Unashamed...

Each week, my husband Matt, writes a devotional and sends it out to a big group of friends and family. I, for one, look forward to receiving it each week...it's very encouraging. These devotionals sometimes get me right where I need it most, and then other times can be very lighthearted. Either way, Matt always does a great job. Instead of me writing something this week, I have decided to use Matt's devotional that he sent out just this past week. Above is a picture of our daughter Rachel (on the left), with her best friend, Lizzy. I hope you enjoy the devotional...maybe it will move you to be more "unashamed".

"There are many times that I think I have really dropped the ball when it comes to being a good parent. I feel like the lessons I try to teach my kids just seem to bounce off them and drop to the ground. Then there are the days they surprise me.

Several weeks ago we were sitting down to dinner. While we eat we make it a point to ask the girls how their day went. They usually tell us about whom they played with, what they did in music, how they did on a test or who got in trouble and who was sent to the office.

Well on this one night, I asked, “What did you do today? And Rachel said, “I told Lizzy about Jesus.” “That’s good,” I said, “what did you tell her?” Rachel replied, “I told her Jesus died on the cross and when you are baptized he takes your sin away.”

I am not sure what I did or said after that, maybe I passed out, or my jaw hit the ground, I am sure my eyes were the size of basketballs. That was the last thing I expected her to say. I thought maybe something like, Jesus loves all the little children. Or Jesus lives in my heart. But to share the basic message of the Gospel, never would I have thought she would say that. I sure am proud of her.

Of course that makes me think about myself. Why am I not more active about telling those around me, “Jesus died on the cross and when you are baptized he takes your sin away”? It’s not like I don’t have the opportunity. I take time out of every week to visit guests to our church. Most of them do have questions about it. I have a list of people that I pray for who I know need to make that decision. So why aren’t I more active in sharing the Good news?

I think it boils down to two reasons. The first one being fear. I am afraid I will be rejected. I am afraid I won’t know the right answers. I am afraid they may look at me as a weirdo. I am afraid they may think I am pushy or afraid it may damage a fragile friendship.

The second reason is, I believe the lie I have plenty of time. This one gets me more than the first I put off for tomorrow what I could do today. I have every intention of telling others but I seem to wait until I have “more” time or when they aren’t so “busy”. I can’t do it today but I am sure I’ll get the time next week.

As I think about this, Rachel didn’t tell Lizzy about Jesus because she had all the answers or because she knew her reputation was safe or that she wasn’t sure how much more time she would have with her. She told Lizzy about Jesus simply because Rachel cares deeply for Lizzy. They are friends. Rachel wanted to share the most important thing in her life with the most important friend in her life.

I wish I could be more like my five-year-old daughter."


Matt Bycroft

"I am not ashamed of the gospel..." Rom. 1:16

"Lonely Weirdo"

As soon as I read Matt's Valentine's card that he gave me this year, I just knew this was going to be "blog material"! I was ahead of the game this year. I bought Matt's Valentine's card at Christmas time. I saw it, liked it, so decided to save it until this February. The only problem with buying early like that is taking the chance of misplacing it. Sure enough, that happened to me. I finally found the card the day before Valentine's day, so no sweat. Hand delivered right on time!

The following is what my card said to him:

"My Husband...

the most special person in my life-

the one I can count on

to be there for me,

to believe in me,

and to care about me.

Today and always,

I want you to know

that I'm proud of the life

we've made together-

I'm proud of the wonderful man you are."

Happy Valentine's Day with All My Love

And I will spare you the mushy stuff I wrote after that! Sweet card, huh? I thought so.

Now then...the following is Matt's card to me:

"Before I met you I was a lonely weirdo...

now I'm no longer lonely!"

Happy Valentine's Day

Hmmmm, um, yeah, great card Matt! I will say that he was so excited to give me this card that he begged me to open it a day early (which I didn't). He kept telling me how much I would just LOVE this card and how it would make me laugh (which it totally did!). I laughed and I laughed and I still am laughing as I type.

I share this with you, because those of you that KNOW my husband will think this card is hysterical! Not just because of the words, but because if you know Matt even just a little bit, then you will know that the card he picked out for me truly reflects him. Don't get me wrong...I am not saying he is a weirdo...well, maybe just a little...but this really does reflect his sense of humor. A lot of people don't get him. But I do. Because I KNOW him.

