You Picked the Right One Baby!

 “For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

            -Acts 1:5

On February 26, 2010 in Mbita, Kenya, I was baptized in Lake Victoria. This is something I have been praying about for months and God called me to be baptized in the Spirit, to make an outward declaration of my inward change. Though I was baptized as a baby, I had never been baptized after I made the personal decision to give my life to God. I know this is something that many people disagree on, but after sitting at the Lord’s feet in prayer over it, He called me to be baptized, through faith, in the name of Jesus Christ. That day, I took a step of obedience. While I know I have been saved and filled with the Holy Spirit ever since I gave my life to Christ and began walking with Him, I also know that He had commanded me to be baptized in the Spirit, and where He calls I will follow. The following is an excerpt from my journal after my baptism.

            God, you are so good! What a day! I just want to praise you, Lord, for you are the only one worthy to be praised!

            Today I was baptized in Lake Victoria at 3:00 pm by Pastor John Gombe and Paul. I truly don’t know how to describe it. While nothing completely out of the ordinary occurred, it was a day, a moment I will never forget. After a day of rain, I thought the baptism wasn’t going to happen. Erin told me African’s are afraid of rain, so I went and asked Pastor John. He told me that if it hadn’t stopped raining by 2:30pm, that I was going to be baptized by rain and Lake Victoria. AMEN!! After constant, all day, heavy rain, the skies closed around 1:45 and the sun started to peak through the clouds. We went down to the lake and worshipped then Pastor talked a little about the meaning and importance of baptism by submersion. He talked about being buried and resurrected with Christ and how going under and coming out of the water symbolized that. 

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? 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.”

                        -Romans 6:3-4

            I can’t quite explain the spirit that covered the baptism. There was peace, joy and a certain anointing. There was excitement, not just in me, but in everyone there. I could feel God’s tangible presence surrounding us. I knew I was following His will. As Joy led worship, Pastor John, Paul and I moved out into the water and continued to worship the Lord. How to explain it? My heart was racing with joy, then Pastor John and Paul baptized me in the name of the Father, the Son, and the HOLY GHOST! (He really emphasized the Holy Ghost with a joyous shout as he dunked me under the water.) As I went under, there was more than just water covering and surrounding me. I felt swept over by a Spirit of pure joy and I had butterflies in my stomach. It is only comparable to that sensation you get when someone you really like asks you out… but so so much more!!! It was a feeling that I know can never be recreated, because it was something between just me and God.   As I came bursting out of the water I wanted to dance and sing, not with people here on Earth, but with God. I wanted to run and dance and splash through the water, to spin in circles with Jesus, to shout my love for Him. As I came out of the water, nothing out of the ordinary occurred, but I felt changed, washed anew by the Spirit.

            Jesus, I am your bride, your betrothed, your beloved. I feel like we are beginning a new leg of our relationship. God, let me wake up everyday knowing this, that your love for me is everlasting, unfailing, never changing, yet changes everything in me, in this world.

            After a time of worship and prayer, we headed back to the cabin, and around 3:45 it started raining again. God, you stopped the rain for that moment! You are so good! As I sat, I remembered Hezron’s dream during outreach. He dreamed that I was in mourning over something. When he went to visit and comfort me, he found me no longer in mourning, but joyfully standing dressed in white beside a body of water with angels and people singing with me. God, you anointed this time as a washing, I am dressed in white before you, singing with the angels!!

            T later came and told me that as I was walking into the lake to be baptized, she had a vision of me dressed in a beautiful white wedding gown, entering the water. She said everyone was asking, “Why are you wearing your wedding gown? You are being baptized, you shouldn’t wear that.” I turned to them and said, “No, this is my wedding day and my bridegroom has been waiting for me for far too long. This is exactly what I should be wearing.” Then I was baptized and came out rejoicing. God, you are so good! Thank you for still wanting me as your bride, even after all the other things of this world I have chased after, even after all of my unfaithfulness. Thank you for choosing to love me. Thank you for your faithfulness, for your love. Thank you Father, thank you Jesus, my heart is BURSTING with thanksgiving and love for you!  As I realized later, my T-shirt while being baptized so perfectly said, “You picked the right one, baby!”

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”