Anniversary

Wow. Yesterday I was reminded of an anniversary that I forgot I had. Well, I remembered that the event took place, and it was, indeed, a very special day, but it's not really something I consistently keep in my mind...especially not enough to celebrate its anniversary. The thing is, it's probably one of the things in my life that's actually worth rejoicing over and commemorating.

On November 7, 1993, I was baptized, and there was much to celebrate! There were six of us who stood up that day and wanted to make a public profession of our faith in front of our church family. I can recall wrestling over the decision for a few weeks beforehand. Did I really want to take this stand? What did I really believe? I knew I believed that Jesus died for me, but had I ever stepped up and made that faith my own? I remember crying in my room...sobbing, is more like it. Mostly, I was scared because I also knew it meant standing up and speaking in front of everyone, but I knew I needed to do it...no, I wanted to do it. It was worth facing that fear. I finally realized that I needed to surrender everything and make a declaration that Jesus Christ was my Lord and Savior.

I love how baptism symbolizes what takes place in our hearts at the time of our salvation:

• We've accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
• We've shared in His death and resurrection.
• We've died to our old life (going under the water) and received new life (coming out of the water).
• We were symbolically washed clean and our sins were forgiven by His death on the cross.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

I recently saw a few baptisms during a sermon I was watching online, and I loved the pastor's wording that he used.  I just think it so beautifully captures the incredible presence of God in our lives as believers:
I baptize you in the name of the Father Who loves you, the Son Who gave His life for you, and the Spirit that lives inside of You.