I Am Mother of All & “Thea Bowman” from the Cloud of Witnesses Speaks

Hello brothers and sisters and Heartdwellers family. May we receive the grace of embracing our differences and embracing Our Mother.

I was before Blessed Mother’s prayer tree and was in worship when a paper blew away from my prayer folder. I caught it just in time. When I picked it up, I realized it was a pamphlet sheet with a prayer from a woman named Thea Bowman. This was given to me by Father Ezekiel weeks ago. He wanted me to look her up because she was a dynamic woman and Franciscan sister who died only a couple of years ago, in 1990. I never looked her up or watched any of her videos, but this morning I finally took the time to actually read the pamphlet. It said, “Sister Thea, who was the granddaughter of slaves, was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi. She joined the St. Rose Convent in Lacrosse Wisconsin at age 15. After being inspired and impressed by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration who were her teachers in elementary school, she developed an appreciation for her identity as both African American and Catholic. As her mission unfolded, she celebrated the gifts of all people and encouraged black Americans to proudly celebrated their own identity. She was a poet, a preacher, a master teacher, a vocalist, an evangelist, and an African American catalyst. She revived congregations, both large and small, with her “God-gilded” voice sent dancing, swaying, sashaying into our lives. She was a song. She was the joyous Franciscan, always. One who knew her well, referred to Thea as the “springtime in everyone’s life”. I thought, wow, what a woman!

I began to meditate on the words they used to describe her and, also to think about how she embraced her African American roots while drawing people together in unity. Thoughts began to come to my mind, and I felt Blessed Mother wanted to speak to me, and telling me that Thea also wanted to speak to me. In my doubt, I kept brushing the idea from my mind, but the nudge was so strong. So I went to Bible Promises and got “Joy”. So I stopped and began writing down what I was hearing in my heart. As I said,

I’m here, Mother. So sorry for doubting your voice. I was scared to get a message from my flesh again. Forgive me, but I am here now, to receive wisdom from above about you being a Mother to all.

As an aside here, the morning before, I had received a word from the Lord. But when I discerned it, it was from my flesh, because I was too attached to the subject matter. That was discouraging. So if I can be honest, I didn’t want to try again to get a message lest it be my flesh. But getting that reading about “Joy” really encouraged me and let me know it was Blessed Mother speaking to me.

Our Mother of Mercy began,

“Oh, My very little one, there is no need to fear, just keep writing, then discern. You felt it yesterday, did you not, as you began to recite the message, that it was from your own thoughts?”

I did Mother, I did …it just didn’t flow.

“We’ll you are becoming more sensitive to the Spirit of God. So you see, that is a good thing. And don’t let it cause you to stop hearing His voice or Mine or from the Cloud of Witnesses. There are many that want to speak to you, and I will bring them forth to give you council.

Like Thea, Mother? Father Ezekiel gave me that paper a while back, but I never looked her up (and I’ve been so busy with many other things) until I just read the pamphlet. She sounds like a wonderful soul. We would have been good friends.

Our Mother of Mercy responded,

“You are good friends my daughter. She is one of the many who has been entrusted to you, as she too, guides your life with prayer and much intercession. I have brought her forth to give you council. She embraced her faith firmly with much joy and brought joy to so many others because she carried the Presence of God and the words of love in her heart. Love always supersedes every boundary, every obstacle, and every race. It is love that is the language to unite all men, women, tongues, and tribes under the headship of My Son, and loving Jesus as their Savior. She lived in difficult times and even within the Church it was difficult times, with segregation, and racism abounding. But she didn’t allow that to stop her. Once she tasted the sweetness of God’s love, she embraced who she was, her culture, and taught others to do so, but steered everyone to the greatest of all, Jesus. She knew that was the common thread, Christ in you all, becomes the hope of glory. Glory to vanquish and destroy the power of racism even in the church

“My beloved children, I am Mother of all. Mother of all tribes, of all nations, and all tongues. Christ’s blood flows through me and He has given all souls of the Earth to Me, under my Motherly care. You see, God loves variety, and what better way to portray his manifold creativity and love of uniqueness than by creating different people groups, races, and cultures to glorify Him. At the tower of babble, did the wisdom of his plan begin, as every person was then scattered in their own unique language and began to form communities, which are now your race, and cultures you have today. (Genesis 11: 1-9). When I appear to different people groups, many times I have taken the form and the look of the women in their culture so they may relate to me. And other times, I come just as myself, as I appeared during Jesus’ life. But in all of this, I am still Mother to all. Do not allow the color of my skin to separate your love from Me or Jesus for that is one of Satan’s main tactics that is now destroying the church, by giving many a heightened sensitivity to offense, racial prejudice, and segregation. So you not only have churches separated by different doctrinal beliefs but by race, when we desire for you to be one body and one church.

As she was speaking, Ephesian 4: 4-6 came to my mind;

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling: One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

“I have heard the reservations of some, she is not the only one.”

Wow, and here Our Mother of Mercy is addressing a statement one of the intercessors made to me saying,

I have to tell you, honestly, I do wonder why a Ghana-based mission would choose such a Scandinavian-like depiction of Blessed Mother. Did she prefer that? She doesn’t have to be Our Lady of Africa. But such a pale representation seems to perpetuate the idea that to be pure, your skin must be pure white. I am not all prejudiced, never have been. But I do have a hard time relating to that depiction. Please help me understand.

