This is my year for Opportunity and I feel like God has been reaching out to me and blessing me in so many ways. I finally am at the point where I could experience this and by sharing it with my family, friends, and readers of my blog, maybe I can inspire you as well.
This Sunday I was baptized at my new church home. It was a thrilling and surreal experience that I have been wanting to partake in for a long time. I was baptized as a baby in the Catholic Church and went through the entire list of sacraments up through Confirmation, however, I don't follow the Catholic Church. I spoke about my church and faith experiences in a previous post, but I wanted to truly connect to God. I felt like I was following a set of rules because an organization of people was telling me to and I didn't necessarily feel a spiritual link to this almighty being. I did everything they told me to, from going to mass and Wednesday CCD, but it still felt either foreign or forced. Praying to Christ felt far more comfortable in the setting of a conversation and I would pray to him about all of this. While in college, I developed a love and yearning to follow in the path of Christ, but I didn't know what that necessarily meant. I did know that I wanted to proclaim my love and devotion to Christ as an adult. I had been praying about it throughout my college experience and when I got here (Montana) and discovered the new church I now belong to, I knew the time was right.
After taking a class and speaking with Pastor Kern, I was baptized at the service following the class. It was such a cool experience and one that I highly recommend to those who are reconnecting to their faith. Being placed in the water was such a beautiful moment. I felt like God was reaching out to me and telling me that He was so glad that I made this decision, that I was finally content in who I am as a person that I could publicly declare this. The church family has been so welcoming and open, I have never felt safer in making this decision. A couple sitting next to me offered to take these pictures for me.
Exodus 14:14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.
The scripture speaks to me on so many levels and it was crazy today because as I was listening to the service, I felt like God was telling me that I needed to become a pastor. I know, it sounds so strange but I couldn't stop thinking about it and I have never thought about that as a career path. Right now I'm looking at graduate school programs and came across Liberty University, where pastor Jarrid Wilson attends. He is the Tennessee pastor that I think is truly helping bring young people into the church in a safe, non-judgmental environment. I have so many thoughts going through my head right now and I'm not entirely sure how to process it all but I'm definitely willing to learn more. I want to go where God will lead me. I trust Him.
But that's the thing about coming back from camps or conferences that focus on your relationship with God. Your heart is soaked in His message and your mind is zoned in on focusing on being more Christ-like. While at camp, I had the opportunity to relish in prayer and conversation with Him. He spoke to me through prayer and the dialogue we had was amazing. It was refreshing and wonderful. My friend, and fellow YL leader, Rhonda spoke about how she sees God in everything. From the beauty of nature, to smiles, to babies, to everything good in life. That mentality and the goodness of that week was so enriching for my soul.
