Anna Faith Fuller: Hello, this is Anna Faith, and welcome to episode 36 of Faith Talks.

I am very excited to be coming to you all from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

Definitely glad to be home after a long journey overseas.

But as far as Faith Talks goes, I am definitely equally sad because when I got home, Jana wasn’t here.

So I think she shared in the previous podcast that she is up and married and moved down to Martinsville, Indiana.

So her and her husband are helping in the church down there.

But me and Jenna are looking forward to doing at least a couple, hopefully, podcasts together in October or sometime in the fall.

So meanwhile, both of us are taking advantage of where we’re at.

And I’m very excited about our guest with us today.

We have joining us live, Mrs.

Deneen Sikma.

And I’m very excited about what she has to share with us.

I think every listener will walk away very blessed to hear what she has to give to us.

And I was just thinking, connecting with her to join us on Faith Talks, me and Jana were texting and saying, why didn’t we ask her so much sooner?

But I think God knows, and she’s here with us today.

And I think what she has to share is something that someone needs right for right where they’re at in their journey right now.

So we’ll just kick it off right now with you sharing with us just a little bit about yourself and who you are and then just some things you enjoy.

And yeah, just so we can get to know you as a person.

Deneen Sikma: Okay.

I’m married to my husband, Jim.

He’s an electrician here in the Milwaukee area.

So we attend Falls Baptist Church.

We have 11 children.

Five of them are married.

And that’s one of my favorite things is to be together with family.

There’s 24 of us and counting.

Number 10 grandbaby is on the way.

So that’s always wonderful when 24 of us can be together.

I love dark chocolate.

I love taking long walks.

I like long bike rides with my husband and the kids that still live at home.

We have four that still live at home.

Anna Faith Fuller: That’s so fun.

I am a big walker.

I love walking and talking.

And anytime I want to talk with my mom, I’ll just say, Mom, can we go on a walk?

So I’m with you on that.

So how about you just share with us how your journey of faith began, salvation, childhood, just that part of your story?

Deneen Sikma: I grew up in a pastor’s home.

It was a very faith-filled home.

I saw the Lord use my parents in wonderful ways, and they were very sacrificial in their service and their ministry.

My dad would occasionally, he was a pastor, but he would occasionally preach revival meetings.

So in a revival meeting when I was four years old, that’s when I really remember hearing the gospel and went back to the house where we were staying and couldn’t sleep that night.

And my parents came in and talked to me, and that’s when I trusted Christ as my Savior.

Anna Faith Fuller: So that’s neat.

How about you share a little bit of how God started working in your heart as a young teen girl to serve the Lord and just as encouragement to other young teen girls that are listening?

Deneen Sikma: OK, I always wanted to serve the Lord with my life.

Pretty much an unbumpy life until my my early teen years or my.

Yeah, like 15, 16.

I was in a larger Christian school.

I was involved in everything I could be involved in.

And at the end of my junior year, the church where my dad pastored, they decided to start a Christian school.

So my dad wanted me, of course, to come to the Christian school at our own church.

And that would have meant leaving a larger school and going where I was the only senior in the coming year.

So I wanted to do what my parents wanted, so I followed their desires and went and did that and graduated from high school.

And then I had many of the students from the school where I was attending, they were all going to a certain Bible college, and I had already applied there.

And then my dad went to a Bible conference and became familiar with a different college and came home and said, I would like for you to go to this other school.

And again, that was a point of surrender, you know, just giving up that time, looking forward to being away with my friends at college. and wanting to serve the Lord and saw an obedience to my parents.

I chose the school that they wanted me to go to, and the Lord just used me there in ministry, and also that’s where I met my husband.

So the Lord had the best thing in mind, and he knew that’s the place that I needed to be.

Anna Faith Fuller: That’s really neat.

And I think just that testimony of surrendering to what your parents were thinking that God was leading you to is a huge thing.

Obviously, meeting your husband, that’s amazing.

And wow, what a testimony.

How about you share with us just some trials?

Obviously, our theme this year is the trying of our faith, working patience in our life, and just God’s working in our life to use maybe hard things sometimes, but to grow us in our walk and just waiting on him in our faith journey.

So any trial that stands out to you that God has really used even in recent days in your life?

Deneen Sikma: So a big thing that our family went through, a few years ago we had 10 children.

We lived on a farm in Indiana.

We were very active in a smaller church.

We’re very content there, but then just feeling that the Lord wanted us to move and move to this area so our children could go to college at BCM here in Menominee Falls.

And so we picked up and moved.

My husband closed his business.

We moved up here in obedience to what we felt the Lord wanted us to do.

And so moving 10 children is not a small feat.

You know, in the house we lived in forever, and it was a bigger house.

We moved to a smaller one here and found out in the midst of that that another baby was on the way.

So baby number 11 was expected, and it came during that transition time.

And we were very excited, you know, just to welcome another child.