How many of you really GET God? How many of you can honestly say that you KNOW him? I admit, I know of God, I know some things about him, but there are a lot of things I don't really know about him. Sure, I know that Jesus loves me because the Bible tells me so. I know that. I know that God sent his only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for me, and for you. I know that. I know that God wants us to love him, and to love our neighbors. I know that. I know that someday, those of us who have committed our lives to him, will go to Heaven. I know that. I know all of those things, but yet, sometimes I feel as though I don't really know him as intimately as I should. You can ask me a million questions about my husband and hopefully, I would get them all right. Because I know him, and I know him intimately. (On second thought, don't ever ask me what the names of all of his tools are in our garage...not a clue! He knows tho')

Have you heard of the song called "I want to know you" by Sonicflood? The chorus goes something like this:

"I want to know you

I want to hear your voice

I want to know you more

I want to touch you

I want to see your face

I want to know you more"

That's how I want to know God...I want to really know him, I want to be able to hear his voice and not mine. I wanna know him more. I want to be able to see him and do what I know he would have me do. I wanna know him more. I wanna know him more personally, like I do my husband or my best girlfriends. The way to do that? You gotta spend time with him. I am guilty of pushing him aside to do other things that I want or need to do.

After reading the card that Matt gave to me, I thought to myself, "It's just like Matt to get a card like this"...and I mean that in a very good way. It's just him. I get him. That's the humor and personality that God blessed him with. The card was so funny to me because I know Matt. I want to get to the point with God so that I can say, "It's just like God to do something like that". That only comes with truly knowing him.

FYI: Those of you that have already accepted Jesus as your Lord and Leader of your life, I'm excited for you. You may still be a "weirdo"...but at least you're not lonely because you have God on your side!!! :)

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." Ephesians 1:17

"Can't she just do it for me?"

Last night we took our oldest daughter, Macayla, to the emergency room. For some reason, our girls have been sick a lot this year and seem to just get over whatever they have, only to turn around again and catch something else. She had come home from school complaining of a stomach ache and was very hot to the touch, so I took her temp. At that time it was 103.6 but spiked to 104.2 later that evening (even with ibuprofen!). Needless to say, the high temperature concerned us, so we were out the door within minutes. So the 4 of us loaded up and headed off to the hospital. My friend and neighbor, Nicki, came a little later and took Rachel home with her.

But before Rachel left, the 4 of us were sitting in the room waiting on the doctor to come in and take a look at Macayla. After checking her out, the dr. mentioned that we needed to check for strep throat and go ahead and draw some blood. I immediately looked at Macayla because I knew what reaction she would have. She instantly had a look of fear and concern on her extremely flushed face. She had already been through this same thing last fall, so the idea of drawing more blood didn't thrill her too much. The dr. told us that the guy would be in shortly. I moved over by Macayla to console her and let her know "it will all be okay and we need to do this so we know what is going on with you". Do you think that helped? No way! Macayla said two things at that point....1) "Can't we just leave right now?" and 2) "Since sissy and I look a lot alike, can she just do it for me?"

I know what you are thinking....you're thinking how rude and unloving on Macayla's part to want her sister to go through all that pain for her! I did tell her that she wouldn't really want Rachel going through that, but hey, if I would've had a temperature that high, I just might have thought the same thing! After all, if you've ever had kids, then you know that "labor" isn't exactly a picnic. It would be great if "someone else could do it for me", knowing full well that no one else can and I have to go through that pain myself if I want to see my little miracle bundle. Her dad explained that if Rachel would do it for her, then it would be her blood and the doctors wouldn't know what was going on with Macayla. Do you think that helped? Negative!

Matt held Macayla the whole time she had to endure the pain, while Rachel sat on my lap. Immediately, Rachel turned her head, pulled her coat over her eyes, and put her hands over her ears because she didn't want to see the blood or hear the possible cries that would come from her sister. I don't blame her. I don't like to watch either. All I could do was just pray for Macayla while she had to endure that little bit of pain.

Hmmm....the events of last night got me thinking. Aren't you thankful that Jesus didn't say, "hey, can't someone ELSE just do this for me?"..."I mean, hey, can't we just leave right now?" Of course He didn't say these things. He shed HIS blood for you and for me. He went through that pain and suffering and died on the cross for all of mankind. Amazing! It needed to be done and only He could do it...for us. God in His wisdom knew that...amazing love, how could this be!!!

As Rachel sat there eyes closed and hands over ears not wanting to see any blood or hear any pain coming from her sister, the thought that came to me was this.....I wonder how Jesus' mother, Mary, felt seeing the cruelty done to her son. The afflicted pain and agony would've been too much for her. I imagine her wailing out. I imagine tears beyond comprehension. I imagine levels of hurt that I have never been through in my entire life. I imagine her covering her eyes and ears not wanting to see the pain on her son's face or hear the screams that would come from each nail....the nails meant for you and for me. I imagine those things, yet, I cannot truly imagine ever experiencing something like that.

