Have you ever felt convicted that God was asking you to do something that seems impossible?  Perhaps it was something that was so far beyond your capability to accomplish that the only way for it to happen would be a miracle? This was January of 2018 for the Dooley Family and Line of Truth Ministries.

On December 28th, 2017, we stepped off the airplane in San Francisco, California after almost an entire year abroad. Both Lori and I knew without a doubt what God wanted us to do in 2018. He wanted us to do a “mission tour” of the USA.  There was only one minor problem. We needed a truck and travel trailer. For most people this is not a big deal. You simply go to the dealer pick out a truck, make a down payment and then continue to make payments for who knows how long. You repeat the process for a travel trailer. Here is the problem. We are “missionaries”.  We have no guaranteed source of income.

We can’t tell the bank, “The Lord will provide”.  On top of that, we landed with very little savings. So what do you do when you know God is calling you to do something that you don’t have the resources for?

 

So that’s what we did. We started making plans to do what God was calling us to do. We started contacting as many people as possible and setting up dates to speak, visit, etc., knowing that we didn’t have a way to get there.

We have been in California at my parents house for the last month (January 2018).  Every morning when we have been gathering  for family worship we have been praying for several miracles. You can guess what two of those miracles were.

The Trailer part 1

The nice thing about staying in California is that we are less than an hour away from the Pioneer Mission Church. This is the church that is under the branch of Pioneer Health and Missions. It is a blessing to be able to be a part of that fellowship and we have come to know and love everybody as our own family.

It was after a couple weekends that a precious friend of the family asked if we needed a trailer. They had just bought one were willing to lend it to us for our trip! Amen! That was one miracle down. There was one more. We needed a vehicle to tow it.

Now that we knew how heavy the trailer was we needed a truck that could pull it….And some money to purchase it!

The Funds

As I said before, we started with very little money and we never know how much we will receive. To be honest, we really don’t care about the money. We only care about being able to do full time ministry but to do full time ministry with a family it takes money. As with most people, we have never felt really comfortable asking for donations, so we have simply trusted that God will move on hearts to give as needed.

And that is exactly what He did!

We received several donations. They seemed to come almost all at once and right when we needed!  Some were larger. Some were smaller.  We are consistently blown away that people we do not know are wiling to support our ministry. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and we pray God’s blessings to you for your generosity.

The Truck

We had been researching and looking for what we needed in a vehicle. We had somewhat settled on a Ford truck. I say somewhat because Lori was a little unsettled about the idea of a Ford.  No offense to Ford lovers out there but we definitely did not want to be FOUND ON the ROADSIDE DEAD.

I felt impressed one day to ask God for a Red truck. Why Red? Because we had found ourselves in a situation where we needed a miracle and knew that we needed Him to “part the red sea”. So I wanted a red ruck to remind me of our “Red Sea miracle”. At least that was my reasoning. Plus I really like red vehicles, not the bright  sporty red but more of the burgundy red.

I had been looking on Craigslist, FB Marketplace, Offer up, Letgo, dealerships, etc. and nothing was available that was red and in our price range. It was on a Thursday morning that I decided to look again. I found one of FB that looked great but I noticed that I had already messaged him but he didn’t respond. I felt impressed to message him again. He responded right away with his phone number and a message to call him. So I did.

Within a few minutes I was talking to him about how this was exactly what we were looking for. I mentioned to him that we would be pulling a trailer with it for the next 6 months to do ministry in the US. He immediately started telling me about how he became a christian last year and how his life had changed.  He explained that he was really busy and so he didn’t respond to many inquiries about the truck but he felt impressed to respond to me. It sounded like a miracle was happening!  After a few minutes He said that this was a God thing and he knew God wanted us to have this truck! Wow, I got off the phone almost in tears.

We had set up a meeting the next day to take a look at the truck but before breakfast he texted to inform me that he got called into work. We never heard from him again.

I had thought this was the one and was somewhat discouraged. Since he didn’t respond to any more messages, I reluctantly started looking again.

