In the fall of 2012, I was feeling an immense increase in the pain I had been suffering with for many years.  Holding my arms up to roll, cut, or colour hair all day, left me with burning pain down the backs of my arms from my shoulders to my elbow, like someone was holding a torch to them. It stayed that way all the time. The ribs in my back ached and my hips felt like someone had hammered a nail into each of them, and then left them there. I had tried changing positions while I worked by not using my stool as much, and moving the patron higher or lower to see if that would help. It would temporarily.

A conference was coming up in Moose Jaw on Oct 12, 2012, with a healing evangelist that I had watched on TV for many years. I was looking forward to going in hopes I would get healed. While I was there I bought the man’s book, To Hell with Sickness, which I had wanted to order off of TV but hadn’t yet. As I lay in the hotel room and read the book it said “if you are still sick and you have been believing for healing ask God why it’s still there.” So I did.

In the morning, and for many mornings after that, I woke up to dreams. Dreams telling me why I was sick; most of which had to do with fears, the way I thought, and stresses I had lived through. The dreams slowed to once a week for a while, and then they shifted to what I was supposed to do now and were back again every morning.

The first of these dreams was a doctor telling me to stop doing hair as soon as possible. I went to work that day wondering how I was going to handle the phone calls. Do I tell the people I’m quitting?  I wouldn’t be doing their hair anymore? Was this dream really from God?

It wasn’t long before the phone began to ring. I remember taking a couple of appointments, trying to spread them out so it would be easier on me.

The next morning I woke up to this dream.  A friend of mine is both a school bus driver and he has his driver’s training license. You know the guy who sits in the car with teens, with a brake at his feet just in case they get into an unsafe situation?  As the instructor he can hit the brake and stop the car before they end up in a crash. Well in the dream, I was seated half way back in the school bus with a child sitting to my left. There was one of these brakes by my feet. My bus driver friend was driving the bus. We are driving along a road and the child beside me tells me that the next road is his road. I recognized then that I was supposed to hit the brake to let my friend know that this was the child’s corner. Knowing I was almost going to miss the turn I hit the brake hard. I read my friend’s body language. He was definitely saying, “You didn’t stop soon enough.”

So I woke up with the message that day that I didn’t stop soon enough.

I would love to say that that message was enough for me to stop immediately, but it wasn’t. For the next couple of days I woke up to dreams, and because I was a terrible sleeper I would ask a question and go back to sleep. I would wake up with another dream. I did this so much so that one time I heard this thought go through my head, John the Baptist never asked me so many questions. That made me think, but he was beheaded. Then I thought, yes John the Baptist was a very loyal person to Jesus and he only asked a couple of questions. He did exactly as he was called to do, and wasn’t that what I wanted to do also?

The messages from the dreams and answers to my questions over the next few days were: It’s not the people you’re so concerned with; it’s the father and son that you don’t trust. Doing hair is as far from you now, as doing hair in your old hair shop in your mother’s basement.  I will take care of you abundantly, and there is an open door when it comes to your husband’s agreement with you quitting. All of these dreams were as vivid and real and descriptive as the one about the school bus.  It took all of those dreams and a couple of others to get me to say, “Okay I’m done.”

And the greatest part is that God has kept his promises and I am enjoying my life.  

I will write more about this in other blog entries.

Romans 8:14 (AMP) For all who are allowing themselves to be led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

John 16:13 (NKJV) However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

Romans 8:9 (NKJV) But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Romans 8:16 (NKJV) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Proverbs 3:5,6 (NKJV) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding 6, In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Romans 8:5 (NKJV) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Acts 2:38 (NKJV) Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Helping others has sometimes put me in some sticky, uncomfortable, and even some dangerous situations.

One time a woman asked me to do something and I felt a little uneasy when I thought about doing it, although part of me wanted to because I thought the results for someone else would be for the best. But I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do so again I went to James 1:5-6 where it says if you ask God for wisdom and believe without doubting that He will give you that wisdom then He will.

I asked the question very specifically and went to sleep.

The next morning I had a dream where I was inside a grain car. I had a clipboard in my hand and a tester in the other hand and I was taking samples of grain and putting it in the tester. I kept thinking I don’t know how to do this, this isn’t my job. A woman came up to me in the dream to get some results and again I thought I don’t know how to do this, this isn’t my job.

