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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>A Dream?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>By DeAnna (Quietwater) Noriega<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> When I was ten years old, my parents moved away from our people living on the Isabella Reservation in Michigan. We ended up in southern California in a rental house with no phone. That first winter I came down with a fever that kept me in bed for several days. We didn't have a car for my mother to drive me to a doctor or money to spend on an office visit. Our family car was in use by our father. He had a sales job which kept him from home for several days at a time. When the fever was at its highest, I experienced a strange dream. I was wandering through a lush garden. Flowers were in riotous profusion. The air was redolent with their mingled scents. I followed a flagstone path that brought me to a building. I stepped up onto the stoop and tapped shyly at the door. It opened and a figure surrounded by light stood there. His clothes were brilliant white and his face shone with too much light for me to see it clearly. I had been totally blind for over two years. Still, in dreams I could see. A gentle hand reached out to stroke back my hair. A soft voice said, "Its not time yet, little one. I have work for you to do. Go back now for awhile."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> Did I see Jesus? I don't know. Was it just a fever dream? Only God knows that answer for certain. I have always felt that I am a child of God. I am just as he made me with all of the imperfections inherent in that state. I don't doubt that god can put my life to good service, even without vision. I don't question why I am meant to be blind any more than I question why I have dark hair or stand five foot one inches tall. What ever the challenges may be, I know he walks with me to help me deal with them. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>DeAnna Quietwater Noriega<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Cell: 573-544-3511<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Email: <a href="mailto:dqnoriega@gmail.com"><span style='color:#0563C1'>dqnoriega@gmail.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Author of <i>Fifty Years of Walking with Friends<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i>https://www.dldbooks.com/dqnoriega/</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>