That’s something we had given to the Lord early in our married life, that we would just let God plan our family.

So we were going to use a midwife and have a home birth.

We had done that before.

And my midwife here in Menominee Falls sensed that just something wasn’t right when she was examining me towards the end of the pregnancy.

And come to find out, she referred us to a specialist in Milwaukee.

And we went to him, and the Lord directed in that area too because he was a Catholic doctor but had 10 children of his own.

And he specialized in complicated pregnancies.

I was 44 years old.

He just spent time with us and was very pro-life, so he was determined to not do anything to harm the baby.

So in the midst of that and many of the tests that we went through, the baby was diagnosed with trisomy 18.

So the doctor told us that many times those babies don’t survive birth.

I ended up with an emergency C-section about four weeks before my due date.

And as I was laying there getting ready for the surgery, the anesthesiologist came and just put his head, his arms around my head.

And he said, I’m with you through this.

My wife and I had a baby with trisomy 18 several years ago, and she lived for two years.

So the Lord just knew.

I mean, I had the perfect doctor.

And then this doctor that came over and he did, he stayed with us.

He says, I’m determined to keep this baby alive until your children can get here.

So my parents, after the birth, brought all the other children down, and then Pastor was able to get there.

And we ended up taking Philip home, and he lived with us for 60 days.

And my husband often says that it’s not something he would have chosen, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything.

And just the Lord grew our faith.

He was close to us.

We claimed Psalm 31.

In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust is how that psalm starts.

And then be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.

And we just see he did a work in our children’s hearts in that time.

And just being yielded to whatever he has and just learning to trust him.

And that was a big thing, and just learning to trust him with that.

Anna Faith Fuller: How did you see God just work, I don’t know, in your heart specifically, especially just in the big picture of what he was doing in your life?

Are there any specific things that you, that like, you know, a specific lesson that God was teaching you?

Obviously, just knowing that he is in control, but any other specific things that you want to share?

Deneen Sikma: You know, you don’t see it right then.

But in the years since then, it’s been sweet to see how people have contacted me who are going through the same thing.

And I’ve been able to reach out to people and just encourage them with what the Lord is doing.

And, you know, oftentimes when you’re in the midst of it, you’re just clinging to the Lord and you’re trusting him.

And you know that he has a perfect plan and a perfect will.

But then later, I think the Lord just, you know, he opens the door to avenues that you can be a blessing to other people because of what you’ve been through.

Anna Faith Fuller: Yes.

Yeah.

And I think that is a neat thing of how so many times, like, right when you’re in it, you can’t see.

But, like, God’s promises, I think, is a huge part of getting you through that time.

And then the testimony.

Obviously, here we are talking about it now, you know, and you’re able to share this story.

And maybe there’s someone out there with, you know, maybe a mom that just heard that, you know, that there’s some complications or other families that have had similar situations.

And just the encouragement that you’re able to be to them just to see God and to know him in this time.

Deneen Sikma: And just looking back to at the people he placed there.

Yes.

At the right time.

That’s amazing.

You know how, you know, there’s that doctor that was able to just comfort us.

And he’d been down that road before.

And, yeah, it’s just amazing to see how the Lord just placed.

Anna Faith Fuller: It is really neat.

That is amazing.

What encouragement would you give to young women, going back to, obviously, our audience’s teen girls, from a mom’s perspective of serving the Lord and even, obviously, in your children’s lives, you have a lot of young adult children, but also even encouraging girls that maybe are looking at, like, their family situation.

Maybe they didn’t have a family situation like you have, you know, or maybe they have a lot of fears about one day, you know, being a mom or some different things like that.

Would you be able to share just a little bit, just encouragement to those girls?

Deneen Sikma: I guess I would say just to serve the Lord today.

You know, don’t borrow tomorrow’s troubles, you know, thinking, oh, what kind of a mom am I going to be?

What kind of a wife am I going to be?

Just put that in his hands and build the relationships that you have around you.

If you’ve got siblings and living with your parents, friendships, develop those relationships and be an encouragement to the people who the Lord has placed close to you.

I guess I would refer my favorite book in the Bible is Philippians, and thinking of Philippians 4, don’t be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your request be made known unto God.

And then it goes into the list of the things we’re supposed to think about in Philippians 4, 8.

The true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report, virtue, praise.

Just focus on those things and don’t look at the future with fear.

Just serve the Lord right now where he has you.

The best marriage preparation is family relationships.

Yes.

You know, the Lord puts different people in your family to, you know, sand off the roughness in your own life and your own personality.

And that’s the best thing to

Anna Faith Fuller: prepare you for the future.

And then also in speaking, obviously another angle and thinking of marriage, you know, and girls, young teen girls that want to do it God’s way, that want to see God clearly lead them from like your perspective, you know, obviously you’ve had, You said five are married in your family.

