Four baptisms in one summer...

Did you know the Bible talks about four different baptisms?  Most likely, if you’ve been breathing on this earth for any amount of time, you’ve heard of a baptism.  And most likely, the only kind of baptism that you’re thinking of involves someone being immersed in water.  Or, if you’re from a Catholic background, perhaps you’re thinking of infant baptism where water is sprinkled on the baby’s head by a priest.

The other night, our pastor preached about baptisms again, but this time, God revealed something about my past that I had never realized before.  One of the things I appreciate about Pastor Fred (www.citylifeva.com) is that several times a year, he will preach about topics he has already addressed.  He always brings fresh wisdom to these sermons, so even if you’ve been around City Life Church for a while, tune in.  There’s usually something new being shared you haven’t heard before.

To listen to his sermon, click here: Holy Spirit Series- Pentecost Part One

I won’t even try to summarize his sermon from that night, but I will offer this image from his slides, and what the Holy Spirit revealed to me as I was sitting in my seat.

The word “baptism” literally means to be “immersed.” 

Baptism in Water: being immersed in water, this baptism is a symbol of sin washing away, coming up made new and making a public declaration of your commitment to the Lord. (P.S. if you’ve ever seen a child choose to be baptized, and share their reasons for it, bring your tissues. There is something so precious about a child who has chosen this huge step of faith!)

Baptism into the Body of Christ: being immersed into a church body is one of the expectations God places on us as Christians.

Baptism of Fire: quite literally, being immersed in a season of suffering.

Baptism with the Holy Spirit: listen to PF’s sermon J ultimately, this baptism means to be immersed in the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit to share the gospel with the world.

I honestly had never heard of the latter three baptisms on that list until coming to City Life Church in 2013.  In a way, I’ve been a little upset about that!  How had I attended churches for almost ten years before really hearing what Scripture has to say about baptism?!

Over the years, I’ve actually written graduate papers about baptism of the Holy Spirit, and been listening to PF’s sermons on baptisms.  So when he started preaching the other night, I settled into my seat, eager to learn something new.

And when this slide came onto the projection screen, I heard (well, felt… I don’t really heard the audible voice of God) the Holy Spirit whisper to me:

You experienced all four of these baptisms within just weeks of each other in the summer of 2014.

And I immediately knew what He was talking about.

In the summer of 2014, we had been attending City Life Church for about 8 months. 

On June 1^st, we were getting ready to head up to our Williamsburg campus (then held at a YMCA) to participate in their water baptism.  Jordan and I had never been baptized as believers.  We both had been baptized as infants in the Catholic Church, and had prayed over the years about whether or not being baptized as adult believers was really “necessary.”  So on this day, we were getting ready to make a very prayerful decision about walking forward in our faith with God surrounded by our new church community.

That Sunday, we also found out we were expecting for the first time.  As many of you know, we had been trying for quite awhile, and had undergone a lot of infertility testing that spring.  To find out we were pregnant on the same day we chose to be baptized was miraculous.

Just a few weeks after our baptism in water, we miscarried that baby.  That season marks one of the most difficult times of suffering in my life.   I was heartbroken, confused, scared, and lost.  I was going through baptism in fire.

That summer, we were on the cusp of choosing to become members of the church and start officially tithing.  Over the 5 years of our marriage, we hadn’t actually ever become members of a church.  We were always moved too quickly by the Air Force to settle in!  In July, we decided to become members of City Life Church and wrote our first tithing check.  We experienced baptism into the body of Christ.  And wow did that feel good.  We were committed to this church and these people.  We were home.

About the third week in July, I traveled to camp in Pennsylvania with our church’s youth group as a volunteer leader.  I was excited to get out of Hampton and be distracted from the pain we had suffered that summer.  I had no idea how God would meet me at camp.  I thought I was there for the kids!  Apparently, God had bigger plans for me.  About the second night of camp, the lead speaker had an altar call for the leaders to come forward and receive prayer.  I resisted at first.  But as soon as I went up there, the pastor came and put his hand over my head and prayed about my life ahead of me being filled with children.  I fell to my knees and wept.  He had no idea who I was or the loss I had just suffered.  I was overcome with the Father’s love for me and received baptism of the Holy Spirit and my spiritual language.