I don't know about you, but I'm guilty of thinking that the hurt and pain I go through in life is so bad. I mean people just don't understand. After all, my hurt is worse than yours. And I hate to admit it, but sometimes when people hurt me, I want them to go through some of that pain as well. And when I'm going through it, I just want to pull my covers over my head, close my eyes and cover my ears so I don't have to think about all the pain going on around me. Good news...Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28.

The next time the pain of trials come your way, consider it joy. Yes, you heard me right. These words are just as much for me as they are for you. Instead of wanting someone else to go through it for you, consider this as a way that you can struggle through it and be better on the other side of it. Jesus did it for us. Let's be thankful for that.

"Hold On"

What do you think of when you hear those words..."Hold On"? I took the time to look up some definitions of this and the following are two that I found and would like to apply:
--to maintain a grasp or grip on something
--to keep from falling or moving; support


Back in October, I took a group of teenaged girls to my husband's home church to attend a concert. We saw the new group, "33 miles". They were awesome! I have lots of musical favorites, but they were added to my list that night. I enjoyed many of their songs, but one that really ministered to me a lot that night was the song entitled, "Hold On". I would encourage whoever is reading this to actually take a listen to it on: http://www.33milesonline.com/ For those of you that won't or don't take the time to, I have included the words to the song below.

"Hold On"

I've been there a thousand times/Felt the rain like a thousand knives and it hurts/I know it hurts/I've been there like a fighter plane/Trying to fly my way thru a hurricane and it's hard/I know it's hard/Don't be afraid/You'll make it thru/Just call out to me/And I'll come running to you/Hold on/Hold on/When the current pulls you under/And your heart beats like thunder/Just give me your hand/And hold on/Hold on/Until the storm is over/And I'll be fighting for you/Just give me your hand/And hold on/I'll give you hope I'll give you faith/And if it's dark I'll light the way for you/For you/By your side until the end/Until you're standing tall again/I'm here/I'll always be here/Always be here/And if the tide sweeps you out to sea/When your strength is gone and it's hard to believe/Chorus x2

As I said, I really encourage you to actually listen to the words of this song. Especially if you are having a hard time of "holding on". We've all been there, haven't we? I am there right now. When life just doesn't seem fair or when things don't make any sense at all, I sometimes feel like letting go. Some of the events that come to my mind when I think of this is when my grandma was dying. She had not been in very good health, and my mom was out visiting my family and me here in Kansas. My dad couldn't make that trip and one day we got a phone call. It was my dad urging my mom to come home, back to Indiana. He was afraid for what was to come. My husband and I took my mom to the airport and all of us just prayed that my grandma would just "hold on" until my mom got there to see her again. It was her last time. I'm sure as my mom held her mom's hand, she was thinking, "just hold on" a little while longer. I am thankful that God allowed her to "hold on" for my mom's sake. That was a difficult time...one that I don't even like to imagine. Another time comes to my mind as well. One night, I got one of the worst phone calls I have ever received in my life. My mom was on the other end letting me know that my best friend's daughter probably wasn't going to make it. I was informed that she was in the hospital and days before, she had just stopped breathing and was without oxygen for too long. Bethany was lying in a hospital bed miles away from me and all I was thinking was, "just hold on", "you will pull through", "I know everything will be alright". It was only a few weeks and Bethany went to be with Jesus. She was only 15. Life is just not fair. It just doesn't make sense. And I know in those final days of her precious life, that her parents prayed that she could "hold on" for them. Almost 3 years have passed since I lost my friend. Bethany's family and my family keep in touch. In fact, we just got to visit with them over Christmas break. Each time I talk to Myca, the words, "hang in there" or "hold on" come to me. I've never been through such a tragedy in losing my daughter so those words may not mean that much. I really do mean those words, but I'm not sure how much comfort they bring. But I know that she and Andy and Griffin are doing just that, "holding on"...the best that they can. And like a verse in the song says, "He will be by your side until you're standing tall again"...I'm not sure if they will ever really stand tall again in this lifetime, but one day, when they see their daughter and sister again...wow! What a day that will be!

