walking with friends
I am so blessed to be walking alongside so many Christian friends for so long and have grown close to even more. I was blessed to have a great high school youth group. Not only did I see these friends on Sundays, but we did life together and these were my friends I chose to see in my free time. We went on mission trips together, did many outreaches, and we did the messy high school friendship stuff...and you know what? Amazingly...we are still close, years and years later. Our youth group laid a foundation for us.
Life happens and we don't see each other as much as we'd like. But we try to make it a priority. And even though we may not all attend the same church, we connect. We text -thank GOD for texting - from time to time, somehow picking up the conversation in the same place we did a month ago...with quick updates. Speed texting has become a sport. KEEP UP! One of the key things we keep up on is our spirituality.
A few years ago - well, actually 10 years ago - I was baptized. I know I was baptized as a baby and I had loved Jesus for awhile. But, I felt as I grew in leadership and closer to God it became increasingly awkward for me in my relationship with Him to not have passed this milestone. Like I had missed a wedding of a good friend...or my kids birthday...It hadn't yet been my choice to publicly say that I was walking with Jesus.
Before I made my decision, I can remember saying to many people, "I don't need to be baptized for God to know I love Him. It's between ME and HIM!" I said this in a way that was like a child. I was being stubborn and selfish in my friendship with Jesus. Then one day I was in church and a verse struck a cord with me...
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
This verse doesn't speak exactly to baptism, but it did speak to discipline in being a disciple. And at that moment in time, I was walking so close that I was pursuing him as any new Christian would. Reading everything I could, having loads of questions, and feeling this sense of "catching up." Now, I'm not saying that every new Christian should have these feelings, this is just what I experienced. I couldn't quench the need to grow closer and deeper to know him fast enough. Just like when you make a new friend and want to spend loads of time getting to know them. You ask questions and want them to know all about you.
In reading the above verse, I felt that it was my responsibility to be a great example of a disciple. And in feeling this, needed to take a step of faith and trust that the public announcement of my baptism would make it even more visible to others that I was changed and serious about this Jesus thing, and more importantly, grow closer to Him. I would be able to better speak truth in love and be more mature in the Lord.
I am not saying that each must get baptized. I am saying, in any step that you feel uncomfortable in that concerns your walk with the Lord, pray about it, and in time it won't seem like such a steep climb to the decision...it'll seem more like a rock to step over. God pursues us each differently and in our own time, but he MOST DEFINITELY pursues us. If it feels uncomfortable and like a risk, that's probably faith, and I encourage you to step out into it.
My friends and I are all over the map and at differing spots in our walks, but how can you measure how far you are in your walk with someone else? Each has their own relationship with God. Each is precious and special in its own way. No one relationship is better than the other, just different.
This weekend, I had the honor of baptizing 2 of these close friends! They each have been following Jesus for awhile and just took another step of faith. Not to prove anything, and not to say anyone was wrong, or to say their relationship was better. They stepped out in obedience and out of their comfort zone to grow closer to Jesus. And I was there for it.
You can only imagine my emotions...so extremely happy for them and soooo extremely overwhelmed with love. Every baptism service I go to, I feel overwhelmingly happy and cannot speak with out my voice cracking and crying (you guessed it...such a surprise, I know). I feel the Father's heart so deeply that these services just encourage me and strengthen me and give me a high that I cannot compare to anything else.
Thank you, ladies, for having me there. It meant the world to me! I love you!
Life happens and we don't see each other as much as we'd like. But we try to make it a priority. And even though we may not all attend the same church, we connect. We text -thank GOD for texting - from time to time, somehow picking up the conversation in the same place we did a month ago...with quick updates. Speed texting has become a sport. KEEP UP! One of the key things we keep up on is our spirituality.
A few years ago - well, actually 10 years ago - I was baptized. I know I was baptized as a baby and I had loved Jesus for awhile. But, I felt as I grew in leadership and closer to God it became increasingly awkward for me in my relationship with Him to not have passed this milestone. Like I had missed a wedding of a good friend...or my kids birthday...It hadn't yet been my choice to publicly say that I was walking with Jesus.
Before I made my decision, I can remember saying to many people, "I don't need to be baptized for God to know I love Him. It's between ME and HIM!" I said this in a way that was like a child. I was being stubborn and selfish in my friendship with Jesus. Then one day I was in church and a verse struck a cord with me...
Ephesians 4:12-16New Living Translation (NLT)
12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
This verse doesn't speak exactly to baptism, but it did speak to discipline in being a disciple. And at that moment in time, I was walking so close that I was pursuing him as any new Christian would. Reading everything I could, having loads of questions, and feeling this sense of "catching up." Now, I'm not saying that every new Christian should have these feelings, this is just what I experienced. I couldn't quench the need to grow closer and deeper to know him fast enough. Just like when you make a new friend and want to spend loads of time getting to know them. You ask questions and want them to know all about you.
In reading the above verse, I felt that it was my responsibility to be a great example of a disciple. And in feeling this, needed to take a step of faith and trust that the public announcement of my baptism would make it even more visible to others that I was changed and serious about this Jesus thing, and more importantly, grow closer to Him. I would be able to better speak truth in love and be more mature in the Lord.
I am not saying that each must get baptized. I am saying, in any step that you feel uncomfortable in that concerns your walk with the Lord, pray about it, and in time it won't seem like such a steep climb to the decision...it'll seem more like a rock to step over. God pursues us each differently and in our own time, but he MOST DEFINITELY pursues us. If it feels uncomfortable and like a risk, that's probably faith, and I encourage you to step out into it.
My friends and I are all over the map and at differing spots in our walks, but how can you measure how far you are in your walk with someone else? Each has their own relationship with God. Each is precious and special in its own way. No one relationship is better than the other, just different.
This weekend, I had the honor of baptizing 2 of these close friends! They each have been following Jesus for awhile and just took another step of faith. Not to prove anything, and not to say anyone was wrong, or to say their relationship was better. They stepped out in obedience and out of their comfort zone to grow closer to Jesus. And I was there for it.
You can only imagine my emotions...so extremely happy for them and soooo extremely overwhelmed with love. Every baptism service I go to, I feel overwhelmingly happy and cannot speak with out my voice cracking and crying (you guessed it...such a surprise, I know). I feel the Father's heart so deeply that these services just encourage me and strengthen me and give me a high that I cannot compare to anything else.
Thank you, ladies, for having me there. It meant the world to me! I love you!
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