My earliest recollection of church (which may or may not be entirely true, my parents can chime in if it actually happened this way or not) is going to Sunday school with our friends. I do not remember anything about the actual Sunday school but I do remember that my parents would drop my sister and I off and then go to Krispy Kreme without us! Krispy Kreme is REALLY scrumptious so I am sure you can imagine how I felt about Sunday school.
Fast forward to several years older (think middle school) and I had a lot of friends who were religious so it came up quite a bit at school and looking back I was quite skeptical about God. Lots of people around me were believers but I was not familiar enough to be convinced. I didn`t go to church, my family didn`t really talk about God, we didn`t pray, I didn`t read the Bible (although, I was given one when I was young inscribed with my name on the front), and I just didn`t have any understanding of Christianity beyond the basics.
My husband had the opposite upbringing. He spent all his Sundays and some of his Wednesdays at church. He knows all his Bible stories type of guy. When we moved down to Kenai he started taking Briar to church while I was working in the summer. Then we started going as a family. Now I go every Sunday I possibly can, I am hooked. I was going there and listening carefully and everything started making sense. I don`t know how to explain it any better. I really feel like my attitude and my life started changing. God can and will change your life if you are ready for it - it`s true because I am experiencing it!
So I have done a lot of things differently and made a lot of changes as I walk my path with God. I am sharing this with all of you today because I did another thing that is so special to me in this journey! I had a dream several months ago about being baptized - it was an absolutely beautiful day, the water was teal blue (think glacier water), the mountains were the backdrop - it was the most beautiful dream and it was so vivid. After that I could not settle for a baptism in the tub at church. When the pastor mentioned that he would do it at the lake during our church picnic I knew it was the perfect time!
Our church offers a quick little class for people who are interested in being baptized which was really good and informative. I like that our church views baptism the way it is written in the bible, as something you do to show your commitment to God, not as a means to be saved. It really was a beautiful, sunny day. A friend had taken a video for me which I would totally share - but unfortunately she was standing next to Briar who was screaming. Briar thought she was missing out on some swimming.
Here is my shameless plug for my church, Kenai New Life. If you live in Kenai I would highly recommend giving it a try. If you live in Soldotna it is worth the drive. If you live elsewhere, they stream on Facebook. The pastor is amazing. The messages are applicable to actual life. The people are kind and welcoming. The music is actually good. They have coffee. Briar and Boone go to the nursery and toddler class and it has been awesome every time. It is a really wonderful community of people. Furthermore: Find a church that works for you! If you don`t love your church and find that it adds value to your life each and every Sunday: keep looking! If you dread going: keep looking! Find a church that inspires YOU! When you do, it will be a game changer!