Believing that God makes covenantal promises to believers and their children, and because the Bible has commanded us to do so, we brought Abigail Marie to be baptized Sunday in front of our visible church body (Trinity Presbyterian), family, and friends. In her baptism, we hope to honor God by marking out and acting on the promises that reflect his grace. We know that her baptism does not save her, nor does it even promise she will come into a saving relationship with him. We do, however, believe it is more than a sweet ceremony or dedication. It is a holy sacrement...a seal...a reminder that our God will fulfill his covenant promises to those who place their faith in Him. Throughout Biblical history, God promised to bless through a covenant relationship with his people. He said to Abraham, "I will be a God to you and to your children after you." We do pray that our sweet Abigail will never know a day she didn't trust in Jesus. We pray that she will live up to what her name means..."My Father's Joy." We pray that she will grow up to love and serve the Lord wholeheartedly and find forgiveness and cleansing in the saving work of Christ. We pray and beseech the Lord for grace and strength to be faithful stewards of shepherding her soul towards him. We also pray for patience, devotion, courage, and wisdom as we raise our precious blessing.
It was such a special day for us as Steve Johnson, our associate pastor, was able to baptize Abigail. Steve was the director of Crusade when we were at Alabama. He had a part in our wedding ceremony, so it was really neat for him to also be able to baptize one of our children. God is so good! We were so blessed to have our families there as it was a big weekend! Jeff actually got to preach on Sunday too. Our pastor was out of town and we are so thankful it worked out for us to celebrate a birthday, a baptism, and hear Jeff preach all in one weekend! We are also just so blessed to already be part of such a great church. God has provided some much needed fellowship and ways for us to serve there as well. We praise him for the wonderful church Trinity is and we are proud to be part of that community.
We took a lot of pictures Sunday. Aunt Jenny was so sweet to bring her camera and get so many good pics (although some of these are from my camera too).
9 comments:
You explained infant baptism very well!
you guys are awesome parents! i know how special this day is! i love all the pictures!
What sweet pictures you have from your day. A baby dedication is such a precious time to reflect on what it means. We did Irelands in Dec. and it was so touching. She was a doll. I love her hair color by the way. So pretty.
Beautiful pictures and thanks for explaining the baby baptism. I was raised Baptist and still am and have always thought people looked at infant baptism as a "saving baptism", which we know that baptism in and of itself doesn't save anyone at anytime, but that does help give me a different persective on it. It seems very similar to baby dedication - except for the use of water. Do you still baptize by emersion (sp?) when someone comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? Just wondering - always have been interested in the differences in the Christian denominations.
Loved seeing Steve Johnson - such a great man - you have a great church family - I know lots of people you are in church with!
What great pictures!! How cool that Steve got to do the baptism. Such a great man. Anyways, I'm glad things went well. You have such a precious family!
Oh, I miss trinity. I love the black and white pic of the whole family. You have a beautiful family!
Great post. I was crying. You are a great writer and great explainer of the baptism. So fun to see all these great pics and Steve. Y'all had a BIG weekend!
Rach, Your such a good writer. I love to read your blog
i immediately got choked up when i saw that steve got to baptize abigail! that might be the most precious thing. how special for your family. i am totally jealous! so glad you all get to be in church with the johnson's! maybe we should move to ttown!
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