Sitting in the living room of an AirBnB in January 2021, frustrated and angry about the condition of the country Dollie Freeman loves so dearly, she knew she MUST do something, instead of just keeping silent or continue complaining about the problems. In her spirit, she knew action was necessary.
As Dollie lifting her heart to God with tears running down her face, she knew the problem was rooted in the education system, the removal of the Bible, and prayer. As a homeschool mom, she KNEW the power of curriculum, Scripture, and an intimate relationship with her Creator.
The solution was clear in her mind.
In the dimly lit room, Dollie responded to her spirit, and audibly responded, “Here I am, Lord! Use me to bring Christian education back to a child’s education.” In that moment, Living Water Legacy was impregnated into her mind, but it took a spiritual battle to bring it to life.
Starting something from scratch wasn’t anything new to Dollie, a homeschool mom of four and business woman, who taught others how to make whole grain recipes from scratch and eventually created Christian curriculum from scratch. She knew hard work and diligence to make something go from an idea to a tangible thing.
But this was different.
Dollie was stepping into the arena with the archenemy of God Himself and was raging war against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12) She knew this was going to be a battle going into but she didn’t expect what followed.
As this Kingdom assignment began to grow in her mind, insecurity and overwhelm were hitting her each step of the way. Dollie began to post ‘hints’ of something big in the making but it is too earlier to share anything else. This was her way of building her courage to keep moving through the stages of obedience.
On Easter Sunday, in 2021, Dollie sat on her front porch and called her sister, Brenda. During the conversation, Brenda asked what Dollie was working on. Feeling it was too early to talk about it, Dollie nearly didn’t share it with her sister, but her spirit urged her on to openly talk about Living Water Legacy and how it is founded on John 4:14. Immediately Brenda grabbed her Bible and said, “Let’s read it together.”
The story in John was a story that Brenda could completely relate to from her own life experiences. She had just recently turned her heart back to her childhood faith and change was something others were seeing as well.
With the encouragement and excitement in Brenda’s reaction, Dollie choose to tell her parents, John and Ruth Barnes, about how Living Water Legacy was possible because of the sacrifices they made to provide a Christian education for her. She shared about how the many family blueberry picking trips, early on Saturday mornings, and selling the freshly picked berries in the church parking lot to be able to afford tuition is a memory that instilled determination in her mind.
With Dollie’s sister and parents giving her the courage she needed, she pushed forward to secure an LLC and 501c3 status to walk in obedience to her Kingdom assignment.
Just a few days after receiving the 501c3, Brenda suddenly collapsed just hours after sending Dollie a message that said, “Stay strong.” Brenda never regained consciousness and passed away a few days later.
Clinging to “Stay strong”, Dollie’s father suddenly passed away 34 days after his daughter.
But that wasn’t all.
Over 15 weeks, Dollie lost SEVEN people close to her.
Grief gripped tightly, and Living Water Legacy sank in the background of Dollie’s mind.
As Easter 2022 rolled around, that porch conversation sparked a little fire once again.
When the first year anniversary of Brenda’s passing was approaching, grief was stirring.
That’s when Dollie stepped back into the arena.
With the instilled determination her parents taught Dollie, she pulled on the boxing gloves and signaled she was ready to fight again when she publicly announced she was launching Living Water Legacy on November 2nd, 2022, one year since her father passed away, to honor his service to his faith and family.
Living Water Legacy is creating a movement of Christian education so we THIRST NO MORE! John 4:14