Anna's baptism

    In all honesty, I still feel like I am dreaming. We have talked about the grace of God, sin entering the world in Genesis 3, God's unconditional love and grace, a need for a blood sacrifice beginning with Adam & Eve and the garden of Eden, time continuing since the garden of Eden and continual need for the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins, the fulfillment of this in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the power of God Almighty that raised Jesus from the dead, sin again, reiterating the importance of Jesus again and again, reiterating the grace of God again and again.  God's faithfulness.  Many hours and hours of discussions. So many prayers prayed for the Lord to create a new heart in Anna. In January, I prayed and pleaded with God that this year, 2012, would be THE year. The year that Anna would acknowledge & confess her sin, confess that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead, and that she would be saved (see Romans 10:9). God, our gracious God, has for His glory brought her into His kingdom. And so, in a land not our own, we sat on a beach... with two languages being spoken, among kindred spirits with different skin colors, and opened our Bibles and talked about Romans. Baptism. And heard a child-like confession that she confessed her sins to Jesus, ask God to forgive her, and save her.  Praise the Lord.
   Then we went into the ocean, with others gathered along the ocean front. And with my husband, I was able to be there, by her side, as she was baptized. And in my soul the doxology was shouting "Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Him oh creatures here below, praise Him above all ye heavenly hosts, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen" And this played over and over in my heart for quite a while.  And I KNOW that if our Immanuel brothers and sisters had been there, the whole island would have heard it too! :)  As for me, I was thinking "now, how does this go in the local language?" I gave up with that, and sang it in my heart in my own heart language.
   I wanted to blog about this because I want to remember this always. And now, three more children to continue to pray and plead for God's work and salvation in their own hearts.  And to continue to pray for God to grow Anna into a child and woman that glorifies Him and bears witness to Him in times of want and times of plenty, when around those that love Christ and those that despise Him, to be salt and light in a dark world.
   Thank You God. Thank You for this gift. Thank You for answering my prayers.