Thursday, February 26, 2015

Sunflowers...follow the SON!

     A few months ago I had a "come to Jesus" moment on behalf of my family. I was tired, we will leave it at that. The Father told me that we could choose our own path, but that was not where He had asked us to walk. I broke down crying and said, "My yes is still yes Lord." Lots of times the Lord asks us to follow him into areas that don't feel normal, where we don't naturally fit well, but we have a mission to complete. That is part of how our stay in Topeka has been.
     After that morning I contacted one of my Missionary friends for encouragement. I needed to hear how to do what He was asking of us. She gave me great advice: Be who you are ALWAYS. And, do the ONE THING the Lord is asking you to do.
     After our conversation she had a dream where she was standing in a field of sunflowers. The seeds of the sunflowers were SHOOTING out in harvest! There was much media there filming this phenomenon! I knew right then that the harvest would not be HARD. That it was ripe and ready! We would be standing in awe of what the Lord was doing.
     Fast forward a few days and I received a vision from the Lord. I was standing, looking out of a doorway at a single sunflower just beyond the opening. It was tall and full of seeds. Beyond the sunflower was bare earth and a simple blue sky. I waited about three weeks and painted it. Here it is:

     When I asked the Lord for understanding and I saught wisdom of both things, this is what I got:
The harvest is READY and will come easily!
We are going to reap harvest where seed has not even been sown!
Sunflowers follow the sun. They face it all day long. We want to follow THE SON!
     We know we are to follow the Lord into places of dry land. In our next post we will share EXACTLY where that dry land is! Stay tuned!


   
   

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Beards, Men and Motorcycles

     As you read in our last post "GO WEST, YOUNG MAN, GO WEST" there are changes on the horizon for Dowling Family Ministries, Inc. and we can feel the power of God!
     In January God gave Bubba a vision:  Bubba was riding a dark colored bike (motorcycle for those of us that don't get the "biker" lingo ;-) down a two lane road, wind blowing his full beard, his bible strapped on the back. Bubba text me saying, "I think we are to go after Rural Communities." My spirit leapt! I had been feeling the pull to small town life, country life, for a while. Bubba also saw that we will be traveling to rural areas presenting the gospel. We truly feel that this is a "nation" to be reached.
     About two days later the Lord gave me a picture of a very large dining room table filled with MEN; full bearded men. I knew in my spirit that these men (not teenagers) were sharing life with our family. Men need mentored by other men, but also need to see family life; watch a father interact with his children and love his wife. And, watch his children and wife return his love.
    Our old vision had many layers: fathers, mothers and caregivers, this generation, standing for justice. Though we will have opportunities to impact lives in those areas, our new focus will be men, men in rural communities. We are excited about the new intense focus of the ministry!
     Keep posted for more details coming SOON!