by Robyn Dykstra

Old Memories and New Legacies

What do you do with old memories? 
Turn them into new legacies!

I have outlived my mom by 27 days.
I don’t mean my mom died 27 days ago.
I mean she died when she was 61 years, 5 months and 16 days old.
I have eclipsed her life span.

In thinking about her,
remembering all the accomplishments she achieved
and all the people she served so well in her tenure as an educator,
one of the questions rattling around my brain is
how will I be remembered?

I know, I know,
61 is hardly considered old anymore.

However, I have more years BEHIND me than AHEAD of me.
Now more than ever, I want to make them count.

Time is whizzing by.

It seems like just yesterday that I was chasing children,
frantically trying to get places on time.
I was consumed with feeding, watering, and caring for other people.

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 by Robyn Dykstra

Do You Wonder If God Sees You?

Are you in a season of wondering if God cares about you or even sees you?
Do you think he led you into a wilderness and forgot where he left you?

Whenever I launch a new series of talks, a service, or book, I have a moment or two when it feels like I might have misread the signals God sent. That I am all alone and forgotten. That I will die in the wilderness.

Then God shows up in some extravagant way to reassure me that I am not forgotten at all.

When Almida said she had a present for me, I was giddy with excitement.

Almida is an interesting woman. Her wisdom, life experiences and prayers have been my life line for decades. Russian by birth, she escaped the Nazis by walking across Europe only to live in a refuge camp for months before getting a sponsor in the US. She made a living as a tailor until she married an entrepreneur who made a boatload of money as a building developer. Her husband, Willy, died at 41 in a plane crash leaving her devastated. Her grief was compounded when Willy’s business partner bankrupted the business, essentially depleting her resources and retirement.

She’s adjusted to life’s exciting twists and unpleasant turns by trusting God with an unwavering faith.

Almida is now 86, and resides in an assisted living facility. The pain in her hip is her constant companion, making an outing to any store a major ordeal. She’s frugal by necessity and was never a big believer in “good behavior” gifts. It wasn’t my birthday and Christmas was long gone, so I couldn’t imagine what gift she might have for me.

A piece of advice?
A photo of us?
A prayer? 

“What do you mean, you have a present for me, Almida?” I asked.

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 by Robyn Dykstra

Eat dessert first!

You’ve seen the tee shirts, right?
Life is short.
Eat dessert first. 

I am all about dessert first. If there are no children around to corrupt, it’s always dessert first for me.  I can doggy bag a sandwich or chicken breast, but that dessert will never taste as good coming out of a takeout box as it does on the plate in the restaurant.

The whole idea of dessert first is to go after the good stuff first. If you’re intention is to get it at the end of your meal, eat when it will taste the best.

The same can be said for the things we want in life.
Go after them now. Don’t wait till the end!

My mother-in-law was just days away from retiring. Just days away from the trip of a lifetime to Hawaii with her hubz. Just days away from realizing all the things she’d waited for until the timing was perfect.
When the kids were grown.
When the house was paid for.
When the career was a wrap.

Then, poof, her man died of a heart attack.

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 by Robyn Dykstra

How to Escape Your Impossible Situation

Have you ever gotten yourself into such a mess that escaping the situation seemed impossible?  I sure have, more times than I can count.

If you have, too, I bet you’ll relate to this story. 

After an event where I was speaking, Eliza* approached me with a simple request for prayer to feel God’s love again. She had gotten into something she wasn’t proud of and her shame was heavy.

I asked if she’d confessed this issue of ugliness to God. She had, but the shame remained and the temptation to return to her junk was strong.

We prayed for her to experience the love of God. When we finished praying, I asked how she felt. “I have peace,” she replied.

“Peace is good, but you didn’t come for peace,” I reminded her. “You came to feel the love of God. To be free of the shame and truly know God loves you, right?” She nodded weakly.

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 by Robyn Dykstra

Sin Is Delicious … and Addictive

Sin is delicious. I wish it weren’t so, but it is.

I work with so many women who get caught up in things they never dreamed would hook them.

Prescription drugs. 
Alcohol.
Lies and deceptions. 
Overspending and debt.
Co-dependancy.
Pornography.
Abusive relationships. 

When I met with *Carolyn, she couldn’t even look up at me, but finally, she took a deep breath and started.

“I’m having an affair with a married man. We met at work and over the course of conversation and cocktails and compliments, I found myself taken in by him. At first, it was just so nice to be noticed. Not just for the way I look but for my brain and my ideas. He listened to my dreams and my problems. He helped me get promoted.

Now here I am. Three years into a relationship with a married man who will never divorce his wife. Hiding the truth from my family and friends, swallowing the pain and guilt, pretending everything is great. I’ve tried to break it off, but I keep going back.”

 

I stared at her. Why would a beautiful, educated woman get into this mess?
Because sin is delicious.

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 by Robyn Dykstra

Follow Directions To Get The Results You Want!

