'ro

Hey ro...
i'm so proud of you.
You never seem to make emotional decisions - and when you emailed me (yes, emailed me) to tell me that you wanted to be baptized... i knew you were making a decision that was based on the work that God is doing in your life.
When you stood in front of all those people to tell your story - your testimony - it dawned on me that the story you wanted to share was one of God himself speaking to your tender heart... not something that your daddy or i could ever conjure up on your behalf. All those scribbled scraps of paper you had been working on for these weeks - you finally typed it up and sent it to me, whispering in my ear, "is this good enough?"
Oh, good enough. Daughter of my heart... i understand what it means to 'delight in' my children... Your story is tiny - and huge... it's *significant* - and will always be 'good enough'.
You... are not defined as a "crisis pregnancy".
You are a child of God... masterful creation of the Creator...
gracefully learning to walk in obedience.
How many women are lied to - robbed of the opportunity to see the lavish love of a Father - who sees years beyond our shameful or painful circumstances to the merciful plan He would unfold...?

Cai's testimony:
I've always lived in a Christian home and gone to church with my family. When I was four, my parents helped my pray to ask Jesus into my heart. I've always remembered that day as an important one.
Since then, I have learned/realized many things about God.
He loves me and sent his Son to die for me.
He'll take care of me where ever I go.
He wants me to love and obey Him even when it makes me uncomfortable,
and He has a plan for my life that I desperately want to follow.
One of my favourite Bible stories is Luke 7:1-9:

1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. 2 At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer[a] was sick and near death. 3 When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. 4 So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, 5 “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.”
6 So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. 7 I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 8 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” 10 And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.

I love this story particularly because the officer doesn't have a shadow of a doubt that Jesus will be able to heal his slave, even without Jesus coming to his house.
I want faith like that.
Whenever I read stories like this, or stories about people in other countries who are persecuted for their faith, stories about individuals who trust so completely, my question is always, "Would I have the faith to do that? Would I have the courage to do that?" My answer to myself is also almost always the same: I hope so.

To me, getting baptized is taking a step in faith and obedience. I'm submitting to 'the plan' God has for me. And I hope that in the future, I'll have the faith and courage to continue to do that no matter where life takes me.