all on as found in Hebrews 12:1-2, it was now time for you, the reader, to look forward to what lay ahead and to not look back because each wound had indeed turned into a victorious scar.

But you did look back dear reader, and you whispered a question that clung so tightly to the crisp, morning air in the forest, that I could reach out my hand and grab it. You said, ‘God wanted me to find you, and now that I have, what do I do now?’

And as you exhaled, the question lingered between us in the foggy vapour that had risen from your lips as your eyes met mine and they told me not to abandon you when this was possibly the moment you needed my help the most. And as I stood there on the cabin steps, that look back, the anguish in your eyes as you picked at your fresh scars, it was then that I felt that pang of abandonment I knew so well.

So, my dear friend, I want you to know that I see you, I hear you, and I need you to know that I now understand that I cannot leave you to fight the enemy on your own. You need a follow-up shot asap, one that will help you to rise into the future God has for you and teach you how to trust Him completely with every step.

And this is the reason why I am happy to announce that I’m in the process of writing, A Song Is Rising: Reigniting The Warrior Within which will be released by my publisher, DOLL Ministries, later this year! 

This book is going to be your follow-up shot that will slow that hunter, Satan right down in the chase and help you to confidently come out of hiding. I know God wanted me to find you, and now that we have found each other, it’s time to rise, dear warrior. It’s time to use this follow-up shot and let the enemy know that the overcomers are ready to rise once again. 

Wendy xo 

^{(Excerpts taken from A Song Is Rising. Publisher, Daughters of Love & Light Ministries, 2023. Adelaide.)}