Tuesday, August 23, 2011

baptized

It's been a long time coming, but I finally made the decision to be baptized at our outdoor service this year. I'm not sure why it took me 28 years to do, but I'm thankful the Lord continued to patiently wait on me and continue to encourage me in the the things that He has for me. So, among friends and family, I testified to exactly what God has done so far with this life He has blessed me with:


"My name is Kristen and I want to be baptized today because I want to be obedient to what the Lord has placed on my heart and being baptized is one of those things.

Throughout my childhood, I was raised to know Jesus. I remember as a little girl at church saying "Yes! I want to have Jesus in my heart!" I didn't fully know what that meant at age 5, but I did know that God loved me and that was a start. My parents raised me in a Christian home. We went to church every Sunday. We helped out at a homeless mens shelter, went away on weekend church retreats, and mission trips. Looking back, I could not be more thankful for this firm foundation.  I can clearly see the way this foundation saved me from the heartache I saw in others because they didn't know Jesus. It saved me from some bad decisions and things that I would have certainly regretted later.

That's not to say I was perfect and in fact I wasn't. I made my fair share of poor decisions and selfish choices; but, at the age of 19, I decided that enough was enough. At the end of my freshman year of college, I remember making that very conscious decision to make my faith my own. I decided that I would be a Christian and follow Christ because I believed it, because I wanted to, because it was truth. I made that decision because I knew that Christ had died and lived for me. I didn't believe because I had to or because someone told me to, but because it was really, truly what I believed.

Since then, the greatest gift the Lord has given me is a true, unwavering belief in who he is. He has given me an unshakable faith and has proved faithful. That has played out over the last 9 years as my relationship with the Father is ever changing as he reveals who he is to me; however, one thing that never changes is the way he faithfully walks beside me in this life. Throughout times of heartache and pain and through times of joy and blessing, Jesus is my constant. He is my comfort, strength and joy and I am blessed a thousand times over to be his daughter.

And, the Lord is not done with me yet. He continues to work on my heart, my motives, and my life. He uses people from this body (Providence), my family, my friends, my husband, and my son to show me how much grace I receive and how much he loves me. I trust and believe that until the day I am called home to heaven, he will continue to do a good work in me. Like it says in Philippians 1:6- being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."



 *** Something really important and special for me was that my earthly father could baptize me in the name of my heavenly father. What an incredible blessing you are and have been on my life Dad. I love you!


So there you have it. My testimony. The day was unpredictable weather wise and so we gave our testimonies (there were 9 of us baptized on Sunday!!!) in a pavilion and then were baptized in the Brandywine. I'm so glad that I did it. So glad I can share with you exactly what God has done and is doing in my life!

2 comments:

Katie @ Loves of Life said...

That is SO special!!! it made me tear up :)

Paul and Sarah said...

Congrats Kristen!

That is wonderful!