TESTIFY TO LOVE: ROBBIE SIKES

I've been waiting for just the right time to honor my husband, Steve's mother - Erma Louise Robertson Sikes who is known to all as Robbie Sikes. At our women's retreat, she was brought up several times in conversations. As I have studied for my PATRIARCHS lesson this week, she has come to mind often. I have smiled several times:

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1. The extensive geneology / family tree of Abraham was drawn out years ago in tree form by Robbie for those she was teaching. I have it glued in my Bible to help me study Biblical geneology.
2. Studying geneology reminds me of the extensive family that I have married into...Jack (who came from a family of 12 children) married Robbie and they have 13 children...who have children...who have children...
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• Joyce/Don with children and grandchildren
• Stacy/Carol with children and grandchildren
• Sharon/Pete with children and grandchildren
• Steve/Patti with children and grandchildren coming
• Sharla/Kent with children and grandchildren
• Stanten/Colleen with children and grandchildren
• Shelly/Derryl with children and grandchildren
• Shawna/Brian with children
• Sherena/John with children
• Stewart/Dawn with children
• Steddon/Brenda with children
• Shanon/Dane with children
• Stafford with children
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Other than my own mother, Kathleen, and maternal grandmother, Viola, I can think of no other woman who has had the influence and impact on my life like my "mother-in-love", Robbie Sikes. Long before I knew Robbie, she met Walter "Jack" Sikes on a blind date because they both wanted to have a dozen kids. It didn't take long before they were married and 9 months later they had their first child. In those first years, Robbie went from someone who "thought" she was a christian to a baptized believer who began to transform into the image of her LORD. This first picture is Robbie and Jack with 10 of their "original 13". I've often heard her say, "We had 9 children when the oldest was eleven." To know Jack and Robbie is to know that they've cared for many other children over the years in their own home and in their work with children's homes.

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Twelve of Jack and Robbie's thirteen children's names begin with 'S'. In fact, the girls names start with "Sh' and the boys with "St". My husband, Steve, is fourth from the left in this picture. When Robbie was a little girl she had several dollies that she named with one of her favorite names - "Patricia Ann". Since her kids names started with 'S', Robbie could not have a Patricia Ann. God provided in the form of a daughter-in-love...me...in 1973.

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Today, I am grateful to GOD for putting this wonderful Proverbs 31 woman in my life. What a tribute to Who GOD is! What a tribute to LOVE! A few of the many things that Robbie has done for me over the 37+ years that she has been in my life include that she has modeled JESUS' Be-Attitudes...
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1. A humbleness of spirit that continually empties her wants and needs out at the foot of the cross.
2. Mourning turned to joy in the midst of overwhelming circumstances...her laughter is contagious and she loves to sing "Count Your many Blessings, Name them one by one" as she begins naming all of her blessings. (She did this once after she was injured in a car accident and was hanging from a stryker bed).
3. A deep dependence on the Spirit of the LORD to lead and guide in ALL things!
4. Hungering and thirsting so much for GOD that her quiet times with GOD and His word were even BEFORE the family rose in the mornings...often in the bathroom (her closet).
5. A merciful and compassionate heart who looked out for the orphan, the poor, and the downcast by secretly meeting their needs and openly encouraging them.
6. A pureness in heart that has been exemplary...often saying that she just isn't/wasn't doing enough for the LORD.
7. Helping people, especially women and children, make peace with their Maker, teaching what the Bible has to say about it through her classes and books on: Know Your Bible by Droodles AND the harmony of the gospels via The Gospel Train.
8. The understanding that those who lead a radically righteous life will indeed be persecuted at some time or another...oh, she knows about it well...
9. The understanding that she might even be lied about for doing the right thing but just keep doing the right thing anyway, hanging on to Jesus no matter what!
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I love it that my mother-in-love is

my mentor and my friend!

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Here are Robbie and Jack with their 13 plus one more about 20 years ago at Shawna's wedding at our Estes Park, CO family reunion.
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Here's another Estes Park picture not too many years ago.

Here are a few pics with her grandchildren and/or children.

Don't want to forget that this past summer Jack and Robbie

got a few pictures with some of their great-grandchildren.

Here is Robbie with the love of her life:

Jack Sikes, husband, father, grandfather,

great-grandfather, son of the Most High,

mentor and friend.

(Notice her smile!)

Here is Robbie and Jack singing with

the extended Sikes' family

at this years Sikes' family reunion:

"We're Part of the Family"

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Please leave a comment if you know Robbie

or even if you don't.

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She can easily say three things:

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"I understand because

I've walked many miles in your moccassins."

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"Without testing there is no testimony!"

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"There's always room for one more!"

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Thank you, Robbie!

You are LIGHT!

You are SALT!

Your life testifies to GOD'S LOVE!

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Link: http://sikesreunion.blogspot.com/