Decisions

Yesterday was a big, big day.

The girls and I got up and went to church by ourselves yesterday, since Jerry's disaster recovery testing kept him at work until 4 AM last night. It was promotion Sunday, so we were eager to see how Gracie did staying in the first grade class while her classmates moved on, so we were prepared that it was going to be a big day for the girls. As usual, we had no idea.

During the beginning of the service there was a baptism, of a couple that had been brought to Christ through the church's door-to-door visitation program. The girls are always interested when someone gets "dipped," as Gracie calls it, and it has lead many times to conversations about interesting topics that always challenge me to put my beliefs into words. Anyway, while the praise team was singing the offertory I glanced over to see Maggie playing with her dolls - holding their hand up to their noses and leaning them backwards - baptizing them! It was very cute.

Well, at the end of the service, during the invitation, she tugged on my hand and when I leaned over, expecting to hear the usual, "I'm thirsty!" or "When is this over?" Instead I heard, "I want to be baptized."

Wow!

Well, I sat down and asked her a few questions, and she decided she wanted to talk to our pastor, and one bizarre part of me wanted to tell her to wait until next week so her daddy could be here, but um. . . HELLO! If the Holy Spirit is prodding her, do I really want to get in the way? We headed down the aisle and our pastor asked her a few questions. Then he asked me how I felt about this decision. I told him that I was happy that she wanted to be baptized, but I wasn't absolutely sure that she realized everything it meant. We sat down on the front pew and filled out a card and she got introduced although she was very camera shy when she realized that she was going to be on the big screens around the sanctuary - go figure. After we were dismissed we headed to a room where they have folks that are specially trained to help kids with decisions, picking up Gracie along the way. When we got to the room and Gracie found out that this is where you learned about 'dipping,' she wanted to talk to someone too, so both girls ended up making decisions for Christ that the counselors felt were understood and genuine. We got home and spread the news - Daddy was so sad he missed it, but of course he'll be there for the actual baptizing!

You know, this is something I have been praying for continually, and constantly trying to plant seeds for, and nurture along, but I am having the hardest time with this. Part of me wonders why I can't be happy and excited and just enjoy this moment. I think it may have to do with the fact that I was out of college before I truly accepted Christ. I wonder how, as a child, the girls can possibly understand the enormity of a decision like this. But then I look at how Christ wants us to have a child-like faith and I realize, they don't have to understand it in its entirety. No one does at first, really. I think about how gracious God has been to me, revealing things to me in doses that I could handle. If I had to realize at the beginning, all the things I've learned in the last 10 years of my walk, I totally could not have handled it. Yes, God is good. And if I'll surrender to His will, I'll see even more of that goodness - for me, and for my girls - no matter what happens. When I get to heaven, I'll see how everything works for good - and my girls will be there with me. Praise God!