Tag Archives: baptism

true beauty.

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I watched beauty that evening. So breathtaking that tears stained my chin.

Hadassah was with me, her two-year-old fingers gripping my hand and her head tilting in question. I smiled reassurance through saltwater.

“We want to start fresh,” they were saying, “we want to live our lives for Him.” A new beginning. 

His voice was thick and the other men in the circle let their tears fall unhindered.

“When I was younger, I was baptized into our church and I acknowledged Christ as Savior but I didn’t really give Him my life. I want a fresh start. I want to die to me and live for Him. I want a place in time that says, here. the line is drawn.“

When he falls silent, she speaks. Quiet words of the same testimony. “He’s been saying this is what he wants and I started thinking about it. And I want it too. I want it for our marriage, for our family, and I want it for me.”

The Believers are gathering and I feel rocks and sticks under my knees as I kneel and my fingers brush hers. I have no words but the Spirits and I cry for God to meet us. And He comes. 

The creek water ripples and I’m snapping pictures and prayers dance on the wind. It is beauty. 

Raw, fearless beauty. The surrender of lives and the birth of Christ all over again.

“I know that if I take this step today and continue to make the same choices I have in the past, nothing will change. But with the help of God and you all, I am going to continue this path of surrender.” The wisdom of his words swirl and I watch as friends dip him under and raise him up new.

It is truth. And my heart cries, me, too, Lord. Me too. 

I well remember my own dip below the aqua blue water in Englewood, Florida. I surrendered my life that day but I know that I am as guilty as the next when it comes to crawling off the altar.

How thankful I am for the body. For men and women who humbly cry out and offer themselves to God, whose examples remind me to firmly place my life back on the altar. For in my surrender, I find the thing that my soul longs for. I find Him. 

Where, friend, are you today? Have you let your faith become just another thing that you do– or are you humbly bowing low before the Creator and Redeemer of all? 

linking up with The Better Mom/ Monday Link-Up

the {bride} of Christ

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The words echoed through the large sanctuary, every eye glued to the line of young people in the front. “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, crucified, risen and coming again?”

One by one, the responses came.
“I do.”
“I do.”
“I do.”

A voice in the congregation whispered, “Sounds like a marriage ceremony.”

As the baptisms continued I was struck with that very thought. It did sound like a marriage ceremony. In a sense, it was one. The marriage or covenant between each young person and Jesus Christ. In acknowledging him as Savior and Lord they were identifying themselves with the bride of Christ. The church.

In my mind I journeyed back to my own baptism, over fourteen years prior. I had been thirteen and had just emerged from a remarkable encounter with my parent’s God. He had become my very own Father. The King and Lord of my life. I was fully and completely willing to be identified as His.

So, my parents took me shopping and we bought a white dress. My mother braided my blond hair into a crown on my head. Then, in a swimming pool in Englewood, Florida, I was tipped back, and in an act of symbolism, died and was buried then raised again. A new person. A bride.

We had a party that would rival any wedding reception here on earth.

One by one the young people in front of me gave their testimonies and were led through the same steps. This celebration was different than mine. More solemn. More traditional. Yet, it was still the same. The joining of hearts and lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

And in my heart I could hear Jesus say, “Look, my love, look at them all. My bride is ravishing. So beautiful it makes me ache with longing.”  Then His voice rose, “I’m coming, my loved ones, I am coming soon!”

A bride prepared
Her Lover calling
And from the Throne
I can hear Him say:

My dwelling place, will be with you
For I am yours and you are mine
And every tear you cry
I will wipe away
No more death, mourning, crying or pain
For these have passed
And I, my Love
Am making things New.
(From Revelation 21:2-5)