A New Beginning

 

This morning I woke up feeling joyful, thankful and blessed!

 

I walked in to the rest room where my daughters were getting ready for school. I had the opportunity to brush 3 beautiful heads of hair, lace up shoes and put jackets on 3 of the most precious little girls I'll ever know.

 

I then had the privilege of driving them to school

and on my way home

I thought about the precious lives that God has entrusted me with.

 

What a great responsibility I have, to shape

4 little lives

into

productive, God pleasing people in this world!

 

I thought about all of the times I have heard them singing the song "I know my redeemer lives" in front of their mirror,

all of the times they have sang lovely little songs at church,

 

 

 

all of the times they have repeated a bible story that they've learned in sunday school,

the times they have layed their tiny hands on me to pray when they noticed I wasn't feeling well

and all the "sermons" Caleb has reenacted.

 

 

I thought about our evening prayers 

and all of the times I have looked up to see them praying at the altar.

 

 

 

I have often worried "do they really understand? do they know what it all means?"

 

One day I decided I would find out exactly what they actually knew and understood.

I grabbed a pen and paper and called them to the kitchen table.

And so began our first "family group time."

I listed all of the "facts" that they knew about our Lord and about being a christian, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at the knowledge they did have.

We talked, they asked questions and answered questions.

We prayed and dismissed.

 

In the weeks to come I noticed that they were really paying attention when they were in "adult church" and after service they would ask questions and I saw their desire to know more.

Soon after we began "group time" at our home,

our pastor announced that our church would soon be having a baptism.

My 7 yr old daughter ran up to me with excitement!
"Mommy, could I be baptised?"

That week our "group time" was all about baptism and what it means to be baptised.

We talked it over with daddy and she decided that she was ready

to make the commitment to the Lord!

 

 

She was very nervous and made daddy promise to baptise her!

 

 

He was very honored that she wanted him to be apart of such a great day in her life!

 

 

As I watched my husband dip our daughter down into the cool water, I prayed that God would give her a full revelation of what it meant to be baptised in the name of Jesus!

 

And that she would be forever changed and used for his glory!

 

 

She came up out of the water praising God and I knew that she understood.

 

 

It was a day that we will never forget!

 

After the baptism she came to me, she was so full of joy and she spoke words that I will never forget.

"I'm clean Mommy, clean from the inside out! My sins were washed away!"

 

With tears of joy and a heart

filled to the brim with

happiness, I picked her up and hugged her.

"Yes you are Mckenna, you are clean!"

 

Of course it was a day to be celebrated! So we did just that....

 

 

We celebrated her "Baptism Birthday!"

We celebrated her "new beginning!"

 

I am so very proud of my children and the desire that they have

to live for the Lord.

To show unconditional love and to know that even on our worse days, the joy of the Lord is our strength!

 

I believe with all of my heart that taking the step to be baptised is a personal decision and although my other children have not yet made that decision, I know that they love the Lord

with all of their hearts and I am proud of each and every one of them!

 

The great thing about God is that it's never too late!

If there is breath in your body, there is still hope. You can be 7yrs old or 70yrs old,

God is waiting with open arms!

 

“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become - because He made us. He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. . .It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”

― C.S. Lewis