Whatever happened to the baby they stole?

By James E Woods II

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil

God has a plan for everyone's life, but often times this plan has an unusual beginning. Who would ever believe that the theft of a baby would mark the beginning of a God ordained plan? God's unique ability to demonstrate his love and grace is a powerful thing, this book is the story of how God moved in the life of one individual to demonstrate to each and every one of us that God has a plan for all of us. This story will serve as a catalyst to enable you to see the love and grace of God at work in your own personal life. No matter where you are, or what you going through know that God loves you and he does have a plan for you. This is the story of one person's adventures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Prime the pump publications,LLC
• Release date: Nov 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781947380141

Book preview

What Happened To The Baby They Stole?

Chapter 1:   This Is the One They Stole

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11

I WOKE ONE MORNING after being summoned by a familiar voice. This person called me down to breakfast, and when I sat down she provided me with a small bowl of oatmeal. The very next thing she did was dump a spoonful of sugar on one side of the bowl. I decided I will begin by eating the oatmeal that was not covered with sugar and save the sweet half for last.

Upon finishing my breakfast, my server took me by the hand and led me to the backyard. Sitting there in the middle of the yard was a large red toy airplane. We walked over to it, and I was lifted up and seated in the plane. Once seated in the plane, I did exactly what you are supposed to do in a big red toy airplane: started playing.

Since I had no concept of time, I was not able to recall how long I played in the plane. However, I do remember what happened next. A woman I was not familiar with came into the yard and took me out of the plane. She then proceeded to lift me over the fence and handed me to someone who did look familiar to me. Oddly, the one thing I remember most about this transaction is that as I was being handed over the fence, one of my shoes fell off and was left in the yard.

This was the day I became known as, The one they stole. This is my oldest childhood memory, and it would be two decades before I found out what really happened that day. More about this later.

I was born on August 4, 1958, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the Mercy Douglas Hospital in West Philadelphia. After five days, my mother and I were discharged and my parents were sent a bill for $100 – a huge contrast from today.  I was the first-born child of James and Inez Woods and, as it turned out, I would be the only child they had together. While I am sure they were both happy that day, the divorce came three years later.

After the divorce, my mother and I went to live with my maternal grandparents in Philadelphia. My grandparents attended a Holiness church. If you do not know what a Holiness Church means—to put it simply, you prayed, you went to church and prayed, and you came home and prayed some more. One more thing: no movies and no dancing. My grandparents’ home turned out to be one of the places where I would experience several encounters with God.

My first encounter with God happened at a very early age. While I am not sure how old I was at the time, I do know it was before my sixth birthday. I was up in a back bedroom at my grandparents’ house watching television with one of our cousins when something happened on the television that frightened me. Someone on The Twilight Zone was going to hell. (At least I think it was The Twilight Zone; it could have been The Outer Limits.)

This thought of hell was so scary, I ran out of the room to find my mother. She was downstairs in the kitchen with my grandmother. I can still remember running down the hallway and getting to the top of the staircase. Just as I began to step off the top step, I heard a very clear and distinct voice say, Your mother cannot help you. After hearing this, I turned around and ran back to the bedroom I had just come from, fell on my knees and told God I did not want to go to hell. Looking back on that day, I realize that my reaction to hearing that my mother could not help me was to pray, because I had often watched my grandfather kneeling by his bed in prayer. The interesting thing is hearing the voice did not induce fear; it was finding out that my mother could not keep me out of Hell.

Chapter 2:   Finding My Way – Unemployed and Sleeping on Concrete

IT WAS 1979. MY WIFE and I had been married two years, and things had gotten off to a pretty good start. By the spring of that year things began to change. We moved from our one-bedroom apartment to a four-bedroom house.  The house had been owned by my maternal grandparents. They were both deceased, my grandfather in March 1969 and my grandmother in May 1977. Shortly after that, I found myself unemployed, and we started having marital problems. Things got so intense that my wife moved out and went to live with her mother. Meanwhile, I began having one great big pity party. My wife, who has always acted with a great degree of wisdom, stipulated the terms in which she would come back home: that is to say, she made a list of things I had to do or accomplish if I wanted us to continue. At first this list made me increase the size of my pity party. Things got worse. I stopped looking for work and used that excuse so I could stay out of the house.

