Welcome!

Through years of chronic illness, author Holly Dickson-Ramos has learned to rely on God, drawing strength from her faith during difficult times. A freelance writer, Holly’s work has appeared in the Upper Room Daily Devotional, Purpose magazine, Country Woman and other publications. A graduate of the University of Waterloo, the University of Western Ontario, and Tyndale College and Seminary, Holly loves reading memoirs and books about Christian living. Her second book, Strong Spirit: Hope for Women Living with Illness released in January 2021 and is available on Amazon.

 


Holly’s Most Recent Posts

Brave

This standing and walking thing is overrated. My heart was off – again – and I’d just finished a swim. Sometimes I swim on bad days because it exhausts and relaxes me, making it easier to sleep when night comes. Otherwise, feeling like someone is zapping me repeatedly with an […]

You

Here are two more gems from Dear God by Bunmi Laditan. You weave my destiny together, and I sit here pulling threads, criticizing colours, weeping over last year’s patches, fretting over tomorrow’s patterns, screaming as we sit too close to the fire. God, please push your loom back, lest I […]

Secret Thoughts

I can’t believe someone wrote a prayer like this but… if I’m honest I’ve thought these things and reading the words in God’s presence felt good. I thought giving voice to secret things might forge a wall between me and Him but it didn’t. It created intimacy. DEAR GOD, I […]


Faith

The End of Anxiety

Read the paragraph below and tell me if it sounds familiar… Pain and crisis had taught my brain and my heart to anticipate more pain and crisis, and without even realizing it, my thoughts were rushing away from today, into the future, trying to predict and then eliminate any hurt […]

Safe All Along

Katie Davis Majors has written another book. She is, perhaps, my favourite devotional writer. In fact, I don’t think of her as a writer, but more as a woman who lives fully and grasps God passionately and whose faith spills over, naturally, into what she puts on paper. I resonate […]

Darkness, Your Hour Is Over

What does this mean to you, in your life? We’re moving into a new season soon. If you were to lift your hands in worship, singing with me Darkness, Your Hour Is Over, what would flash through your mind? Everything changes for me in the next few weeks. Well… not everything, but […]


Food

Aging, Cooking and Laughing

Let’s pretend you’re at my place and we can sink, together, onto the old but comfy couch for a whirlwind visit. How has your week been? Mine has been up and down. I got to visit my sister – we talked and shopped and ate out and it was nice. […]

Summer Salads with Holly

A library discard is the key to my success with summer salads. The Lemonade Cookbook wasn’t circulating, so it got purged from the shelves of my local library, and I took it home. Every recipe I try in this book is fantastic. Most are healthy. Here are this week’s favourites… […]

Homemade Kimchi

In three days my family can gobble up a small jar of kimchi. The jar costs $8.99 – too much for a cabbage based side dish that we burn through so quickly. [foogallery id=”1393″]   My first taste of kimchi was at a Korean restaurant; the novelty of a complementary […]


Gardening

Calling All Gardeners!

Are you waiting for spring? It’s raining today, where I am – a beautiful change from snow, snow and more snow. Join me in attending a free (online) gardening workshop on Saturday, March 25th. I come across a lot of programs in my work at a municipal library, but this […]

A Walk in My Garden

The best gardens contain surprises. I think we all love a glimpse of something partially hidden or something tiny and close to the ground – something that demands a deep bend for a closer look. Neat rows of orderly vegetables appeal to me, but I can never manage this. My […]

A Trip with Holly

This past week, for the first time in my life, I ate brussel sprouts. It’s all because of a trip to Tobermory. We left in the rain and arrived, after a few hours of driving, to a moody island in what some would call Northern Ontario (officially, it’s still Southern […]