So...I got Baptised!

Yesterday morning I took three steps down into a cold pool and gave my life, my heart, mind and soul to Jesus Christ.

Yesterday, on Resurrection Day 2017, I got baptised.

I didn't get the chance to record my testimony so I will put the text that I read from below.

It was one of the single most amazing experiences of my entire life. When that water flowed over my face and covered my entire body it was like I was being plunged down into the presence of God. I came up, crying and just praising the Lord that this opportunity was open to me and that I was able to be cleansed by the Lord. Throughout the rest of the service my skin was tingling and I didn't know whether I wanted to throw my hands up in praise or fall to my knees in worship of the Lord. It was the most extraordinary feeling.

I'm not entirely sure how to eloquently describe it, but it revitalised me and has inspired me to get deeper into Scripture, deeper into my faith and allow it to really penetrate every area of my life. It has encouraged me to be bolder!

I am ready to shout and sing that Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Saviour!!

So, anyway, here's my testimony. I hope you can find something in it to inspire and encourage you. :)

"Anyone that knows me can tell you, I used to give my heart to something very quickly with very little thought or consideration. This has only ever worked out for me once, when I met my wonderful husband!

In my younger and more vulnerable years; this feet first tactic lead to a lot of bother for me, my family and those I loved, my willingness to give my heart to anything that satisfied a sense of longing left me rejected, empty, self-centred and filled with anxiety. I went, for a long time, down a very self-destructive path leaving me with some very bad habits and a lot of scars.

I've always believed in a god but I wasn't always sure he was listening to me or that he cared. I was longing for something to fill this void within me and turned to my interest in world religions. I searched for a long time and found nothing tangible in any religion.

I must admit I actively avoided researching Christianity and reading the Bible because I thought all Christians were homophobic, sexist and on a par with Westboro Baptist Church! I thought I knew everything!

This leads me to the song I have chosen today, Mercy Tree, it is a very important part of my journey because of who originally sang it. It's sung by a woman called Lacey Sturm who was a singer I'd admired for a long time. When I watched her on YouTube singing the story of Jesus Christ it occurred to me, she looked like me! She had tattoos and eyeliner, sung in a heavy metal band and wore trainers. Maybe not all Christians were as I pictured!!

So, one Christmas I bought a Good News Bible and flicked through. I didn't accept Jesus right there but it piqued my interest.

I can remember the very moment I accepted Jesus into my heart as clear as if it happened yesterday. I was sat alone in my living room and something compelled me to fetch the Bible off the shelf and read the Gospels. I read with a prayer in the back of my mind, 'C'mon then God, if you care. Show me something. Give me the answer.' My eyes fell on Luke Chapter 8, specifically the story of Jesus healing the sick woman. The words of Jesus jumped off the page at me.

“Daughter, your faith has healed you, Go in Peace.”

At that moment I wept uncontrollably as it dawned on me that the answer had been there the whole time, it was in the song! It was in the stories I had been told every Easter and Christmas since I was a child. The answer was faith in Jesus Christ. In that moment I truly believe that God was speaking to me through His Word. I am His daughter and through faith in Him I can be filled with the peace I was looking for.

Now I was not completely healed in that moment and my Christian path has not been straight-forward. It has been filled with doubt, anger at God and spiritual pain BUT it has also been filled with love, unending love and grace and hope and strength and courage.

I have been able to do things in Christ that I never thought possible. He gives me the courage and the strength to challenge myself. I have found such peace in my faith and that is why I'm standing here today to show everyone and anyone that through His Son and through His Word, God has saved me and made me new.

I have been called a freak a lot in my life (when you change your hair every five minutes it tends to happen a lot) but today I'm standing up and saying I AM a freak. I'm a Jesus Freak and I'm really really proud of it."