My testimony

This past Sunday I participated in an adult baptism at my church. My church believes in baptism something that you make an intentional decision as an adult to do to declare Christ as your personal savior. When I first started attending the church, I struggled a bit to really understand the difference between that and my choosing to be confirmed when I was in high school. Then I thought about it and realized that I don't think at that time I really did make an educated intentional decision, I think that for me it was just something I did after completing confirmation classes. This instead was about thinking about the faith journey I have taken over the past year or so to bring me to where I am today. Last January, I attended my friend Becky's church with her and another friend of ours Kathy. Now, Becky had been telling me about her church for at least 2 years, but it had never worked out to go along with, especially living out of town. Fortunately, both Kathy and I loved the church. She began bringing her family and not only did the church benefit each of us personally, but we also became closer in many ways. I, Kathy, and her husband John all attended the new member class this fall and all decided that we wanted to be baptised. The three of us, along with another individual were baptised this past Sunday. It was a very moving, personal, and emotional experience, and I am so glad that I chose to do it. On Sunday, everyone kept asking if I was nervous about it, but the reality is, I was excited about it. Below is my personal testimony that I read before being baptised.


"As I sat down to write my testimony, I struggled a bit. I was raised in a Christian household and have been a believer all my life. My level of activity within my church has varied over the years, but my faith in Christ was always there. It wasn’t until recently that I began to realize that believing in Christ and loving Christ as my personal savior are two very different things.

A little over a year ago (January 6th 2008, to be exact), I attended New Hope for the first time. While I enjoyed the singing and felt a personal connection to the message, there was something else that seemed different about the church and with those who attended, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I traveled from Dubuque (where I was living at the time) back to Milwaukee each weekend in January for a variety of reasons and attended New Hope each week. I felt my relationship with Christ grow and my faith become more solid.

It was at this same time that I was thinking about what I wanted most in life and realized that my job and my life in Dubuque were not what I desired. I prayed about what to do and on that same day I was stressing and thinking, I noticed the page on my monthly calendar. It featured a verse from Jeremiah Chapter 29. It read “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” The verse continues “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”

At that time, I knew that God was calling me to leave my position and move forward with my life in a different direction. The next day I gave notice that I would be leaving my position at the end of June. It was the largest risk I had ever taken. I never do anything without thinking through all the options, planning out what I am going to do, and knowing what my next step will be. When I made this decision, I didn’t do any of that, yet I was more at peace with it than I ever had been with previous life changing decisions. I prayed that as I began searching for a job, God would lead me to the right position. As the months rolled by and I continued to search for a position, I normally would have gotten more and more stressed out, but that never happened.

I sat one day to try to figure out why I felt so differently than I had in the past or how I thought I would feel. I realized that what was different was that I had developed a personal relationship with Christ. I wasn’t just planning what to do and loosely praying about it, but I talked with God about what I was looking for and felt like he was hearing me, that he really wanted to know me and be there for me. I realized that this is what I had seen at New Hope in January that I hadn’t been able to place. Most of the people I met here had this similar relationship with Christ. I felt like I could just talk with God about what was going on in my life and he would lead me where I needed to be. Of course, he led me down the right path. A perfect job opportunity came up right when I needed it to.

While I always knew that God would provide for us if we allowed him to, I don’t think I truly believed that it applied to me, and my life, until I developed this relationship with him myself. I truly know that when I turn to God for all aspects of my life… the good, the bad, the hard, the easy, the serious, or the frivolous… he will help me in being true to myself and lead me in living a life where others see Jesus in me."