Now, if I can be honest, when I found the picture of Our Lady Africa, I also wondered if that may be better to use to relate to the Ghanaian people rather than Our Mother of Mercy image? But I thought to myself, if she appeared this way, and wants me to spread the devotion in this way, I have to trust her judgment and know that she will draw hearts either way. So I responded to her, saying that Blessed Mother was a Jewish, Israeli girl and if she didn’t appear to us as African to appease the Ghanaian people it is because she wants everyone to know she is Mother of All and that she will give grace and anointing to them so that they can receive her that way.

Our Mother of Mercy continued,

“Trust in my love for it will trump all of that. Now is the time for many to rise above that and love Jesus for who He is, what He is, and what He has done, bridging the gap not only between death and life, exile and relationship with the Father, but the racial and cultural gaps, by His Blood that was shed that All men may find their identity in Him, and I am the catalyst to do that.

“My beloved children do not get entangled or even listen to the devil’s suggestions because they will come. But I am the Lady of Africa, I am Our Lady of Korea, I am Our Lady of Guadalupe, I am Our Lady of Knock, and I am Your Mother of Mercy and now I want to be known and loved in that way. As you take my words, my love, and my presence with you to Ghana, I will work wonders and miracles in the lives of the people there. They will come to love me and love My Son. But you must preserver in this devotion no matter what opposition may come. I am Mother to All.”

At this point, I could sense that Sister Thea was near Our Mother and wanted to speak to me.

Sister Thea Bowman began,

“Hello, my dear sister, Mother’s words are full of much wisdom, and you are such a delight. You too will be a song to others that will sing of God’s goodness and testify of His glory and that of our Mother. She was very close to my heart when I was on the Earth and many times, I was ostracized by black friends who couldn’t understand my faith and only saw it as me bowing down to the “white man” at that time. And even in the Church, at times I faced subtle rejections because of my skin color and not looked to, to amount to anything. But in the depths of my heart, I desired to be a Saint. I desired to make Jesus loved, and I desired for African Americans to also embrace how God created them because I just didn’t see many Saints who looked like me. But by God’s Grace, I persevered when I realized my true identity in Him alone and that I could love Jesus and love my culture and see Jesus in the other cultures around me.

“Oh, how I loved to see the beauty and variety in His Church, of music, of different ways of doing things that all different cultures bring into the body. That is what fueled me, to have everyone see the value in each other, in our differences, and glory in our oneness in Christ. You too have been given the same passion and heart to see the body of Christ to become one, to love one another, and to see all nations and tribes praising God as brothers and sisters. That day is soon approaching, my little sister. And as you go to Ghana all of Heaven is behind you praying for you. And I too will accompany you to touch the hearts of those who have been wounded by racism, by spiritual abuses, and by lies of the Church, and the many lies about our Mother.

“We will pray, and she will be loved. Be the light of unity, my little sister, be the light celebrating the differences in others, respecting others, and honoring where they are with God. Never pressure, or demand anyone to be conformed to the way of your thinking, but love is the answer. As you go forth to love, honor, and respect the people of Ghana with Mother’s love they will want what you have and soon will begin to approach you because they see the joy, the song of the Lord pouring out of you, and they too will want that. I bless you now, my dear sister, to be fearless in the face of opposition and to bring joy to everyone you meet as you are graced to bring the bonds of unity in the Church.”

That was the end of Sister Thea Bowman’s message to us.

Wow, I was so amazed and excited to hear from her. I then went to look her up and fell even more in love with her. She was a dynamic personality in the Church and the community. She even began to wear an African patched fabric habit to embrace her culture. You know, I got excited thinking, “Lord could we also wear African fabric habits instead when we get to Ghana?” Of course, I got a no [laugh]. I know I was stretching it, but I would love everyone to look her up, and her life. She died of cancer at the age of 57. She was so young and beautiful, but she said she would live for Jesus until she died, and she did just that. She is in the process of being canonized as a saint as of November 14, 2018. I will have a link to her page in the description. The same day I received this message we watched, for community night, the movie Woodlawn about a segregated football team in Alabama that was integrated and when through the various racial trials but was touched by God when a chaplain came to visit them, and they all gave their lives to Jesus. This one team impacted the whole town, the state of Alabama, and the future of sports because God showed up and did something amazing through the Jesus revelation in 1970. An amazing movie based on a true story; I encourage everyone to watch. After hearing from Mother, Thea, and watching that movie, I began to tell the Lord, “Do it again, Lord do it again!” I want to see all denominations, races, and nations come together under the name of Jesus lifting him up, loving one another as we put our differences aside, and embrace what unites us. The blood of Jesus and loving one another because they will know us by our love. (John 13:35)

Lyrics

[Verse 1]

We are one in the Spirit

We are one in the Lord

We are one in the Spirit

We are one in the Lord

And we pray that all unity may one day be restored

[Pre-Chorus]

And they’ll know we are Christians

By our love, by our love

Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love

[Verse 2]

We will walk with each other

We will walk hand in hand

We will walk with each other

We will walk hand in hand

And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land

[Pre-Chorus]

And they’ll know we are Christians

By our love, by our love

Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love

[Chorus]

They’ll know us by our love

(Love, love, our love, love, love)

They’ll know us by our love

(Love, love, our love, love, love)

[Verse 3]

We will work with each other

We will work side by side

We will work with each other

We will work side by side

[Bridge]

And we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each other’s pride

And they’ll know we are Christians

By our love, by our love

Yes, they’ll know we are Christians

By our love, by our love….

[Chorus]

[Ending]

And they’ll know we are Christians

By our love, by our love

Yes, they’ll know we are Christians ….