Commitment

My walk with God has not been alone since it‘s started.

You can hear laughter between many people. Tears and prayers among some people, and vulnerable conversation between our Heavenly Father and I. But before i was submerged and cleaned, there were a few interactions that scared me.

The first one was the revealing of my new family. Just like any other family, there are some who are there to encourage, some

who are there to humble you, and some who are there to correct you. While being blind, I thought how two out of three characteristics is terrible. But again, I was blind. Proverbs 9:7-9 say, "He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser, teach a just man, and he will increase in learning." Through my walk to this day, I learned my elders and a reflection of my God, and do not teach the unteachable. I must continue to humble myself, stay benevolent in character, and never become obstinate, malevolent, or hostile when corrected in the name of Jesus Christ. As a child of God, we will never reach a point where we can no longer be taught.

The second scary interaction was writing my vows. This commitment was terrifying because I know my heart. I am a sinner. I understand with Jesus Christ's blood I am clean as snow. But what if I mess up? Not with men, or drugs, but with bigger things, like lies, and murder. Murder doesn't just include physical killing, but what about spiritual killing. I cried. The mother of White

Rock Lake SDA Church, Marilyn, heard me and attended to me. She asked me what was wrong and I told her, "This is almost like a marriage". She smiled and said, "It is".

"What if I mess up? What if I break my vows and break God's heart?"

With a sincere smile, she held my hand and said, "You will mess it, but the only way you will break God's heart is if you refuse His Holy Spirit's guidance. Our Heavenly Father is forgiving. But He can't forgive what you don't confess. Have a relationship with God, that he may fill you with the Holy Spirit, and He will guide you into maturing in the manner you wont want to sin".

What she said sounded so foreign to me, at the time. I heard the water ripples as Robert got in. I whipped my face, stood up and begin to struggle into the baptismal gown, two feet in.

"Calm down, you have both feet in one pants leg"

"This is a pants suit" We all burst into laughter. Peace was bestowed upon me that very moment. "I don't know what to say" I whimpered. I still didn't write my vows.

"Don't say anything at all" Beatrice suggested, as she help me get dressed, and together Beatrice, Marylin, and I walked to the door of the Baptismal Pool. I peaked out and saw Miguel thank our church family for their support. Soon he was submerged, and a roar of celebration echoed throughout the church.

Dustin, said kind words, and I found myself stepping in the luke warm water.

The melody played so soft, transitioning my spirit into a vulnerable state. I lower my head, and cry, committing myself solely to God, my vows are said between Him and I. This is it, the moment He prepared me for, the moment I’ve anticipated. The moment when I sign the adoption decree. I am now a child of God, no longer a slave to fear, and sin. As Dustin submerged me under water, speaks vows of my commitment, I felt weightless, being carried into the covenant.

To God Be All The Glory, I am free, I am part of the unconditional loving family of Jesus Christ, our Lord & Savior. But as great as this, our Heavenly Father welcomed me back home as the Prodigal Son parable in Luke 15:11-32. All that I did before had been blotted out, filled with God's Holy Spirit, sin no longer has dominion over me, my focus on Jesus Christ, I no longer wonder the world.

Now the journey begins a transition, as explained in 2 Peter 1:5-11 "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge: And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall never be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and can not see afar off, and hath forgotten he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather brethren, give diligence, to make your calling, and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."