Yesterdays Glory - Part 2

 

To come to the end of the year always brings
reflection doesn't it?  My mind travels back to all of 2014 and always seems to land on just about the most amazing thing God did this year, short of bringing our church together the way He did.  Still, even our other best God moment of the year has to do with the amazing ways God can show Himself.

I will never forget the day our daughters kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Sylvestre, bounded up the stairs to tell me that our daughter had accepted Christ in her classroom that day.  We lived in New England and the children and I had an amazing little church family.  This church also had a private school right smack in the middle of a tough area of the city.  For a year, I taught 7th grade there while K attended kindergarten downstairs.

To me, when a child accepts Christ at the age of five, you sort of have to wonder, how much do they know?  Sure, it was genuine, but do they understand and will it stick?  As she grew, it was pretty evident that her spirituality was simply a part of who she is.  Yet I found it a little strange that she never asked to be baptized.  We talked about it, maybe twice, but I chose to never, ever pressure her about it because this decision had to come from God and only Him in order to really mean something.

Back when we were in that wonderful New England church, the Yankee went to another church.  During those beginning years when I was just learning to TRY and walk the way Jesus would have me walk, it was tough on us because he didn't really understand why I couldn't go to his church to  learn the way I needed to learn, even though I had tried it and even converted to his religion for a little while.  Bible versus placed on the frig would cause disruption in our house and we were just in completely different places in our lives as far as spiritual growth went.  I just wanted a relationship with Jesus, I didn't want it to be surrounded by a religion, but he did because that was the way he was raised and I needed to try to understand this ( I failed miserably at this most times).

It wasn't until we moved here, and a year later our friend Casey invited us to her church, that we met Roger.  And God used Roger in a HUGE way from the first time The Yankee ever talked to him.  We have attended church together as a family ever since, and our lives have grown by leaps and bounds over the last five plus years.  I  always wondered in the back of my mind during those five years, would The Yankee ever ask to be baptized.  I never mentioned it, I never brought it up, but I filed it away with the prayer that someday, K would also ask to be baptized and I left it in God's very capable hands (how often do we forget how capable His hands truly are?)  As a wife, I suppose I could have nagged him about it.  At the very least, I could have mentioned how important it was TO ME that he get baptized, but what would that have accomplished?  Then he would have gotten baptized and, in the back of my mind, I would have always wondered, did that come from me or was it a genuine heartfelt thing between him and God?

During our last Homecoming, we were driving down the street as a family.  How the conversation began is a blur to me now, I just recall we were not even talking about church at all, when suddenly, The Yankee said, "You know, I don't know what it is, but I can't get it out of my mind that I want Roger to baptize me while I am home this time.  What do you guys think?"  At which point K nearly jumped from the back seat into the front from excitement and proclaimed, "Dad, I have been praying for the right time to get baptized and guess what?  God just showed me my right time. I'm getting baptized with you!!!!"  All along, even though the three of us were clueless to it, God had been having her wait for what will surely be remembered as one of the most special moments of her life. There are very few moments in your life that can bring you to goosebumps and tears at the same time.  This was one of mine. We had not even been aware she had been praying for God's guidance on getting baptized.

So, on a not-so-warm fall day, we traveled down to the freezing cold river with our church family, where Roger allowed The Yankee to help him dunk K.  One thing about K, you never have to guess what she is thinking or how she really feels about something.  Immediately upon being brought up out of the river she screamed, "Holy crap that is COLD!!!"  We laugh about it to this day..its the kind of church we are.  A teenager can come up out the water, yell that and no one gets offended or put off, its just another laughable moment to enjoy.

And then Roger baptized my hubby.

This man who had always believed that since he had been baptized as a baby, there was no need for adult baptism in his life.  God works in miraculous ways, if only we will wait on Him and allow Him to do His work.  I look back so grateful.  Keeping my mouth shut is not one of my strong suites.  But never nagging my daughter or my husband to get baptized, well, those baptisms meant so much more to me because I didn't ask and ask and ask, but instead, learned to pray and wait.

It's a practice, that whole praying and waiting thing.  I often wonder who really perfects it here on this earth?  For me, it seems like I can perfect it in some things, mostly with those I love, but other things I fail miserably at praying and waiting for.  I will say this, God taught me through K and the Yankee that my loved ones are in His hands.  We asked our son if he wanted to be baptized that day along with his sister and his daddy.  We asked him once. He replied "I will think about it."  About a week later he said, "No, I don't think this is my time."  Should we have been disappointed as parents?  Nah, because his time is between him and God and that is going to, one day, make his baptism that much sweeter.  Until then, I will not question him about when he wants it to happen.  I will wait for God to prompt him to let us know its his time.