After years of having one foot in the world and one in Christianity, a traumatic life experience led me to fully depend on God. This is my baptism testimony. 

For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.

Galatians 3:27

My Initial Baptism Testimony

Growing up in a Baptist Christian family, I presumed I was Christian. I started attending church very early and spent nearly every Sunday and Wednesday night in church. I was also a member of the children’s choir and participated in just about every event, including Sunday School, that the church offered. At around 10 or 11, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and was baptized soon after. However, I don’t think I fully understood the magnitude of the decision I made. I didn’t know what it meant to walk a life as a Christian. My faith wasn’t something that I chose, I was raised into it and it just became a part of my identity.

Trigger Warning: Abortion

Getting to Know Jesus

In high school, we left the only church I knew and started attending another local church. It was larger and I understood the teachings a little bit more, but I still didn’t know what it meant to walk in Christ. I felt that going to church and feeling convicted during the message was enough. I never once picked up my Bible to learn the word for myself or to build my relationship with God. I didn’t know that was a thing or that it was necessary. I would often hear people mention that God spoke to them or they had been blessed by God, but I thought that only happened to some people. Don’t get me wrong, I was very blessed, but I didn’t see those things as from God, but due to my parents and my hard work.

Fast forward to my senior year. I was living in sin. I was participating in premarital sex and ended up pregnant at 17. I was devastated. I had been accepted into college, and I didn’t want to disappoint my family. So I scheduled to have an abortion. I did it in secret, and I ended up in a very dark place. I was heartbroken. I grieved my unborn child and the end of my failed relationship. I pulled myself out of my depression by clinging to accomplishments. I graduated No. 5 in my high school class and went on to become the first in my entire family to graduate from college. Many other accomplishments happened in between and since then.

In 2012, I started my first real job after college and met a guy I would marry six years later. During this time, I started back going to church. I still didn’t have a clue how to be a Christian, but every Sunday I found myself in tears after hearing the message. I vowed to live right according to God’s Word, but I honestly didn’t know what God’s Word said. I still had never read the Bible. My parents even got me a nice personalized one as a college graduation gift. I was still living in sin. I was confused.

My Path to Spiritual Enlightenment

In 2015, we welcomed a beautiful baby girl. I wanted to do things right, but I didn’t know how to. I was finally convicted and joined the church I had been attending since my teenage years. But I still didn’t know what to do. We eventually started attending a new church that would change my life. In 2018, we got married and in 2019, we officially became members of Impact Church. I was finally learning how to live life as a Christian, and I committed to going deeper. I still hadn’t read my Bible though, but I started utilizing the Bible app and memorizing scripture. I wanted to finally live life right.

Then COVID-19 happened. It was hard for me to connect with the message by only watching at home. We would tune in weekly, but it wasn’t the same. I was pregnant and fear started creeping in. I stayed in mostly and couldn’t understand how God could let a plague harm so many people. I became a lukewarm Christian, and I started to stray again spiritually. I now know that the enemy was hard at work and he was just getting started.

Despite my hesitation, we went back to church and it felt so good to be back. I continued to press in and longed to build a relationship with God. I would pray, but not like I should and I was still relying heavily on church and the Bible app to learn the Word of God. Looking back, I can see that God wasn’t the center of my marriage nor the head of my life. I treated my relationship with God the same way I treated my earthly relationships. I wanted Him to come into agreement with the plans I had for my life. I wasn’t intentional about seeking His will.

From Lukewarm to All In

In 2022, my world shattered. My marriage was on the rocks, and we decided to work through our issues. I heard God for the first time clearly shortly after. He told me that we’ll have a baby girl and her name would be Joy. I was so confused. That couldn’t be true in the middle of all this chaos. A few months later, I found out I was pregnant. On the same day, I learned some more devastating news. I was disconnected during my entire pregnancy. I cried out to God. I yearned to know Him on a deeper level. I ordered a Bible and started watching every Christian video I could find. Spiritually, I wanted to grow, but emotionally, I just wanted my marriage to work. I loved my husband, and I didn’t want our marriage to end. I was still lukewarm though.

2023 came, and I gave birth to a baby girl that I named Joi. I had to be obedient and honor God. Two months later, my husband hit me with a huge bombshell. Again, I was devastated. I reached the lowest point I’ve ever been in life. I didn’t want to live, but I didn’t want to die. How could God let this happen? I begged my husband to reconcile, but he wouldn’t budge. One day, I heard God say stop. It was stern and distinct. It had to be Him because the girls we asleep and I was lying in bed in the middle of an hourly crying session.

I picked my Bible back up. I abandoned it after my husband and I tried to reconcile initially. This was a huge mistake because I brushed God to the side as if I no longer needed Him. But that was far from the truth. I needed Him to be the head of my life and the center of my marriage. My doctors tried to prescribe me all kinds of medicine, but I prayed and God healed me from postpartum depression. He said I didn’t need medicine. I needed Him. He was the missing piece of the puzzle. I vowed to live for Him every day after. I learned how to pray and how to hear God’s voice. He showed me that I was battling spiritual warfare and the only way to overcome it was through Him. I started including God in everything even the little things. My perspective on my situation had changed. I had changed.

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

1 Peter 3:21

My Baptism Testimony

God revealed so many things about myself that I never even knew were against His Word. Everything He said was backed by scripture. I cried because I couldn’t believe I avoided reading the Bible for so long. All the answers I ever needed were right there. Then, God said I needed to get baptized. I had been baptized as a child and I thought that was good enough. But God has renewed my mind and transformed my heart. Now I understood the real meaning of baptism. I needed to publicly confess my faith in baptism as an adult. I had two options: continue on the path of destruction by being a lukewarm Christian or surrender my life completely to God. I chose the latter and was baptized on Sunday, August 6, 2023. I wanted to be “all in.”

Still, my situation hasn’t changed, but I’ve changed. I no longer desire things of this world. I want nothing more than to be close to Jesus and live a life of Christ. I lost the desire to engage in things I once did and rediscovered my love for God. I realized that I couldn’t get enough of learning about the Bible and God’s truth. I’ve submitted to God’s will for my life and vow to let his will be done.

For so long, I resisted the call of truth over my life. But I have no excuses left. I can no longer afford to live a life without God. Now I anxiously await to see how God transforms my life.

Have you been baptized? Share your baptism testimony below.