Saturday, October 9, 2010

Elizabeth's Most Important Decision

Elizabeth has been asking for over a year now if she could be baptized. She knew she wanted to be a Christian because being a Christian was a good thing, but she didn't seem to grasp the concept of needing to have sins forgiven or even that she was a sinner. We've had many good talks and studies; I told her to talk to God and read her Bible; and she went through Growing Strong for Kids at church (material we have kids go through who want to be baptized). Yet we still didn't feel she was ready. She found Phillip's Simplified Bible one day and Phillip challenged her to read through one of the gospels. She read all of them easily within a week. Phillip is in charge of baptisms at our church, so we often go with him when he has weekday baptisms. One Friday while we were at church for one, she asked more questions about baptism and what it means to be a Christian. I had her read some verses in Acts from the pew Bible; and a light seemed to go on in her head. A specific question we've asked is, "If you died today, would you go to heaven or hell?" She sheepishly said, "Hell". She had never been definite about that answer before. She also listed specific sins in her life. After more discussion and more Bible study that night, Phillip and I knew that she was ready for this important step of faith. So the next night (Saturday, September 11th), Phillip baptized Elizabeth into Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is now her Lord and Savior and she can confidently say she is going to heaven!

1 comment:

Jessica said...

Congratulations, Elizabeth!! What a wonderful thin for you guys!