Today was a very special day for my little girl. She was baptized. She accepted Jesus as her Savior when she was 4 years old and today she chose to publicly show her love for the Lord. This was her testimony:
This momma couldn't be prouder. I had tears in my eyes the whole time. There were 9 other people who also got baptized this day. In the summer, our church does a lake baptism. The rest of the year we do it in the church. Even though the outside air was a little chilly, the water wasn't bad. Some church members offered the use of their house on the lake and we had so many members show up and spend time in fellowship and love today.
Grace was completely nervous to get baptized. She has been asking for 2 years to do it and when the time came, some social anxiety came out. If you know Grace, this seems unusual. She is a social butterfly, but she doesn't like attention being focused solely on her. She gets this honestly-many of my relatives and I hate doing things in front of people because we don't like the attention. However, Grace and I spent time talking about this when she brought it up a couple of weeks ago. We read from the Bible about fear and worry and we talked about how it's OK to feel nervous and that there are other people who get nervous doing things too. I told her I'd be there to help her and that as she gets older, it'll probably get easier-it just takes practice. She said she wanted to go first to get it over with. This is also a technique I use. :-) We also talked about how Satan instills fear in us, particularly regarding her baptism, because he doesn't want you to show that the Lord is in your heart. She loved this viewpoint and latched onto it. She talked about how God is bigger and bigger when you do what He asks of you and follow Him, which makes Satan shrink. Her words were: "I'm going to make Satan as flat as a pancake." Isn't that cool???? My Gracie is an awesome kid! We then practiced full submersion in the bathtub because some of her nerves were about what to expect when the pastor did the baptism. As soon as we practiced, she felt much better.
The day of the baptism came. She had asked that I share what she had me write for her testimony. The pastor said this was no problem and I agreed to do this for her. But, when the time came for the 10 people getting baptized to share their testimonies, my little girl chose to do it herself!!!! I was so proud! She stood there in front of everyone and shared her testimony for the Lord at 6 years old (and did it after being so scared weeks before)! She was so excited to get in the water and get baptized too. She hopped right in with no problem and didn't go first, but was the second to last to get in. When she got out, we all shared how proud we were of her and she told me that all she had to do was "believe in herself." Again, how cool is she?? When I took her in to get changed into dry clothes, I looked in her eyes and shared my heart with her about the day and how proud I was and she said that she had "had a talk with God on the way over and He told her that she needed to believe in herself and remember that He was there to help her."
Don't you feel some days that your children are teaching you? I am humbled by my daughter today and I hope I shared that with her in a way that she could understand. She helps me learn and grow in my own faith while I try to lead her in hers. Here's to you, Grace. You are an awesome girl and I know the Lord has big plans for your life. I hope you get to read this some day.
Below is a video of her baptism (only 40 seconds long) and then some pics before her baptism and of church members there watching.
"I accept Jesus into my heart. I love Him and always want to follow Him. I believe he died on the cross for me. I will always obey Him and respect Him."
This momma couldn't be prouder. I had tears in my eyes the whole time. There were 9 other people who also got baptized this day. In the summer, our church does a lake baptism. The rest of the year we do it in the church. Even though the outside air was a little chilly, the water wasn't bad. Some church members offered the use of their house on the lake and we had so many members show up and spend time in fellowship and love today.
Grace was completely nervous to get baptized. She has been asking for 2 years to do it and when the time came, some social anxiety came out. If you know Grace, this seems unusual. She is a social butterfly, but she doesn't like attention being focused solely on her. She gets this honestly-many of my relatives and I hate doing things in front of people because we don't like the attention. However, Grace and I spent time talking about this when she brought it up a couple of weeks ago. We read from the Bible about fear and worry and we talked about how it's OK to feel nervous and that there are other people who get nervous doing things too. I told her I'd be there to help her and that as she gets older, it'll probably get easier-it just takes practice. She said she wanted to go first to get it over with. This is also a technique I use. :-) We also talked about how Satan instills fear in us, particularly regarding her baptism, because he doesn't want you to show that the Lord is in your heart. She loved this viewpoint and latched onto it. She talked about how God is bigger and bigger when you do what He asks of you and follow Him, which makes Satan shrink. Her words were: "I'm going to make Satan as flat as a pancake." Isn't that cool???? My Gracie is an awesome kid! We then practiced full submersion in the bathtub because some of her nerves were about what to expect when the pastor did the baptism. As soon as we practiced, she felt much better.
The day of the baptism came. She had asked that I share what she had me write for her testimony. The pastor said this was no problem and I agreed to do this for her. But, when the time came for the 10 people getting baptized to share their testimonies, my little girl chose to do it herself!!!! I was so proud! She stood there in front of everyone and shared her testimony for the Lord at 6 years old (and did it after being so scared weeks before)! She was so excited to get in the water and get baptized too. She hopped right in with no problem and didn't go first, but was the second to last to get in. When she got out, we all shared how proud we were of her and she told me that all she had to do was "believe in herself." Again, how cool is she?? When I took her in to get changed into dry clothes, I looked in her eyes and shared my heart with her about the day and how proud I was and she said that she had "had a talk with God on the way over and He told her that she needed to believe in herself and remember that He was there to help her."
Don't you feel some days that your children are teaching you? I am humbled by my daughter today and I hope I shared that with her in a way that she could understand. She helps me learn and grow in my own faith while I try to lead her in hers. Here's to you, Grace. You are an awesome girl and I know the Lord has big plans for your life. I hope you get to read this some day.
Below is a video of her baptism (only 40 seconds long) and then some pics before her baptism and of church members there watching.
September 9, 2012-Grace's Baptism Day with Pastor Rich
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| Baptism Day! |
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| Getting ready to get baptized |
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| Church members, family, and friends |
Truly what a beautiful moment...you are definitely blessed with an amazing daughter and one who at a young age loves Jesus with a passion that truly shines for the world to see. Congratulations to Grace....from all the Beaubiens with love.
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