I woke up in the morning with the absolute knowledge that I wasn’t supposed to do what I was asked to do, it wasn’t my job. I went to the woman who had asked me to do the deed and told her the guidance I got from my dream and also told her that I believed that God was protecting us both by not letting me do what she asked. She thanked me and added that she felt relieved. She was relieved that that wasn’t the right thing to do.

I know I have shared many dreams. It is one way God speaks to us. There are at least 30 times in the Bible where God talked to people in dreams.
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Job 33:14-16 (NKJV)For God may speak in one way, or in another,
Yet man does not perceive it.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falls upon men,
While slumbering on their beds,
16 Then He opens the ears of men,
And seals their instruction.
 
Joel 2:28 ESV /
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
 Acts 2:17 ESV “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
James 1:5-6 (NKJV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
 
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV  Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct[a] your paths.
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Steph was invited to a close friend’s wedding in Kentucky. I had made it home from dropping her off at the airport and just crawled into bed when the phone rang. I heard a distressed voice on the other end of the line. “Mom, my flight was delayed and we missed the adjoining flight and now I am stuck at the airport in Chicago. I’m exhausted, cold, and hungry. I’m standing near the end of a really long line waiting to book my fight for the morning. They are putting us up in a hotel for the night. This line is going to take hours to get through.”

Just then I remembered a story a speaker told about getting stuck at an airport and I said. “I will pray that you get through that line in a hurry.” 

“Okay,” Steph said in that same tired voice, and we hung up.

I thought about what the speaker had said. He told us that they were at the back of the ticket line and it was going to take a long time to get through and they had to get to a conference in the next city. They prayed and believed God would take care of it and a lady took them to the front of the line and opened up a new counter. Their tickets were processed and they were on their way.  They got to their conference on time. 

Within a couple of minutes the phone rang again. Steph said, “You’ll never guess what happened. A lady came and got me and took me to the front of the line and opened up another desk. I’m done and heading for my hotel room.

God is good.

Psalm 46:1 (NKJV)
46 God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
 
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV) 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct[a] your paths.
 
Mark 11:24-25 (NKJV) 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that
you receive them, and you will have them.

One day as I was looking through our family history book I recognized some facial features in some great uncles that resembled my cousins and my brother. The poem below came to me so I wrote it down. The ending is a mandate that all believers have been given.   

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Time rolls by with no stake to hold it firm
Faces change but features stay the same
Familiar eyes look on through different faces
Cheekbones that once framed an elder’s face now hold new eyes
and are carried on into the future
Here we are but a fleeting breath of air
lasting only long enough to leave the fact we were once here.
Maybe recorded in a history book or a parish archives
Maybe something more profound like in books written,
a painting painted or a large building built by our own hands
We may have left a voice in a family that carries on our name
Or we may have changed lives that continue
to change the lives of their future generations.
Leaving a legacy of freedom, redemption and eternal life
through the passing on the timeless message.
The message of a personal relationship with our Loving Father
through Jesus Christ our Lord
In Him and because of Him we live on forever.
 
Maggie Mae Holmes
 
 
Mark 16:15 (NKJV)
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
 
Gospel means good news or the sharing of good news. The good news that we are to share is everything good that Jesus died to give us. This is extensive and took the whole Old and New Testament to explain. The biggest thing He died for was our opportunity to live eternally with Him. His death gave us that choice.
 
John 3:16 (NKJV) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
 
 
Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV) Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

​ The wonderful thing is, the times I’ve seen
Have taught me the truth, what life really means
 
Hard as they were to live through
I can look back and see life anew
 
It wasn’t all random, chaotic, strife
The way it felt as I stumbled through life
 
There were mysteries whose vision I lacked
Only seen as I dared to look back
 
You have the power and I needed to learn
And in order to do so I had to yearn
 
I had to learn and follow your ways
I had to learn that MEEK is OK
 
You were there helping me all the way
Especially when I cared to pray
 
For more than I had, more than I could do
I had to know, I needed You
 
You’re more than periodically guiding my way
When you’re there, you’re there to stay
 
Alive and working on my heart
To make me a person who will not depart
 
Always watching and ready to see
As I trust you there you will be
 
Lord it is an awesome wonder to be worked on by you
And know you’re there in everything I do
 
The future’s unseen and that’s okay
Because I know you’ll guide my way
 
Lives change when we know you’re there
Waiting and willing to show you care.
 
By: Maggie Mae Holmes

Neil and I had been married for a few years but were still living apart most of the time. He owned a house at Alida, Sk and had a good job there trucking oil. He would come home for his four days off and maybe a day or two in between. At that time I still felt like a single mom. 

