Baptism

I got baptized! I remember watching others get baptized in the past and thinking "Oh, haillll no. There's no way I'm getting up in front of all these people - especially my family - and pronouncing my love for Jesus. Nope. Nope. Nope." But as my walk with Christ has gotten deeper, it's become clearer to me that in order to truly do my deal as a daughter of Christ I need to be spreading his glory. I can't keep this awesomeness to myself, no matter how far outside of my comfort zone that pushes me. (Read: I've still been a big baby about tiptoeing outside that comfort zone, but I think this was big step!)

I was originally supposed to be baptized on July 24, but I woke up to a severe allergic reaction to Penicillin. (Who knew - your body can just decide to become allergic to things overnight.) For real, Google "penicillin rash" and I rivaled the worst pictures you can find. Needless to say, I did not get baptized looking like a leper (how ironic). Satan is real, y'all.

I added October 16 in my calendar - the next baptism. (I also kept hoping I wouldn't die between July 24 and October 16, because that would really suck to JUST miss my chance for the pearly gates. Also, JK. While I know God longs for us to proclaim our love for him through baptism, I also don't believe that's humanity' only way to H-town.)

I was struggling with what I was going to say. Adam had such a beautiful, moving testimony at his baptism - a literal "come to Jesus", but I didn't have an exact moment that I could describe when I knew Jesus was real. A few weeks prior to my baptism our pastor, David, did a sermon on "it's not what you know, it's what you believe". This clicked! I decided to go into a little more detail and ta-da, I was ready.

October 16 arrived and a whole slew of family joined us - Dave, Meagan, Nathan, Mom, Dad, Mitch, Kathy, Maggie, Michael. (We missed Kelsey and Debbie!) I got up next to the three kids (yep, all the rest were little children) and did the business-y, public proclamation part. I was last and spent the whole time praying that God would give me words to bring Him glory. That I wouldn't be nervous, but I would be bold and reach an unreached.

Next thing I knew, it was time to kick off my shoes and head to the stage. As a comfort blanket, I held Aiden during my little spiel. To the best of my memory, this is what I said...

"A couple weeks ago, David said 'It's not what you know, it's what you believe.' That was great, so I'm going to steal it. I may now know every book in the Bible. I may not know a ton of scripture by heart, yet. I may not know many Christian buzz words. But I believe in Jesus with my whole heart. I believe that we are all sinners, and I believe that Jesus responds with more love and grace than we could ever comprehend. I believe he has done amazing things in my life and you can't convince me otherwise. I'm excited to see how else he uses me to bring glory to Him. And I'm excited to be up here getting baptized in front of all of you!"

Next came the waterfall and really, truly amazing prayers from both Adam and our pastor, David. And ta-da! I am officially baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. AMEN!

(Side note: My Jesus bestie, Barbara, also got baptized on October 16, eleven years ago! I didn't even know until after the baptism! Seriously, SO COOL!)