Now, I realize that at this point, I may have lost of some of you.  You may question what I’m talking about or maybe I’m “stretching the truth” a little bit.  That’s ok.  I realize this topic is heavy, and may not be received well from someone who hasn’t learned about baptisms in this way.  If that’s the case, I really urge you to listen to the sermon I linked above, and reach out to me with questions. 

Don’t let your confusion and doubt keep you from seeing the miracles of God.

Do some research.  Listen to some podcasts.  Ask some questions.  Have these baptisms been present in your life?

What’s even the significance of me sharing such personal details with you all?   Why does this matter?

Honestly, I’m not sure.  I’m not sure what you’ll get out of it.  Maybe you’ll just be left in awe like I was on Saturday night of the revelation God can drop on you in just a moment in church.  Maybe you’ll reflect on your own life and see if these baptisms have been present.  And if not, how come? 

What I am sure of is this: God loves you.  He loves you so much that he desires a life of baptism for you.  A life of immersion.  Immersion into a faith walk with Him.  Immersion into His church.  Immersion into a life of suffering so He can show you His glory and goodness and care for you in those seasons.  Immersion into empowerment by the Holy Spirit to carry out His ministry so all may know His love.

Don’t miss out on this love.

In light of Valentine’s Day tomorrow, I encourage you to think about writing a love note to God.  Let Him know what you feel about Him and commit to placing Him back on the throne of your heart. 

The summer of 2014 was a very transformative, powerful, life-changing summer for me.  Since then, my eyes have been opened wide to the ways God moves every day.  I pray with a boldness I didn’t have before those baptisms.  I have a faith that is unshakable. 

As we are about to welcome our third baby into this family this coming summer, exactly 5 years later, I am in awe of the truth of the words spoken by that pastor at camp.  God knew what I needed that night to restore my hope. 

I hope this testimony reaches you where you’re at, and you’re heart is open. 

All to God’s glory,

Amy

How fasting lead to seminary...

In January, Jordan and I participated in a 3-week fast with our church.  City Life fasts every January up until our anniversary service at the end of the month, as a way to listen to God, prepare our hearts for the new year, and be present with Him.  In the past, Jordan and I have fasted for part of the three weeks, or only fasted something like coffee as I’ve been nursing or pregnant for most of our time at City Life! Ha!

But this year, even though pregnant, we decided to do a sugar-control fast based off the book The Sugar Control Bible .  This program completely eliminated all forms of sugar: no bread or pasta or really carbs of any kind, and certainly no condiments.  Mostly we ate vegetables, meat, and fruit.  We did find alternatives like Bragg’s Liquid Aminos instead of soy sauce, olive oil and vinegar for dressing, and Ezekiel bread for our grains.   We eliminated all juice, coffee, and desserts. 

Let me tell you, the first week was ROUGH.  Headaches, shakes, and pure exhaustion just wiped me out.  Jordan seemed to be doing better than I was, but overall, we struggled.  By the second week we turned a corner, and by week 3, we felt better than we have in months.  It was worth pushing through.  I also feel like all the fruits and veggies we were eating kept our immune systems strong, as both our girls got sick that month and neither of us caught their illness. 

But aside from the details of the physical fast, this was a spiritual fast.  A time where we cleansed our bodies and our hearts to let God speak and move and answer prayer and just allow ourselves to be with our Creator.  All distractions set aside, Jordan and I began praying about some big decisions in our lives. 

For the past 6 months, I have been pursuing applications to graduate schools to begin my Masters of Divinity.  This degree will allow me to pursue my Ph.D. and ultimately find a job as a professor by the time Jordan retires from the Air Force.  See my post titled "Chadash"to read more about this journey.

