Now 15 years on I decided it was the right time to get baptised. God calls us to 'believe and be baptised' so I don't take these things lightly and clearly need time to think long and hard before going ahead with this. I am the kind of person that once I commit, it's for life and I like to think I am nothing if not loyal to the things and people I love - even when the going gets a bit tough. I had been thinking about baptism for the past few years - it was just a case of when and I guess I knew when we started attending a Baptist Church just over a year ago that this would be the where.
I saw my baptism as an opportunity to fully commit whatever life I have left to serving Christ and honouring Him in all I do. Please note - I am soooooooo not perfect, in fact I realised I probably wasn't a very good example of a Christ-like being. Yeah, sure, maybe at first but church, life and other stuff gradually get in the way and who you are becomes lost in the midst of it all. I was ready to do this and I needed to do this.
I have some friends who often remind me 'that's not very Christian of you Suezie'. Truth is being a Christian doesn't suddenly make you perfect. It just makes you even more aware of your short comings. But it does make you want to try harder and to overcome these short comings.
In fact I looked up the definition of a Christian:
Christian - someone who has decided to entrust his or her life to Christ, trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, a follower of Christ, striving to become Christ-like, showing concern for others, born again.
It is also this:
In sum, Christ makes a Christian a Christian. Going to church does not
make a person a Christian. A special ceremony can't do it. And nobody can be a
Christian by trying to be a good person. Only Jesus Christ can make a person a
Christian.
That said, I had never given my testimony publicly before. I'd kinda forgotten about that bit! I didn't have to do it for my confirmation. I will happily witness to anyone and everyone who asks me about my story, usually it's in a relaxed chat kinda way but a testimony up in front of family & friends and VERY public is quite something else entirely!
Suffice to say I cried. I made family and friends cry too, especially my mother (so I wasn't the only one) but I also knew I wasn't alone as I spoke. I should have been so nervous I could hardly breath and my BP should've been through the roof. But no. I was cool, calm and pretty much collected. God's spirit was very much with me.
If you've never heard a testimony or if you'd just like to hear mine you can check it out here. Please don't think I'm preaching. I'm just sharing with anyone who's interested - that's all.
Of course you will have to sit through a bit of talk from our Pastor, (you can't skip ahead, I've tried!) but Kenny's pretty easy on the ear and even kinda funny at times.
This is me stepping into the pool directly after my testimony. I chose to have our new Baptist Pastor in the pool leading the service and also an Anglican Minister who is also a good friend along side him. Kenny made mention of this fact in his talk - he didn't think he'd find himself in a baptismal pool with an Anglican minister! Kenny was very gracious and was more than happy to share, in fact he even asked if I wanted Nigel to take the lead. he basically wanted whatever I wanted since he knew how special this event was to me - after all it's never going to happen again.
This was Kenny asking that all important question just before they lowered me under. Do you notice the kids down front? How cool is it that my grandkids got to witness this? I love that they were old enough to share in this with me.
And there I am - well and truly buried under the water.
And that's it - all done! It was a pretty incredible experience but afterwards was amazing. I had asked a sweet elderly lady ( 89 years old no less) called Barbara to be my towel bearer and the song I chose was played afterwards so rather than miss it while I dried off, I stepped out of the pool, she wrapped me in a towel with a big ol' hug and we just stood arms around each other singing 'All I Once Held Dear'. It was such a heart warming and emotional moment that I know we will both never forget. Then I went off to get dried and change clothes.
We had made it a 'bring & share' event - I just love those, can you tell? And I never had to do a thing about the food arrangements. Church family just stepped in wherever there was a need whether it was making tea and coffee, serving up food or cleaning the dishes afterwards. How wonderful is that? Such a blessings since I was able to relax and visit with my many friends and family that had turned up especially for me. It was like some great big reunion and it was simply wonderful.
This was also one of the reasons I played down my birthday this year. I didn't want it to be about me and I didn't want that (2 days before) to over shadow my baptism.
My blog has always been somewhere I share my thoughts, feelings, family and friends as well as my hobbies - in fact it's where I share my heart and soul, my passions. Jesus is very much my passion so I thank you for letting me bear my soul.
Blessings to you all
Suezie
