Baptism

Baptism 09-24-2023

Claire Voelmle

My name is Claire Voelmle. I am 11 years old and have a family of 6, including my sisters Norah, and Lydia, and my brother, Taylor. I love to play soccer, sing, and hangout with friends. Like many of you, I was baptized as a baby around 6 months old. As a younger child, I was never afraid, and loved to be the center of attention. I always loved going to church and praising our Lord. That is why I'm here. I know I was put on this earth to do good things. The reason I'm committing my life to Jesus is because I want to complete my life with him.

I want to share my story of reaching God with you. I can recall asking my Mom and Dad about baptism, frequently after church in the car ride home. Even though I was only around 5, I was very interested in accepting Jesus to become my forever best friend. I'm certain some of you felt the strong connection with the Holy Spirit after church too. Close to the age of 6, I didn't have many close friends at church. I was looking for even just the slightest sign from God of change. When I was 9, my family and I started to go to a new church with many of our close friends at church. One day my friend sang to me the Fruits of the Spirit song. She really gave me a sign that God was watching and he always will be. One day close to the end of school in 4th grade my Mom asked me if I wanted to attend the Sportsworld camp at LEFC. Of course I said yes, because I knew this was God's calling to me that it was time to regain a stronger connection with him. Then my family and I started to attend LEFC. Since the start of LEFC, I have felt an even stronger connection with God and all of the people here. My life now is wonderful. I love Jesus with all of my heart, and I will continue to praise him forever. I pray to him frequently, and read the Bible too. At school, and even the world around me, I try to proclaim the word of our Lord, even if nobody listens. Jesus makes a huge difference in my life. I know he is always watching. He always forgives, and speaks, to us. He will always have a place in my heart.

I like to think of Jesus as a puzzle piece. Our lives are all of the little pieces that make up the puzzle. Each piece represents a part of us. You obviously know that the pieces fit perfectly together to create the whole picture. But one piece dead center of the puzzle is missing. You look in every nook and cranny in your house, outside, your friends' houses, and even the park. Finally, you find the one missing piece and you celebrate with all of your heart. This is like Jesus. You look and look and look, and when you finally are about to stop looking, you find him and celebrate. That is what I am doing here today. Celebrating with all of you that Jesus has come over me and given me his forever love. I hope that someday I will be able to help others find their missing puzzle piece.

My favorite Bible verse is Psalm 18:30-36, "The ways of God are without fault. The Lord's words are pure. He is a shield to those who trust him. Who is God? Only the Lord. Who is the Rock? Only our God. God is my protection. He makes my way free from fault. He makes me like a deer, which does not stumble. He helps me stand on the steep mountains. He trains my hands for battle, so my arms can bend a bronze bow. You protect me with your saving shield. You support me with your right hand. You have stooped to make me great. You give me a wide path on which to walk. My feet have not slipped."

I am getting baptized today to show my true love for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Baptism 08-20-3023

Noah Phongxaysanith

Whether it be directly through the nurturing of my parents and Sunday school teachers, or indirectly through the way I've been treated by various Christians that I've had a chance to interact with, all 16 years, 10 months, and 2 days of my life I've been exposed to Christianity. At the age of 5 I made the decision to accept the Holy Spirit into my heart and trust Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, yet I hadn't quite figured out what that meant. I grew up learning the dogma and doctrine but never understood it. In my early teenager years I fell for lust, jealousy, selfishness, idolatry, and pride. Some church camps during Middle school caused me to begin understand the weight of my sin but it didn't lead me to Christ, it only separated me. I thought God couldn't possibly love someone who constantly messes up. I became lazy and shameful. My lack of confidence led me to pursue something that would make me feel whole. I started my search for joy. Material things provided me with short phases of happiness but I quickly lost satisfaction in those things. I started looking for satisfaction in friendships; however, even friendships didn't fulfill my desire for joy, it only added to my selfishness. My selfishness made me jealous of other people and their confidence. While I was aware that jealousy was an issue, I never chose to address it. I let the flame of my jealousy grow silently stronger until it got to a point where it significantly hindered my ability to love others. During beach camp of 2022 I found myself in wonder of God's creation, I learned that I could trust God and that he was ultimately in control. The spiritual wonder I felt is what caused me to dig just a little bit deeper into my faith. After beach camp, however, jealousy went on and it started breaking my friendships apart. very shortly after camp I lost one of my closest friends. Some of my friendships were intact, but nevertheless I felt alone. I found that my desire for steadfast joy was impossible to satisfy with anything in the world. Eventually I recalled that God was in control, and I had a feeling that he wanted me to learn something from this. C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that "Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger; well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim; well, there is such a thing as water. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." One of the most beautiful things about humans is that we don't find full satisfaction in anything Earthly. We have an instinct to search for satisfaction of a desire that we label as joy. After reflection I came to the conclusion that I had to look outside of the world for the fulfillment of what felt like it was missing. I learned that I didn't want just acceptance, I wanted more acceptance. I asked God to reveal his character to me. As I read through the Scriptures I learned more about the grace of God. In Romans 8:1 Paul wrote that "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Suddenly I understood that God still loves me despite my sin and sent Jesus for that reason. God didn't need to do anything for us, but he chose to rescue us from eternal suffering if we have faith that his son, Jesus, took our punishment for sin. The deeper I fell into the grace of God, the less my guilt and shame separated me from God. In fact, it felt as if it drew me closer to Him. I was driven to repentance. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 7:10 "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." Since this revelation, God has given me the strength to resist my past temptations. The lustful desires of my flesh have gotten weaker because I now seek purity, jealousy towards others is less because the God of the universe affirms me, and my struggle with pride is not as strong knowing that I did nothing to deserve God's grace.