Happy New Year, Happy Life!

Happy New Year!

One year ago today, January 1, 2007, I was baptized by my friend Marc, who also happens to be a pastor. His wife, and my dear friend, Emily, as well as my eldest daughter, joined in the celebration, too. Pastor Marc performed three baptisms in one morning! What a way to start the New Year, celebrating new spiritual births with each other and with our families!

Obedience to the Lord comes in many forms. Baptism for me, was just that. Even though I was baptized as an infant in the Catholic Church, I felt pretty sure that I should be baptized as a believer. No one insisted on it. No preacher demanded it. It was just how I felt. Every time this thought would return, I'd say, "One day, Lord. One day."

The one day finally came. Our family was visiting Marc and Emily and their children for the New Year's weekend. It was nap time and all the kids (our four plus their three--truly a miracle) were down for a rest. The men headed out for a movie, Emily worked on the computer, and I was reading, Praying God's Will For Your Life A Prayerful Walk To Spiritual Well Being, by Stormie Omartian. The chapter before me was all about Baptism. For every Scripture reference I read, I was more and more convinced this is what I needed to do.

Acts 2:38
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Acts 22:16
And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.

Galatians 3:27
for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

I wanted what was promised in the Scriptures, and I was finally willing to repent and submit to this call from the Lord. Life was too difficult to continue the way it was, and I was emotionally and spiritually laid out on my back, looking up at the Lord, and ready to say "YES!" By time I got to the last page in the chapter, I said to Emily, "Do you think Marc would baptize me in church tomorrow?" She didn't even answer, but dialed Marc and handed me the phone. I blurted it out and I think Marc said yes, but that we'd have to talk about it when he got home.

By the end of that night, Emily had asked Marc to baptize her as well. What a joy to do this together! Then my precious daughter, in a ball of emotion, asked her Uncle Marc to baptize her, too. That was the biggest shock for all of us, as she always said she never wanted to be baptized--didn't want to stand up in front of everyone. We were afraid she was doing it just to be like her momma and Aunt Emily, but the sincerity of her heart really came out when she wrote in her journal the reasons why she wanted to be baptized. She truly felt that if the Scriptures say to do it, then she ought to do it, and she was ready to tell everyone that Jesus was the center of her life.

What intrigues me the most about this whirlwind, Baptism extravaganza is the impact it has had on both my life and my daughter's life. For her, she is more confident in her faith. She has all the questions that an 8 year old typically raises about God and living in this world, yet even in her wondering, she seems to hold more tightly to the truth that she belongs to Him, even at times if it doesn't all make sense. I get the sense that she sees her Baptism as the marker that declares, "I'm God's and always will be."

For me, my baptism launched the beginning of a new life in Christ. It was the dividing line of the before and after; before I was all about being in control, doing it my way, trying to keep it all together. Even though I had been saved almost 15 years earlier, I was still trying to live life my way. It wasn't working! Saying yes to God about being baptized was a yielding of my spirit to the authority of His. It was the process of finally saying, "I submit to the Lord, accept His authority. I am ready face reality, repent of my sin of any kind, accept my own limitations, and search for God's truth in all things." The masks came off and the TRUTH that SETS YOU FREE was put on.

2007 was a year of submission on so many levels, and a year of facing the difficult realities of the past and even the present. I have never been more thankful for a year, and ironically, I've never grieved or cried so much as I have during this past one. But through all that, I see God's simply extravagant grace--that He loves us so much He won't leave us how we are, but continues to use all things, all circumstances to make us into what He wants us to become. His blessings are tenfold better than what we could ever prescribe. His mercies are greater than we could ever bestow. His love is beyond our comprehension. And through all that I've experienced over my lifetime, I can truly testify that...

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28




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