Hi everyone,
I just wanted to share a short testimony, about why I have decided to publicly declare my faith in Christ and begin a new life dedicated to God today.
As fear of sharing a testimony was a key factor in stopping me from getting baptised, I feel that God is putting on my heart the importance of overcoming that fear through the strength I find in Him, and sharing the incredible work He has done in my life.
I have been blessed to be born into a Christian family that has lovingly raised and supported me all throughout my life. But growing up I was also painfully shy. That paired with my nature to overthink, made it really hard to open up and connect with others on an emotional level, let alone with a God I couldn’t see.
These two traits of mine also caused me to run from baptism. I believed in Jesus Christ but could not see the greatness of His love and sacrifice. This is why preparing a testimony petrified me. Standing in front of others and opening my heart seemed really scary, and even more so I was terrified of the thought that I would disappoint God the second I stepped out of the water. I thought if I would just quietly obey God in the background that would be enough.
But over the last three years, God has been doing amazing and wonderful things in my life and in my heart. I have gone through periods where I have achieved everything according to my own plans and been left with feelings of emptiness and aloneness. And I have been through periods where all of my plans were thrown out the window, and all my worldly possessions and interests were taken from me. Yet I found myself filled with a kind of joy and peace I’d never experienced through spending time with God.
Through this journey, I have found that there is no greater joy than obedience to God. He has blessed me with the realisation that obedience to Him is not only for His glory, but it is also what is best for me because He is my creator and loves me and knows me even more than I do so myself.
I’m still socially anxious, I struggle to meet people in the eyes at times, and even leading up to today I felt a little awkward talking about my baptism. The insecurities and fears that once controlled me are still there. But through giving them over to God, He has helped me to realise that in each area I lack, there is an even greater opportunity for His glory to shine through when I allow Him to work through me. For His power is made perfect in my weaknesses. I no longer want to rely on my own strength but on Holy confidence in our Almighty Lord.
I know that even after today, I will fall and make mistakes, my Dad reminded me that baptism is the beginning of a journey, not the final point. But what is important is that I have a mighty God and a Saviour in Jesus Christ who has overcome and died on the cross for my sin. What is important is for me to get back up, repent and continue on the straight and narrow path to Him. I know that if I have a pure heart to follow Him he will guide me in serving Him. For in Philippians 2:13 it says,
“God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him and the power to do what pleases Him”.
I want to dedicate my life to God because it is not my possessions or achievements that lovingly created me, or breathed life into my lungs. I won’t have them with me when I leave this earth. I recognise that this isn’t extremely hard for me to say, as I’m still very young and I don’t have many responsibilities or possessions. But this is the heart I want to have for the rest of my days. Because God tells us that through our hearts everything we do will flow from it.
I want to have eternal hope in Christ our saviour, who sacrificed His life for me. Which is why today I am declaring my faith in Jesus Christ and seeking to live a life for Him. To keep re-aligning my heart with God’s and to persist in pleasing Him in all I think, say, and do. Trusting in God, who loved me so much and so desired to reconnect with me that He sacrificed His own son to wash me clean. This is why I am being baptised today, so I can be cleansed of my sin and given new life through Jesus Christ.
Thank you Jesus!
