Remember last week when I declared on the blog that I would be getting all of our personal posts updated over the next few days so I could jump into summer posts? Is anybody else surprised that I didn’t follow through with my plans? Yeah, I didn’t think so. I had good intentions, promise I did, but see there was a camping trip for our EIGHT year old girl this weekend. And you know, life. It got in the way. Which isn’t a bad thing, I assure you, but still, it leaves little room for blogging. Slowly I will get these posts done. Or maybe I won’t. I’ll try, though. =)
This is one I’ve been sitting on for awhile. I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to blog it. Maybe because I know that there is no possible way that my words or their Daddy’s photos can do it justice. Maybe because I feel like this one is really their story, not mine. This is something they did all on their own, and while the very nature of this act is a public profession, it still feels like it’s their story to tell, not mine. For that reason there won’t be a ton of words with this post. But there will be some because how can I not? I’m their momma and what they did on this day represents the biggest and most important decision of their lives. A decision that Collin and I have been praying about for them since before they were even conceived. A decision their grandparents have prayed about for them.
Luke 1:50: And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
Words can in no way describe the feeling that takes over your soul when your child expresses to you that they know they are a sinner and they desperately need Jesus to save them. That without Jesus they have no hope, and they want to ask Him to be their Savior and LORD. Really, it hits you in your core. To think about your baby becoming your brother or sister in Christ, sharing your faith…it’s indescribable and it is SO SO GOOD. Makgill and Clara Beth made this decision, at separate times, in the last several years. And this winter, they were baptized. To be clear, this baptism did not wash away their sins. It was an act of obedience that came after they accepted Jesus as their Savior. Baptism is a public picture that represents this spiritual truth:
Galations 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.â€
Romans 6:4-5: 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.
Our church holds their baptism services in the YMCA pool. I love it. It’s where I was baptized in the seventh grade with my brothers right beside me. I’ve seen countless friends be baptized in this pool. There’s something that’s so special to me about this! Mak and Clara Beth were baptized on a Sunday evening by my brother, their uncle, Reeves. And their cousin Tallon was right beside them. I am so thankful that they shared this experience! I am so thankful that Reeves baptized them. And I am so thankful that they have one another…that they are cousins, but they are brothers and sisters in Christ!!! It was beautiful, and I will never forget this night. I love these three children so much, and I just can’t wait to see how Jesus uses them.
