by Marie Oman
When people notice my white cane, they can usually figure out that I’m blind. I’ve been blind for several years now. Actually, I lost sight in my right eye when I was a kid, through an accident.
In 1980 I started out with cataracts, then a detached retina and surgeries for that, but finally they could do nothing about it. So right now I don’t have my sight at all, but I know I have spiritual sight. My spiritual sight is brighter every day!
I was raised about 100 miles south of Churchill, Manitoba. My mom was married twice, and my stepfather took us out to his trap lines there, out in the bush. My parents taught us school at home, and that’s how we learned.
Life on the Trapline
So I never went to school, but we managed alright. I learned to read and write a little bit. Our life was on the trap line in the bush, working. My dad was always setting traps to catch fox and mink and things like that. In the springtime it was trapping season for muskrat.
That’s what we had to do to make a living, and I had my own other outdoor work chores like cutting wood and fishing and things like that. My sister did more babysitting while mom and dad they did the trapping.
My mom’s mother taught her children to know about God. So my mom would read the Bible to me. I remember my parents had a Bible written in syllabics in the Denesuline language.
It really touched me. My mom told me about creation, about God creating the world, and about the Flood. And about how next time God will judge the world with fire. So, as a five year-old kid, I started to ask questions about God, and my mom would answer them.
Also, we used to listen to the radio, to all kinds of Gospel music from the States. Then I started working at an Army camp at Churchill. That’s where I started to go to church, and that’s where I heard the Gospel. I remember the day I accepted the Lord. It was September 28, 1954. That’s my spiritual birthday! I got more hungry for the Word and a lady at the church I was attending gave me a Bible.
Before that I went to parties, but I knew right away that I wasn’t comfortable. I said to myself, “Oh, I don’t belong here.” It was that same fall I moved to southern Ontario to stay with a family. At first I thought I would come right back, but I got a job and was there for three and-a-half years.
Wavering Back & Forth
During this whole time I was really unhappy. I just wavered back and forth in my life and, to make a long story short, on June 4, 1958 I rededicated my life to the Lord. I went forward in an evening service in the church back in Churchill.
Then, in late fall, I remember an overcast evening in October. It was cloudy and cold and I thought I’d go for a walk. I saw the hills, and then I saw a white cloud lifting and I saw the sunset. As I looked at it, the Lord said to me, “This heaven and earth is going to pass away, but My Word will never pass away.”
And I said to the Lord, “Lord, I want to know You and Your Word. But You know I’ve never been to school, and I don’t have an education. How would I learn?”
The Lord seemed to say, “Go anyway.” Others encouraged me to go to Bible school. They said, “Marie, the Lord will supply your needs … not everything you want, but everything you need.”
So I listened to what those people said to me. I didn’t have any money but I made the move anyway. I made some extra money by babysitting, and I went to Bible school for three years and graduated!
After I finished Bible school I babysat for my brother for awhile back in Churchill, and then a job opened up for me in Cold Lake, Alberta. During my Bible school years I had worked in different places, at different Bible camps, often in the kitchen.
Then Bud Elford and Murray Richardson and other missionaries, too, asked me to help them with Bible translation. So I helped them translate Scripture and songs and even testimonies into the Denesuline (Chipewyan) language.
It’s Wonderful to be a Child of God!
Oh, God is faithful! He is wonderful! It’s just wonderful to know Him and be a child of God. I will never, never regret it. I always say to myself, “I am a child of God!” Isn’t that wonderful to say? It is wonderful to know you are a child of God. Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. There is no fear. You can have peace and joy … that passes all understanding. When we accept the Lord Jesus, and ask Him to come to our heart and our life, the Holy Spirit seals us right away.
In my work in the hospital, all of the staff and supervisors knew I was Christian. I shared with the people I worked with in the ward. I got to know a Cree woman who worked in another department. She used to ask questions, so I would answer her. That’s how she accepted the Lord. And then we spent a lot of time together after work – she worked in the physio department, and I worked in housekeeping. We used to go to her place and spend time praying and reading together.
I really miss that, and not being able to go out shopping. I now have to depend on somebody to lead me. But I manage, so I’m just thankful for those who help me. I’ve got a lot of good helping hands.
God supplies all my needs and He will supply all your needs. Everyday He helps me. Every step He guides me and leads me. I trust Him. He’s my eyes. He’s my ears. I know some day I’ll have both eyes and ears. So I’m looking forward for that. Hopefully it won’t be too long.
This article was adapted from our Tribal Trails video interview with Marie from several years ago. She is now with the Lord, enjoying His presence … with both eyes and ears!
Check in weekly to meet more First Nations whose lives have been changed by Jesus Christ. To view this or other previously aired testimonies, go to: tribaltrails.net/videos and put their first or last name in the Tribal Trails search.