It’s amazing how God leads us sometimes when we patiently wait on Him. I can’t tell you how many times God has come through for us but it seems that it is not always in the manner that we expect.  That is a hard lesson to learn but one that we will all need to learn to be prepared for when tribulation comes upon our world. At that time every earthly support will be cut off and we will have to rely completely upon our Heavenly Father. Are you prepared to rely on Him for absolutely everything?  Well, neither are we but we are learning to.

After that disappointment, I started to think that maybe I was asking too much for a red truck. Perhaps I was being presumptuous.  I felt like I was starting over again and that I haven’t gotten anywhere. We were about two weeks away from starting our trip and we didn’t have a vehicle.

Nevertheless, I knew God would provide so I searched craigslist again. This time I wasn’t being as  narrow minded. I was now open to something other than a red Ford. That’s when I saw it, a big beautiful red Toyota Sequoia with low miles!

The more Lori and I thought about it, the more we liked it and it seemed right. The next day we were looking at it in person. We liked it and decided that we would make an offer. If they accepted than we would take that as an indication that this is the one he wanted. They accepted and we drove it home. God had provided a truck and a trailer for our journey.

But there is one more unsuspecting twist to the story.

The Trailer Part 2

As part of an agreement with the friends that we were lending/renting  the trailer from, we would have it inspected to see if there was anything that needed to be fixed.  It was on Super Bowl Sunday that I called and found a dealer that would do it right away so I took it in.

I also had some safety concerns since we would be traveling for so many miles and for such a long time.  He informed me that there would be a  number of things that needed to be done.  I would need an anti-sway hitch. I would need a controller installed so that we could use the trailer brakes. There were a couple of other minor things as well. I agreed and set up a ticket to get it done.

As I was leaving the office I had a thought enter my mind.  I turned around and asked, “do you have any used trailers for sale?” He quickly replied, “Well, we just received a trade in yesterday afternoon”.  After examination I realized that It was better suited to our truck and our longer trip than the one we were borrowing.

After going home, praying and working out some of the financing, I went back the next day and bought it!

As I write this article, the dealer is doing a thorough inspection and preparing both truck and trailer for our Journey.

Onward for Truth!

We started a little over a month ago with very little resources but after much prayer and asking for miracles, we are about to embark on our journey with a truck and a trailer. Praise the Lord! 

We have plans to visit various groups and individuals in the following states:

Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, Washington.

While I was even writing this article I received a phone call to visit a Pastor that has just accepted this message! We hope for many more divine appointments like this.

Our Appeal to You

If you would like us to visit your group or you personally, we would love to. Please message me privately on Facebook or you can call or text my cell phone 559-380-8400.

If you would like to support our mission work here is what our needs are:

$800 Timing Belt  –  We got a good deal on the truck but unfortunately it is about that time where the manufacturer is calling for a timing belt change. This engine is an interference engine, so if it went out the engine is toast. This is one of those things that it is probably best to  stick with the Manufacters recommendation.

$600 Tires –  There is some tread left on the tires but they will need to be changed soon especially if we will be going through snowy states like Utah, Wyoming and colorado.

$4,000 Fuel – Our trip is going to be about 10,000 miles total. Because of poor gas mileage while pulling a trailer we are expecting it to cost at least this much in fuel.

$5,000 Trailer – We had to borrow money to buy the trailer. We didn’t really want to do this as we have tried to avoid debt like the plague. Being debt free has been one of the main reasons why we could go to Australia and do this type of work. I would definitely recommend it.

Once again, God’s blessings to those that have supported us this far. We are so grateful for your support. Please pray for us.

We are planning on sharing our journey on a blog so that friends, families and supporters can read about our experience there. We will keep you updated when we have several articles up there.

Blessings,

Matt Dooley

Here are the links if you are interested in donating to our ministry.

Paypal:  Donate through Paypal****

Website: Donate through Line of Truth

*** The best way to give is through your PayPal account. If you send through “Friends and Family” in the USA there is no fee. If you go through our website there is a normal fee for processing a card.*****