I GOT BAPTIZED

The Backstory:

Growing up, my family and I have always attended church. When I was little, maybe around 5-6 years old, I was baptized in the Presbyterian Church. But, when we moved from Wimberley, TX to Inez, TX, we started attending the Lutheran Church. We stayed there for about 10+ years, I got confirmed into the church, and grew tremendously in my faith over the years. When it came to my freshman year of college, I started attending Riverside Church, which is a nondenominational church in the town over from me. When I started attending there, I began to find a deeper connection to the Lord and wanted to constantly know more about Him. That’s when I began to grow even more, learning, serving, and actually beginning to have a relationship with the Lord. 

For a really long time though, I did struggle with many things. Whether it be at home, in school, work, unhealthy relationships, putting my worth in other people, etc. But, over the years and especially in the season I am in right now, I’ve been learning what it looks like to be loved by God. How to rest in that and knowing that no matter what I have done, that He still loves me the same. That His love is more than enough. Learning how to lay down my past, those people, and walk into this season of healing. Being cleansed by God’s love and grace. Beginning to walk in complete freedom from my past and what the people from then put me through. Many, many things that I constantly lay down and surrender every day.

With all of this, I’ve wanted to lay my entire life down for the Lord for a long time. I was just too caught up in what the world said about me instead of listening what God had to say about me. He was trying to show me that I am worth more than what those people had been putting me through. But I could never realize that the life I was living filled me with so much shame, depression, worthlessness, and anxiety. Things I struggled with for years and didn’t know how bad it was until the Lord revealed that to me on the race. He showed me that I could live a life free from that. That I could lay down all of these things and start having the Kingdom mindset. So, finally I decided enough was enough and I wanted to give all of this to God. 

Leading Up to Baptism:

I realized a month before my baptism that I was ready. Ready to be free from the life that I lived, ready for complete healing, ready to run with God and nothing else. So, I opened up to my mentor, Madie, about this and we started planning when we could do this. Thing is, I didn’t want to tell anyone. My mindset in the moment was that I wanted to do this on my own, giving myself to the Lord and having that memory with only Him. But another big reason was because I was slightly embarrassed that I’m a legit missionary and haven’t fully given myself to God. I brought these reasons to Madie, we talked about it, and she told me I had nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed of. Also, that I should pray about being open to our squad about my decision to be baptized. 

A month passes by after this conversation with Madie and that’s when even more changed. Session after session, ministry in LA, and so much more helped me grow even closer with God that made me absolutely certain this was something I wanted to do ASAP. So, I brought it to Madie again and asked if we could do this soon. The only reason it was taking so long is that we didn’t necessarily have a place to do it, needed transportation, and we had been going back and forth to LA recently, so it’s been busy. BUT, on November 2^nd, she got the yes that we could go to a state park nearby that had a lake. The plan was to go there and get baptized that same week. Sooooo… that’s what we did!

Day of Baptism:

The morning of November 5^th, Madie was leading our devotional which was on the topic of baptism. But I had no idea today would be the day I would get to do it. As we were worshipping before devotionals started, she came up to me and said we would be going today. So, obviously I started crying happy tears, jumped up and down, and gave her a huge hug! Then she asked if it was okay if she shared this news with the rest of our squad, so I said yes. After we finished worship and she began the devotional, that’s when she shared with our whole squad that for over a month, I had been wanted to get baptized. Also, that’s why we were speaking on baptisms for devotionals today, because she wanted to give everyone a better understanding on what that means. 

In Colossians 2: 12, it says, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead”. This is one of the verses Madie touched on during devotionals that morning and it really spoke so much over me. That when I give my life to Him through the declaration of baptism, I am raised to life with Christ and Him alone. My flesh, old life, past self, dies in that water, and I am renewed, cleansed and washed clean as I rise out of the water with God. Rising up into a new life with Him as He breathes life into me. 

And what’s really beautiful is that, throughout the day as we’re getting ready to leave for baptisms, more people on my squad opened up about how they had been wanted to get baptized too! So, when we got to the lake, 25 more people gave their life to Christ. WOW! I LOVE GOD AND MY SQUAD SO MUCH!!! 

We stayed there for hours, at first playing in the sand and in the water a little bit, then going into baptisms. I went first, sharing my heart with everyone, praying with my team, then committing my whole life to the Lord. Before this, I wrote a letter to my past self, writing down all the things that didn’t have a hold on me anymore. I buried this in the sand and minutes later, surrendered all of those things to God as I got baptized… and wow. As I came out of the water, I just felt like everything that had been holding me down for years was lifted right off of me. I felt worthy, loved, enough, free, beautiful, and known. All through the glory of God. Being completely washed clean of all the built-up dirt that had been on my heart for years and years. 

As each person got baptized, I couldn’t help but cry because it was such a sweet moment. Being able to watch each person surrender everything to God, believing and trusting that all of it is in His hands, not our own anymore. Celebrating our new lives in Him. Worshiping by dancing, singing, and crying out His name afterwards. Joy filling all of our eyes as we walk out of the water with God. Ah I just love it.

Night of Baptism:

To top it all off, thanks to AIM kitchen staff, we had the BEST dinner ever! Chicken, pasta, salad, broccoli, and a Dr. Pepper. Along with the prettiest sunset overlooking our back patio. It was just so fun being able to celebrate with my best friends this beautiful and life-changing day. You could just tell how much freedom everyone was walking in by the end of the night and everyone was just overflowing with happiness. Honestly, it couldn’t have been more perfect. Wow, thanks God.

 

11/5/2020 Set Free. 

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

 

I love you Gap D, family, and friends! Thanks for reading! 
– Jamie