It was at that time I ran into one of my mentors who asked me about volunteering to help with a project he was working on. It turned out that he was in partnership with a medical doctor to open  a Christian medical clinic outside the city of Philadelphia. The concept was simple, combining prayer and biblical instruction with sound medical practices. They had acquired a commercial property that was in need of major renovations, but had great potential. By the time I got there one-half of the building was completely renovated, and the other half was vacant. The decision was made to open the clinic and start serving patients. The hope was that as the practice grew, finances would become available to finish the renovations. It did not happen.

Once I got involved, my pity party did not end, but my money did. I was unable to pay for public transportation to and from the clinic each day. My solution was simple. I started sleeping in the vacant part of the building. The only problem with this solution was there wasn’t any carpet on the concrete floors or electricity. After just one night I realized this was a dumb idea; unfortunately, I did not have money to get home.

(Let me take a moment to explain a few things. I am now, as I was then, a Christian. As a Christian there are a few things expected of me. I am expected to pray, read my Bible, fellowship with other Christians, and share my faith. At that moment while sitting on a concrete floor, I realized I had not done any of these things for quite some time. And that’s how you can end up sleeping in a vacant building).

It was during the second night that God showed me what a mess I had made of my life and marriage. Like the prodigal son, by morning I came to myself and realized that as a man and a husband I did not have the luxury to volunteer. What I needed was a job. The problem was I was stuck outside the city and too proud to ask for money. Still, I was thankful that God will intervene despite our silliness. One of the people volunteering at the clinic informed me that he had to run an errand into Philadelphia and asked me if I needed a ride home. Well, yes...

Instead of going home, I asked the driver to take me to my parents’ house. Little did I know, this decision to visit my parents’ house would mark a turning point in my life. It had been several weeks since I had seen or spoken to my parents. So my mother, who was the only one home at the time, was glad to see me. We started making small talk when I noticed several small books protruding from an envelope. There were six books written by Kenneth E. Hagin. The first book was entitled, How to Turn Your Faith Loose. After reading this book, I continued to read the other five. By the time I was finished, God had done a major work in both my heart and mind.

After growing up in church, becoming a Christian in 1969 and attending seminary, I had amassed a lot of Bible information and facts, but not one ounce of Bible faith. That day in the spring of 1979, God’s word became alive on the inside of me. I now viewed my situation in the light of God’s promises. I came to understand circumstances are temporary and must bow to the expressed will of God. The pity party was over forever, never to return.

Over the next few weeks I changed my vocabulary and began to bring my life and my mouth in line with God’s word. I had a copy of a book by Charles Capps, The Tongue: A Creative Force. I read it cover to cover in one day, and began to quote the confessions at the back of the book. I made my confessions every day several times a day. After a month of doing my daily confessions I noticed one confession was regarding these signs shall follow them that believe. Even though I had been confessing Mark 16:17-18, the part that says, They shall speak with new tongues. troubled me—not because I did not believe it, but because I had not experienced it. So, I stopped right in the middle of my confession and told God this had not happened in my life. I got down on my knees and ask God if there is anything in my life hindering me from receiving this New Testament experience, remove it right now. As I was speaking these words and I got to the word now, it seemed as though time slowed down. As I was pronouncing that simple three letter word now I could hear words down on the inside of me, words I did not understand, but as I started to speak what I was hearing, the power of God came upon me. I began to speak in other tongues fluently and clearly. For a period of 45-minutes the words flowed unhindered.

One key thing that I noticed was that my mind was not involved with my mouth. What I mean is, my mind had nothing to do with the words I was speaking. I was able to analyze everything that was happening around and through me. When it was all over, I thought, "That’s