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A Life in the Spirit

Have you ever started out a day really terribly but then ended on the highest note possible? That was my day on February 11th. The past couple of days before this Saturday were kinda hard for me. For some reason I was believing the lies that satan was telling me. Lies like “you don’t deserve to be here”, “you’re hurting people’s feelings because of your personality”, and “you should just go home because you’re not good enough and people don’t like you”. The way satan attacks me is he likes to get in my head because he knows I never stop thinking. He tries to use my mind as his last resort to get to me. Satan also likes to make me turn on myself when he knows that i’m doing God’s work.

That morning we were having girls time and something inside of me said to talk to my teammates about what was going on. I did and I was met with so much love and compassion it was extremely heart warming. They prayed for me and then went around in a circle and said something they admire about me. My heart was filled with so much joy and love it was hard not to cry, and I really don’t like to cry. We then went to kids club in Jacó that we have every Saturday and later a women’s conference. The day was getting better by the minute and I felt so up lifted and spirit filled. Then we decided to have a bonfire at the beach to watch the sunset and worship. While we were worshiping and the sun was going down, all I could feel was incredibly warm. Warmed from the love I was receiving and warmed from the Holy Spirit filling me up.

I then looked over at my teammates, Justin and Cassidy, who were talking to our leaders. Cassidy soon came up to me and told me that her and Justin had decided to get baptized and asked me if I would help baptize her. In that moment, I of course said yes, I was overwhelmed with so much happiness and honor that someone had asked me to baptize them. I didn’t even know that I was qualified to baptize someone else. But we are all qualified to not only preach the Gospel and love of Christ, we are also qualified to baptize others because we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. Once I had said yes to Cas, something inside of me said to get baptized as well. I was baptized as an infant in the Catholic church. But I haven’t been baptized since I rededicated my life to Christ 2 years ago. Baptism to me symbolizes the new life that we are stepping into. A life in the Spirit, both connected to Jesus and active in the kingdom. So I looked over at my leaders and said “I think i’m being called to get baptized again”. Then I went over to Cas and asked her if she would be honored to help baptize me.

Justin, Cas, and I then told our team and, of course, was met with love and so much support. The group prayed over us and we prayed over each other. We then all ran to the ocean with full hearts and the Holy Spirit around us. Justin went first and then I helped baptize Cassidy. When it came my time to get baptized, all I felt was a sense of calmness. A calm mind, a full heart, and a peaceful soul. My leader, Sarah, prayed over me and then emerged me into the ocean. As I went under, a wave crashed over me and I felt free. I felt as if everything that I had went through in my mind the past couple of days and this morning was forgiven. My mind, my heart, and my soul were now cleansed. I came back up from the water and all I heard from God was “you are loved” over and over again. My team and I celebrated with delicious S’mores, soaking wet hugs, and joyous laughter. As we were walking back home on the beach, we could see in the distance that there were fireworks going over our city of Jacó. I know the fireworks probably weren’t for our baptisms, but it still felt like God was celebrating with us and cheering us on. It was an amazing way to not only end the day, but to start a closer relationship between myself and our Lord.

If you are ever feeling down about yourself or are listening to the lies that satan is telling you, just read these words over and over again. Really think on them and dwell in them and I promise things will get better…

I am LOVED
I am LOVABLE
I am ADORED
I am WANTED
I am WORTHY
I am FORGIVEN

God says “And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.” (Hosea 2:19-20)

Whatever you’ve done or had done unto you, our God loves you and forgives you. You are his child, a son or daughter of Christ. You are forever loved by the most high. Never forget that 🙂

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