Towards the end of last fall, I had come to a decision about where to attend school.  I eliminated several from my list, and decided on a school that was local, but I could still attend classes online.  It also has a Ph.D program I could roll into after my MDiv.  However, after nearly three months of dead-end phone calls and emails with their admissions and advising offices, I began to feel this wasn’t the school for me.  I should look elsewhere.  So after we returned from Christmas vacation, and upon starting our fast, I got back online and searched for more schools. 

Denver Seminary came up in my search, as well as my alma mater Wayland Baptist University.  A former professor and now friend clued me in that WBU was adding the biblical languages back into their MDiv, and I could pretty much transfer my entire first degree into that program.  Denver Seminary also offered to take a large portion of transfer credits, but they also encouraged me to start classes this spring as they would give me 50% off tuition due to leftover grant money they still had.  The fact that there was even grant money left so close to the semester beginning was a miracle, and definitely caught my attention.

It came down to needing to make a choice within 48 hours, as I either needed to enroll in classes at Denver Seminary, or continue to wait for Wayland to reply back to me.   It was a Wednesday night, and I needed to register by Friday.  Jordan left the house that night for an appointment, so after I got the girls to bed, I just took time in silence and solitude with my Father. 

Lord, please.  I need clear direction.  A yes or a no will do.  Please make it obvious where I should go to school.

God gave me this verse as I had been praying and reading my Bible: “I [You] have been anointed with fresh oil.” (Psalm 92:10)

This word “anointed” comes from the Hebrew word “balal” which means “to fodder to overflow.”  “Fodder” means “food” typically given to cattle, or in others words “to feed.”  “Anointed” is used in many other places in the Bible with the word “mishchah” (to consecrate), but in this case, David chose “balal.” To feed to overflow.

I am anointing your decision to go back to school, Amy.  And not only that, I’m going to provide an overflow of blessing.  Just trust Me.

I felt I had been given the answer I needed.

Just to be sure, I called Wayland back on Thursday to ask about their financial aid for graduate students.  Unfortunately, they only offered unsubsidized loans.  We had already decided I would not go back to school on loans, so this was disappointing news.  And yet, I felt God answering my prayers.  By the time Jordan got home from work on Thursday, I was sure of my decision.  I shared my heart with him, and Jordan felt God had impressed on him the exact same message.

I would pursue my education at Denver Seminary, and begin classes in just four days.

I already had a scheduled phone call that Friday with a girl from admissions that had reached out to me from the beginning.  I told her I was ready to register for classes, so she walked me through the online process.  As we were talking, she interrupted me and said, “Hey, while I’ve been on the phone with you I’ve been in communication with the financial aid office, and we not only want to offer you the 50% off tuition grant money for this semester, we also want to offer you a merit scholarship based on the fact that you want to pursue your Ph.D. after graduating.”

My jaw-dropped.  And I began to tear up as I asked her to repeat herself.

“Yeah, we have a renewable scholarship for you effective immediately.  So you can use some of that to pay for your credits this semester, too.”

Ok guys, this was truly unbelievable.  I had literally been hitting dead-ends for months.  And what seemed like overnight, I was accepted into one of the top three seminaries for online MDiv programs in the country, and offered a ton of financial help to get started.

I will feed you to overflow.

Having to make huge decisions in a limited amount of time is overwhelming.  But knowing I was trusting in God who loves me, guides me, and sees my future was so reassuring and gave me such peace.  I knew without a doubt I was meant to go back to school.  That decision was made last summer.  So deciding to begin classes last minute for spring semester seemed like a rash choice, but really, it wasn’t.  It was time to walk out my faith and TRUST.

And so, friends, here we go! I’m just beginning my third week of classes, and so far, I’m having a great experience.  This school is everything they claim to be, and have impressed me so much with their program, professionalism, and curriculum.  I am so honored to be a student at Denver Seminary, and am more than excited to finally get going!

If God has impressed a dream on your heart, what are you doing about it? Are you praying? Have you fasted? Have you removed all distraction so you can really hear from Him?  I would love more than anything to encourage you to lean into what God is calling you into, and to be here as a sounding board if you need a listening ear!

Here’s to more new beginnings and to living out my dream!