So what advice or maybe just things that God has taught you just as a mother, leading your kids, your young adults to seek God for the right one?

Any advice that you would give to young girls that want to do it the right way and that just want to seek God in the whole journey of marriage?

Deneen Sikma: Just be patient.

You know, the Lord will bring the right one along at the right time.

And we need to just don’t try to get ahead of God.

Don’t try to make things happen on your own.

Just rest in the Lord and what he has for you and knowing that whatever he has is the best.

So I guess the biggest thing would just be be patient and enjoy waiting on the Lord.

Anna Faith Fuller: Yes, that’s really good.

I think sometimes girls, especially girls, they can get a little bit, I don’t know, just afraid that maybe something’s not going to come their way, you know, and try to do something in their own, you know, in their own way.

They see a guy and try to go after him or something like that.

But I know, yeah, this is very, very good advice to all of us young adults.

I’m in the same boat myself, just choosing to rest in the Lord because he’s got it, you know.

And just thinking of how much he loves us.

He is such a good father that wants to give you good things.

So he’s not trying to withhold anything from you.

If you’re seeking the Lord, he’s going to lead you into exactly what he has for you.

I know recently I was thinking, just in my own life, thinking how small I am in comparison to the big picture of what God’s doing now and all throughout history.

I’m just one little person.

There’s so many other people.

And yet God really loves me and cares.

And I see him leading me in specific ways that he’s answering prayers and just so many blessings.

And I just am so overwhelmed.

Like, wow, he loves us.

He loves you.

And he loves to give us good things because we’re his children.

And so even in the whole, just the whole journey of marriage and finding the right one, it’s just part of the journey of seeing God do amazing things in your life.

It’s not a negative thing.

So, yeah, thank you for sharing.

Just in conclusion, is there anything else that you feel like you really want to just share from your journey, even recent times, whatever you would have to share, even concluding thoughts from what we’ve talked about, your journey of your little boy, or even as a teen girl, just some application points that you’d like to just leave with the listeners.

I backed thinking about not worrying

Deneen Sikma: about the future.

I mean, when God brings things into your path, he equips you to deal with them.

And he’s, everything that we need is in him.

And so when he brings marriage your way or the right the right spouse and then children they all come one at a time you don’t get 10 at once you know you grow in that and he equips you as you need the grace to get through the day he equips you for it at that moment and as long as you’re resting in him and trusting in him and knowing

Anna Faith Fuller: that he is going to direct your paths well thank you so much for joining us and i really appreciate you sharing even if it wasn’t easy to share some of just the trials that god has allowed in your life to develop patience and to grow you and to just do so many things and just thinking God as a good father sometimes trials doesn’t seem like it it fits in there but realizing that every trial that God allows into our lives so many obviously here we are doing this whole year of a series of trials and every single person has come on here saying God is good and what he has taught me through this is something that like your husband was saying we would not have chosen this but we would not trade it for anything and just those trials that God gives into our lives become some of the most precious deep things in our lives that we can’t even speak of like words cannot even express what God has done in our lives through something that seemed completely negative in our lives so thank you for sharing and just as we conclude here I’m just thinking of the different points that we talked about.

If you’re a young girl and maybe your parents are having, have told you, this is what I want for you.

And you are kind of kicking at that.

You don’t want to do that.

I just encourage you.

God has put your parents in your life to lead you, to guide you.

And if you, if you yield and submit to your parents, you will always be at a place of blessing.

And obviously we heard from Mrs.

Sigma here today, just her testimony of surrendering and of and of what God did through that she met her husband speaking of marriage but just how amazing it is when you just decide to obey to yield to love your parents and to surrender to something that maybe you don’t like right now but God will use in a big way in your life also just trusting God in the middle of maybe a trial that doesn’t seem like it has any good in the end you know even just the story that she shared of her little boy, and maybe God’s working in your heart.

Maybe you’re in the middle of a trial that’s similar to that.

I just encourage you to seek the Lord and to let his word become just part of you in this trial.

And if you’re a girl that’s wanting to, maybe you’re looking ahead and you want to see marriage come to pass in the next couple years, Just serve the Lord today.

Develop the relationships in your family and just wait on the Lord.

And in his perfect timing, as a good father, he’s going to give you exactly what he created you for and what he knows that you need.

So thank you so much for coming on today.

We really appreciate it.

And I hope you girls are encouraged with the story, the different points that Mrs.

Sikma was able to share with us.

So I’d encourage you as you go about your days.

Remember that faith doesn’t just talk, faith walks.

Deneen Sikma: Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Thee Generation Podcast.

If you’re serious about living a life of total surrender and total dependence, please consider signing the Thee Generation Pledge.

It’s not a promise of perfection, but a declaration of direction.

To join hundreds of others who have signed the commitment, please visit thegeneration.org.

Guest Speaker: That’s T-H-E-E-Generation.org slash pledge.