today i got baptized!!

alright y’all, buckle up because God moved in big ways today…

this morning I woke up, ready for an AMAZING day. my church was planning on having a service of spontaneous baptisms, where everyone in the church had the opportunity to be baptized after the message. the funny thing is I knew all of this, and I was not prepared for what God would do. 

as some background info: I gave my life to Christ the summer of 2015, before I went into 8th grade. this was my first event at my new church in North Carolina and everything in life was new. I accepted Jesus with open arms, knowing I wanted whatever it was He was all about, even though I didn’t know much ABOUT Jesus himself. I was choosing to trust this new life as a Christian. the next day a few leaders sat me down and asked if I wanted to be baptized. I kinda laughed a little, cause well, I had already been baptized! my mom chose to have me baptized when I was younger and when the family was involved in a Methodist church. I had never really heard of someone being baptized so much later in life. they explained some scripture to me and i understood that this is what was SUPPOSED to happen next. so I went for it, and was baptized the following sunday. 

it’s been 5 years. 

a lot of people were probably confused when I hopped in that tub of water today. this was the girl who was on fire for Jesus, had been saved, is leaving the COUNTRY to serve God, and she is getting baptized? 

sure it seems out of order, but God knew exactly what He was doing. 

after the first service of church I had this pit in my stomach. I’ve felt it before. but it didn’t seem plausible for ME to get baptized. I didn’t mention it to anyone, because this feeling just didn’t make sense yet. 

I HAD to make sure this wasn’t just an emotional reaction from all the cool stuff God was doing in my friend’s lives! I was jumping up and down for Jesus and people were getting baptized left and right, but I didn’t know if I was supposed to be baptized. 

so I went on to student service where we all had connect group and listened to my youth pastor, Zack, speak. one thing that stuck out to me was the story about how he led a student to Jesus, over the phone. he wanted to be baptized but he didn’t really know why yet. he knew he wanted to, but didn’t know the heart behind it. i honestly think the opposite happened to me. i knew the heart behind it, but it wasn’t really this burning desire for me. it wasn’t what MY heart wanted. yes, I wanted Jesus, but i didn’t know if baptism was that big a deal. since then, my heart has changed.

I never doubted that day and I have had a lot of confidence in my baptism. but over the past two years the holy spirit was whispering to me, but I hadn’t given my attention to it. so yeah, this seems all out of order, but God had it pan out EXACTLY how He wanted. 

as i stood in the last 15 minutes of service i looked up and asked if this was seriously what I was supposed to do and here is what He said:

“you know what you’re supposed to do”

God is kind of funny like that. I knew this was supposed to happen, and yet I still needed that piece of clarification (for like the hundredth time ). and so He gave me an option. let this moment pass, or just jump on in without a question as to why. 

so today, I got baptized. 

in 2015 God saved me. 

in 2018 God called me to ministry/missions and ultimately to WORLD RACE

in 2019 I met the spirit of God 

and in 2020 the Lord baptized me. 

and yet there is more to come. He will continue to shape me and move me and the “yes” spirit is burning inside my soul. 

today has been wild and even now I don’t understand WHY God would choose to baptize me in this moment. but I don’t even want to question it because I know that He is good, and He has big plans, and that His timing is absolutely perfect. today I am choosing to trust that God knows exactly what He is doing, and that is GOOD.

y’all, today has been crazy, but I know someone needs to hear this story, and that many of my friends/family may need clarification on WHAT the heck just happened. 

ALSO i’m trying out this whole youtube thing and i’m trying to get comfortable in front of the camera so i can video my experience on the race! i talk about this wild journey of baptism in video form!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkxH1ZyQzsg&t=26s

 

ALL THE FREAKING LOVE,

gretchen