MY Baptism!

I should have written this a long time ago, but I just haven't felt like writing in my blog, even though this was such an amazing event in my life, so please accept my apologies!    I'm writing this on September 7, 2012, but will write as though it was the same day.

Today dawned bright and beautiful!  It was a little chilly out, but I'm sure it only felt that way because we had gotten so used to 90 degree temperatures.  We had a beautiful church service, with Pastor Will.  I was hoping that the service would be on-line by now, so I could link to it, but it's not there yet.  

We don't have any rivers or lakes nearby, so we have to use what we have available for water baptisms.  In the winter months, we use the pool at one of the local schools.  This time, because it was warm out, we went to the house of one of our church family members who had a pool.   It may seem strange to have a water baptism in a pool, but it wasn't strange, and frankly, you have to do what you have to do, right?  

As it turned out, there were quite a few of us that were baptized that day, including my daughter, Abby!  She had kept it a secret from us, and I was thrilled to discover that she was ready to make that commitment to Jesus Christ.  How AWESOME is that?

We were all given a chance to speak before getting in the pool.  Here, I'm telling my story about my son's buddy who was killed in Afghanistan and how his service affected me and made me want to seek Jesus.  (Most of you know that story from earlier posts.)

So, I realize I look horrible in these pictures, but what can I say?  I'm the one in "color" in the picture.  Abby is standing right behind me, with her hands on her hips.

Did I mention that the water was COLD?  This picture needs NO caption!  This is Pastor Will getting into the pool.  His wife, Jen, is the lovely blonde woman in the background behind him.   I am on the ladder behind him, waiting to get in.  This did NOT give me any warm fuzzies about that water!









My teeth were chattering, and I was literally shaking from the cold water.  When Pastor Will began praying over me, I had such a warmth go through my body that I stopped shivering and just felt this amazing love.  When I went under the water, it was not cold, and I just felt so many burdens I had been carrying drain out of me.  I know that although we all have problems in this early life, Jesus was telling me  that He was holding me and taking those burdens away from me and taking them on His own back, to shoulder the burden of those things that I just cannot handle on my own any longer.  As long as I continue on this journey of knowing and loving Jesus and doing everything I can to honor Him, that He will always be there for me, by my side, holding my hand, showing me the way, comforting me and taking my burdens from me.

Coming back up . . .

It's Abby's turn!  











Brian, from our worship team, brought his guitar so we could have some music.  Quite a few of our church family came to witness the baptism, which really touched me!

It was truly a SPECTACULAR day!!!!

May God Bless and Keep all of You!

Julie