 

Are you an improvisor or do you follow directions to a “T”?
I lean toward following the directions just because I’ve had so many failed improvisations.

Like the time my party host said, “Just bring one of your fabulous desserts.”
I flipped through my favorite recipes and decided on applesauce spice cake.
Feeling adventurous, I substituted stewed prunes for half the applesauce.

Girls! Bad plan.

I mixed and stirred and smashed and whisked, but those darn prune skins held together in my batter like little black footballs.

I should have followed the directions.

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 by Robyn Dykstra

Goodness, God! What are you up to?

God’s faithfulness doesn’t always look like I think it should.

There have been many times that I looked to the heavens and asked,
Goodness, God! What are you up to? 
Can you relate?

 
Like you, I’ve had several callings or commissionings from God.
He called me to be his own.
Hurrah!
He called me to be a wife and a mom.
Hurrah, hurrah!
He called me into workplace.
Ok! Hurrah!
 He called me into full time ministry.
Yahooooo! Hurrah!
 
Even when faced with obstacles and obstructions,
I trusted those callings were from God. 
 
But … Though I am confident of the calling,
I still run into road blocks and detours.
I have to remind myself of God’s faithfulness.
 
The journey to trust God never ends.
 
Like all journeys, some parts are smooth and easy and

other parts or rocky and hard. 

Do you need a reminder that God is worthy of your trust?
 
Look no further than your Bible.
Noah was called to build an arc to escape the coming flood.
He trusted God for 120 years.
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 by Robyn Dykstra

Are You Confused About Prayer?

I was very confused about prayer when I first started to follow Jesus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I knew that I was supposed to pray but I wasn’t sure how … or even to whom I should address my prayer. I knew there were three persons of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but I wondered Which one do I pray to? I sure didn’t want to offend one person of God or bring down God’s wrath on myself for doing it wrong!

How could I get the answers I needed?

I was in a small Bible study group with some pillars of our church. When they prayed it sounded like they were reading from a hymnal! I wanted to pray like they did! However, I didn’t want anyone to know how ignorant I was! 

In the end, I had to ask for help. I screwed up my courage and asked the oldest and grayest of them to teach me about prayer.

She explained, “What one person of God knows, they all know. It doesn’t matter which person of God you address your prayers to.”

She suggested I start with a memorized prayer like the one in Matthew 6. I still pray the Lord’s prayer frequently, but since then I also developed a prayer model to help me keep my prayers fresh and fervent.

I call it the T.R.U.S.T. Prayer Model.

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 by Robyn Dykstra

How Do You WANT To Belong?

Have you ever been invited to join a group and just didn’t think you’d fit it?

Maybe you felt inadequate. Maybe you didn’t think you’d measure up or you’d be embarrassed or it would be awkward. Maybe, you wanted to avoid conversations about your past or your current situation.

Maybe you’re just too busy to get involved with one more thing. When your proverbial plate is so full you can’t see the pattern on the edge, you can’t add one more thing.

Maybe you have your hands full of your own stuff, and you just don’t want to hear about other people’s problems. Maybe you’ve decided you don’t like the people in the group.

Of course, you’d never say that out loud, but you might think it.

For whatever reason, you want to pass …

How do you change your thinking so you want to belong? 

I talk about that reluctance to join in this week’s video.

Click on the video below to watch it now.

It might be as simple as trusting that the person who’s invited you loves you and wants to be with you.
It might be that you feel God prompting you.
Often, you’ll find that you’ll benefit and be a benefit.

What is God calling you into and is he doing it through an invitation from a friend?

Father God, You invite us all to belong. Overcome our fears and doubts about whether we’ll fit in or if we are good enough. Amen. 

 

 

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 by Robyn Dykstra

Reset Your Faith To Trust God

How do you reset your faith to trust God with your circumstances, your kids, your job, your past and your life?
I can help you with that. 

If you’d rather watch a video than read this, you can see it if you click here.

My hubz, Dave (or Mr. 4-Ever as we call him) and I spend a ton of time in the car. While he drives, I read, play video games, write on my laptop, gaze out the window or nap. I don’t have to stare at the road looking for hazards, because I trust Dave to do that.

Driving with, … oh let’s call her “Mary” is an entirely different story.
I’m on high alert because Mary is forever running over the rumble strips on the highway.
She fiddles with the radio, checks her phone and yells at other drivers.
It’s exhausting to be in the passenger seat.
I can’t trust her driving.

The key to trusting God is to know him.
To know his character and his heart.
To know he is competent and that he has your best in mind ALWAYS!

How do you do that?

The first way to get to know God is to stick your nose in his big book – the Bible.

Read the accounts of God’s faithfulness to his people. They trusted him in the direst or most peculiar of situations. Then you will begin to see that what was provided for some is possible for you.

Now before you tune me out about reading the Bible, let’s talk about how to make it fun, valuable and effective. There are LOTS of ways to make it interesting.

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