​In 2002 Neil went through a stem cell transplant and spent a year recovering at home with us. I wasn't looking forward to him going back to work at Alida.  There was a trucking company at Pierson but putting in for a job here would mean having to switch insurance companies and after his stem cell transplant we thought it was better for him to stay with the one he was with. Oil was also kind of quiet in this area.  

I had had enough answers to my prayers by this time to believe that God would answer my prayer so I said “God I believe that Neil is going to be working from Pierson with the oil company he is with now and I thank you for that in advance.” A vague little doubt tried to enter my head. Right, how is that going to happen? I pushed the thought away. I didn’t let myself think any doubtful thoughts. I just believed that he would be working at Pierson.

That spring the oil activity began to pick up in our area and the company Neil was working for at Alida bought a piece of land a mile south of Pierson and put up a truck garage. Neil was told he was now going to be working from the Pierson location.

I was so excited, first because my prayer had been answered when it looked like an impossibility in reality and second Neil was moving home. It has worked out great. 

Philippians 4:6 (NIV) Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Mark 11:22-25 (NIV) “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Ephesians 3:20-21 (AMP) Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Future Link- Prayers for Pierson

​Have you ever gotten mad enough at a situation that you forced yourself past your old ways and changed things?

I have tended towards mental blocks, fear, and just plain familiar unproductive patterns since birth but have gotten frustrated with myself enough on many occasions to break through and change things.

One such thing would be the buildup that accumulates in my house, basement, garage and sheds.  The truth is that I have minor hoarding tendencies and it hasn’t been proven yet but I bet it would show up in my DNA. Frustration and energy spent trying to sort and organize stuff made me learn that these items were and are not only taking up my space; they are taking up my time. And my time is valuable.

Other things I had to get sick of were some of my attitudes and restrictive thoughts that were like prison bars that held me back. There were thoughts of being too weak to handle situations. I handled them but I did it with a weakling’s attitude or self-pity poor me thinking. I felt like my issues were bigger than me and there was no way to overcome them so complaining about them was my only way out. I call those my muck and mire days. I put up with those attitudes until I got mad enough at them and chose to do something about them.

Recognizing what was holding me back and allowing myself to be pushed to change was a good thing. Not that I’m done, there are always things to change. 

Here is a funny example from my life where I was pushed to deal with and change things.

Finding out you have a mouse in your house is a frustrating thing. When I was a single mom with young children, I fought with a raging mouse problem. I had a trap line set up that covered the whole area of my house. This worked great to catch them; however, I didn’t like to deal with them after they were caught. I would call my cat and chuck the gross occupied trap outside and hoped the cat didn’t come back in with the mouse trap stuck in its throat. I even remember calling my mom numerous times to come and extract a mouse from a trap.

One day I had a brain wave. If I got a live trap, I wouldn’t have to deal with this gross dead thing or worse yet, the still alive seriously hurt thing. It was getting expensive buying new traps every few months when the other ones couldn’t be found. Co- habatating with these rodents wasn’t an option, so I purchased a live trap called a tin cat.

When I caught a mouse in this trap my first thought was, now what do I do with it?  I looked through the metal bars and fought off the tug that made me want to feel sorry for it.
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I didn’t want to let it go free. It would just come back into the house again. I was pretty sure they had a secret entrance that I hadn’t found yet probably with little revolving doors. It would go out and create hundreds more of its own kind and show them the secret entrance and they would haunt me for the rest of my life. 

I grabbed my cat and the tin cat and took them out on the deck, being sure to shut the door behind me. I put both cats on the deck railing. I tried to pull the tin cat door towards myself so it would open on the other side. It wouldn’t budge. I decided to push it the other way which left me closer to the opening. It slid open easily and fast. The mouse came out the hole and ran straight up my arm. It made it to my shoulder by the time the cat clued in and reacted. Fortunately he was fast enough that he had the mouse in his mouth before it could jump down the front of my sweater to hide. 

That was the last time I used the tin cat. I diligently went through my house and stuffed every hole I found with steel wool and I haven’t had a problem ever since.

