Felice's Baptism

Praying with Felice at her baptism

   Last weekend I had the most incredible opportunity to take part in a dear friend's baptism. I teared up so many times while she was sharing her testimony with the church because her story has been one that I always look at and think, "I can know God is real because the transformation in her life could not be just by human efforts".

One of our first pictures together. :)

    Felice and I met when she was a freshman and I was a senior. We were in the same Chinese class together. She was so cute and bubbly, but I was a definitely intimidated by her.  A few weeks into class she found out Alex and I were dating (he was in class too). I told her we used to be just friends, but now he had been my boyfriend for 2 months. Her first question was, "Woah, isn't it totally weird to make out with your best guy friend!?"  I loved how real she was, and still is, with me. I shared with her that Alex and I had actually never even kissed and we weren't going to until we got married. I remember the look on her face. She was shocked! She asked why we would do something like that, and I got to share how our relationship with Christ made us want to keep our relationship pure and honoring to God. After being scolded by our Chinese teacher for talking in English a few times we decided to meet up for lunch to talk more.

     What followed was a deep and vulnerable friendship. Felice had grown up in a non-religious home and had experienced a lot of hurt in her life. She had never really been to a church and wasn't really sure who Jesus was. Over a year's worth of lunches and coffee dates we got to talk in depth about the Good News of Christ and how he wanted to have a relationship with her regardless of anything she had ever done!! I could see her heart wrestling with what the Bible said every time we got together.

   Almost a year after Felice and I first started talking about Jesus, we got lunch together at Potbelly's and she told me that she had accepted Christ into her life. As she describes it, she really felt like God put his arm around her and was with her as she prayed to Him. I will never forget that day and the joy and tears in her eyes and she finally believed God loved her and would never leave her.

   Felice has grown in her faith so much since that day at Potbelly's.  She is vulnerable, teachable, and desires to have every part of her life aligned with God. It has been an incredible privilege to be her friend through these years and watch God transform her into a woman that is genuine, humble, loving, and others focused.  She really is one of those sisters I know I will have for life.

   After sharing Felice's story in my words, she gave me permission to share with you her profession of faith that she read before her baptism. It brings me to tears every time I read it. The power of God is undeniable.

Baptism is an incredible symbol of dieing to ourselves and becoming alive in Christ and an outward expression of our relationship with God.

Felice's Profession of Faith

"My understanding of the Gospel is that it is the greatest love story ever. Where God created humans to experience a personal relationship of joy and love with him. But because of the original sin of Adam and Eve, the world became cursed and the rest of humankind were born in sin. As a result, we were separated from God and were captive to our sin which only brought us death. This is because God is a righteous judge, therefore the wages of sin must be death. However, because God so loved the world, he gave his only Son to take on flesh and live a perfect life that we couldn’t live. And out of perfect love and obedience, Jesus took on physical and spiritual suffering in crucifixion and by pouring the righteous wrath of God that was meant for us in payment for our sin on himself. In doing so, he died only to be raised on the 3rd day, for the grave could not hold him. And by conquering death, Jesus paid for our sins so that those that would repent, believe, and receive him would have Jesus’ righteousness placed upon them and be completely forgiven for their iniquities. But most of all, those who receive the free gift would have eternal life and a perfect relationship with God.

This is the good news, that enables me to confidently proclaim that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. And it was through my emptiness and brokeness that God graciously revealed himself to me. After all the loneliness I felt as a child, to the coming and going of friendships, to short satisfaction in partying, drinking, and drugs, to a boyfriend saying he loved me then abusing me verbally and physically, my heart became so hardened that I had no hope that I would ever be truly desired, loved, and completely satisfied in life. However, through God’s people, especially Jess and Matt, and God’s word, God softened my heart and opened my eyes to the life I was living and the hope that was in Jesus. It was during my Sophomore year, while in the shower, I decided to pray to God. I said to him, “God, I’ve had so many people come into my life that have told me they cared or loved me, only to leave me in the end. If I place my faith in you, would you always love me and never leave?” And it was right after that I felt God’s presence and what felt like hand pressing on my shoulders, and I was completely overcome with a warmth that filled me with a peace and overwhelming joy. God’s response to my question was so definite and firm, that I knew he was telling me I will never stop loving you and never abandon you. I immediately fell to my knees and cried and couldn’t stop; because for the first time, I felt completely loved and every fear and pain I had was wiped away.

Since then, God has continued to show me grace through my shortfalls. Before, I was the type of person that swore almost every sentence, tried to pick a fight with a lot of people, was super competitive, partied a lot, dressed provocatively, and I didn’t have the desire to help those that were in need. But God did a good work in me. He softened my tongue, convicted me from causing strife and tempting men to feel desirable, helped me graciously accept my losses, revealed the emptiness of partying, and gave me a heart to love others outside my inner circle. Most of all, by God’s grace, the walls and bitterness that I had built from the pain I have experienced were taken from me and placed on Jesus. He taught me how to forgive those that have hurt me, because he has forgiven me for the sins that I have committed against him.

It has been two years since that day that I received Jesus as savior and Lord of my life, and I can honestly say that God is truly worth it. He is worthy of all my love and suffering. He has paid for my sins, so that I could be free and experience the blessing of a relationship with him in heaven. I desire to pick up my cross and follow Jesus daily, and that means to die to myself and be born again to the living hope of Jesus’ resurrection. That is why I am here today, so that you all can bear witness to my declaration that Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior."

She was wet and I was sleepy from driving at 4am to get there, but what a happy, happy day!