Baptism | Lily Stone

Baptism | Lily Stone

November 14, 2021 |


What was life like before you met Jesus?

Before I met Jesus, I was insecure, unsure, and seeking. I grew up in a nurturing yet unbelieving home. I was curious about my friends who attended church. I knew I needed God. I even read and memorized a Psalm that had come in my parent's mail. I didn't know exactly why I did it, but I think I longed for a connection to a God I didn't know anything about. I had a feeling there was more to everything than my small world.

How did you meet Jesus?

In my seeking more about God as a grade schooler, I was reading a little Gideon's New Testament that my older siblings had received at our public school. I was hampered by the genealogy in the book of Matthew since I had no idea who any of these people were. I skipped to the very end. At the last page of the little Bible was a page that asked if I wanted to have eternal life and give my life to God. Somehow, I knew I did, so I signed my name on the dotted line. I had no idea what this meant, but I kept seeking, even though I didn't really know how. But God kept pursuing me. Through the years, God placed person after person of faith in my life who helped point me to Him. I attended a few Bible Studies in high school but didn't really understand the Bible or the crux of who Jesus and God were. In college, I dove into my faith even more, going to church regularly and becoming very involved in a student campus ministry with my friends, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I was hungry for truth, and God again placed mature Christian people in my life to guide and disciple me. I knew that Romans 10:9-11 said "because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’” I learned more about what Jesus did and what living a life following Him was all about. I knew I was a sinner who needed reconciliation to a perfect and Holy God. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) I learned that Jesus, God's son, was born to Mary, so that he was fully God and fully Man, lived a perfect life to be the perfect sacrifice needed to satisfy the law. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus died on the cross; his shed blood was necessary to fulfill the law, to take our place in the death we deserved. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) He rose after 3 days, to defeat death. “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (2 Corinthians 15:54-55) Because I have accepted this free gift, my sins are forgiven, I am adopted as co-heir with Jesus, I have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and will live with Him eternally.

After being saved by Jesus what is your life like now?

God loves me so much that he suffered and died on my behalf. I have access to God since I accepted Jesus as my savior. He is the God who sees me, loves me despite my failure, and guides me to all righteousness by His Holy Spirit. He is my provider and comforter. In health difficulties, in raising children, in my marriage and other relationships, in just mere living day by day in this world, nothing is sure but God and his sovereignty. It is a comfort that "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)" My security lies in Jesus, not myself and what I can do. I am sure of His presence in my life and that he is working all things for my good and his glory. He is my security and I depend on Him for everything. I have eternal life through Jesus Christ because of His work on the cross, and I have received the free gift of salvation by His grace by believing, because it is "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph 2:8-9) and "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)

 Baptism