I take it as a challenge now to change my circumstances, and my destructive and limiting patterns of thinking. I don’t always wait until I’m overrun with the problem to try and fix it.  I’m trying to be more proactive and assertive instead of under it and fighting back.
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Matthew 6:19-20 (AMP) “Do not store up for yourselves [material] treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal;

I sat in an A&W in Winnipeg thinking about all the people driving by, all of the buildings in the city full of people, and then I expanded that to all the cities around the world, full of people. Then I thought about how God speaks to me through dreams, and through His still small voice, and through circumstances, and that He has the ability to communicate with everyone around the world all at the same time. He is omnipresent. It amazed me for a minute but I have also read that to some people He will say, I never knew you. That will be sad. 

Why would God be bothered with my little problems, my issues when the world is so full of bigger problems? I have heard people say this. And the only way I know to answer is, He is a personal God, a father. He doesn’t react to our needs, He responds to faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

How can I believe that my problems are something He would be interested in? He knows how many hairs we have on our heads, there is nowhere in the sky or under the sea that we can be out of His range. He loves us and wants us to cast all of our cares on Him because He cares for us. He says that if we have any fears at all then we haven’t been made perfect in Him because perfect love casts out all fear. He is love.

To me that means: if I don’t have to fear then He will take care of that which could make me afraid. I just need to believe it and trust Him to correct the situation. Twice this week God has done this for me. In those situations I gave the issues to Him and the fear went away and He gave us the answers. 

(I haven’t fully been made perfect, how do I know that? Because I still fear, sometimes. And there are things I have not yet conquered with His help. But He says that All things are possible with Him and All things are possible to Him who believes and He is able to do more for us than we can ask or think. So I know I’m on the right track and I have seen Him do what I just said, many times. So I push on. The bolded writings are parts of scriptures that are written below. Your faith will grow as you read them. My blog entries are evidence that believing God’s word brings experience, love, help and guidance from Father God.

What you believe about God is important. We choose to believe, or come to believe and then we trust Him. And as we seek Him and believe His word we experience His love. He has enough for all of us and He wants to give to us abundantly. 
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John 10:27-30(AMP) The sheep that are My own hear My voice and listen to Me; I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they will never, ever [by any means] perish; and no one will ever snatch them out of My hand.

1 Kings 19:11 (NKJV) Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

Matthew 7:21-23 (AMP) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.22 Many will say to Me on that day [when I judge them], ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and driven out demons in Your name, and done many miracles in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them publicly, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME [you are banished from My presence], YOU WHO ACT WICKEDLY [disregarding My commands].’

Mark 11:24 (NKJV) Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Luke 12:6-7 (NKJV) “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

’Psalm 139:8 (NKJV) If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

1 Peter 5:7 (NKJV) casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

1 John 4:18 (NKJV) There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

1 John 4:8 (NKJV) He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (If you want to see what perfect love looks like you can look these verses up)

Mark 9: 23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Ephesians 3:18-21 (AMP)  be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love];
19 and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].
20 Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.
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There is a bench at a Bible Camp, not far from here, dedicated to my niece Kara. More of Kara’s story is in the link My Niece’s Heart Transplant and My Awakening at the bottom.

Kara’s bench is one place on the grounds where leaders take kids to have one on one talks with them. The importance of that bench other than to memorialize Kara’s life and giving the kids somewhere to sit, is to remember that Kara was saved at that camp.

Why is it important to be saved you might ask?  God’s original plan was that we live in a world with no sin or corruption in it. That is how He made it. He also wanted us to have choices and not be as mere robots doing as he said all the time without having our own opinions. That is where people made the mistake and went against God’s best directions to live in this world in a peaceful and loving manner. The results of that was that sin and corruption entered the world. So people messed it up but God knew that people were going to do that and He made a plan to purchase our freedom back again for us. In the Old Testament sins were covered with a blood sacrifices. The only way God could buy our freedom back was to come to earth as a person, never sin, and pay the penalty for us with His life.

So how do we get saved? God made it easy for us. We need to accept that Jesus paid the price for our sin or bad deeds so that we wouldn’t have to pay for them ourselves. He was a whole lot braver than I would have been.

All we have to do is to accept His free gift. That sounds easy. He has forgiven our sins and made us so we are righteous in God’s sight we just need to accept that and that Jesus rose from the dead and is still alive. He also wants to have a relationship with Him. So He wants us to ask Him into our lives (our hearts, some people would say) These are the first steps to experiencing Him.

I love that Ev and Matthew, and our whole family know that Kara is in Heaven. She is probably waiting for us and between enjoying Heaven and spending time with other loved ones she is looking forward to spending time with us when we get there.

John 3:16 (NKJV) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 1:16 (NKJV) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Ephesians 2:8-9(NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
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