I would have given anything to be able to talk to my grandma again. I was pregnant with our second daughter at the time she passed away, so Rachel never knew her great-grandma. The thought of that makes me sad. And I would love to have one more hug from Bethany...God had other plans. It just doesn't make any sense. But I know what does. A friend from the campus ministry at I.U. once told me to "hold on to the hem of Jesus' robe". Now that makes sense to me. Because sometimes in this difficult life, that's the only bit of strength that we have, is to just barely hold on. Like one of the definitions, we want our loved ones "to maintain a grasp or grip"...on life. You see, if we let go, we will be hurt. Just like a little child learning to ride his/her bike, we teach them to "hold on" because it will "keep them from falling". We need to "hold on" to God...because when the current pulls us under, He is there to lift us back up again.

In what ways can you hold on to God better? What are you going through in your life right now that is making you want to just let go? Just "hold on"...God will be by your side until the very end.

"It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him." Deuteronomy 13:4

"As White As Snow"

Freshly fallen snow...what a beautiful sight! I love watching it come down and seeing nothing but white cover our yard. It doesn't stay that way for long, though. Soon there are footprints, snow angels and attempts at making snowmen.

And days after, this color of "white" soon becomes a "dirty white"...not such a beautiful sight to look at now. This reminds me of sin. I know, this is not a new thought. I'm not creative in this. We all know that dirty things enter our hearts and minds that take away that beautiful color of white. Thank God for His gift of forgiveness! But it's our choice you know. We can choose white (or purity), or we can choose dirty white (or sin). At times, this dirty white color turns to brown or black. Let us not allow our hearts to get to that point.

As the new year approaches, let's focus on keeping our hearts "as white as snow"!

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Isaiah 1:18

"The Importance Of A Name"

The following was the conversation between Matt and our girls on the way to school this morning:

Rachel: "Daddy, is your middle name Cheyenne?"
Matt: "No, it's David."
Rachel: "But Mommy and Macayla have the same middle name."

This isn't the first time this has crossed Rachel's mind. She just doesn't get the concept as to why Macayla and I share the same middle name of "Dawn". I think she feels left out. The only thing that makes her feel better when we talk about this is the fact that both Matt and Rach were born in the same hospital. I was born in Indiana and Macayla was born in Illinois. Rachel was born in Matt's home state of Kansas. So they share that bond. This makes her feel better only for a short time, then it's back to not understanding why Matt's middle name can't just be "Cheyenne".

A name is really important. Parents-to-be take plenty of time discussing names back and forth before choosing just the right one for their little pink or blue bundle. Before having kids myself, I was told by other moms to yell the first and middle name together (as if your kids are in trouble) to see how that flows together. I admit, I tried it. "Macayla Dawn" and "Rachel Cheyenne" had a certain flow about it. I wish Rachel would understand that 'Matthew Cheyenne' just doesn't sound right!!! I'm sure glad his parents went with the middle name of David instead!

When I was nine years old, I accepted Jesus as my Lord, my Savior, my Forgiver and my Leader. That day, I took on a new name...the name "Christian". I was now a Christ-follower. A name is really important. At the time, I may not have fully understood the concept of not ever wanting to damage that new name. I understand it better now. Because I've committed my life to wearing that name, the name Christian, then I better represent that name as best I can. Whatever I say and whatever I do is a true reflection, a representation, of my name and of Christ's name. How I fail at that miserably at times! A name is really important.

On December 19, 1997 (yes, you can all wish us a happy 10 year anniversary), I changed my name from Jennifer Dawn Stuckey to Jennifer Dawn Bycroft. Growing up, especially after I gained more knowledge about who Jesus was and is, I didn't want to do anything to damage the Stuckey name. Notice I said I didn't want to do anything...it doesn't mean I didn't. Needless to say, I got spanked a lot. Thanks mom and dad. I mean that...hopefully my girls will see the reason for this someday too! In the same way, when I got married and took on my new name of Bycroft, I was committing to do my best in not hurting that name either. Not only would that affect me, but it would also affect my husband and our future children. A name is really important.

There is no other name that we would want for our daughters then what names they have been given. Those names are perfect for them...it just fits. Our girls were born into the Bycroft family. They will wear that name for a while. Thank God we are a part of God's family too. We can wear that name for eternity. This past February, our oldest Macayla, was baptized into Christ and now wears that name. We pray that someday Rachel will make that same decision on her own. The name we are given when we are baptized is way more important than the names we have been given at our physical birth anyway. Someday it won't matter to Rachel why Macayla shares my middle name and why hers is different. Right now, it's a pretty big deal to her. What matters is how we wear Christ's name. A name is really important.

"A good name is more desirable than great riches..." Proverbs 22:1