~My Baptizm Making a Choice~
After I got saved I started looking for a nice church to go to. I wanted to fellowship with other believers and deepen my relationship with the Lord. I was always looking for people to talk to the share my testimony with because I was so full of excitement and inspiration from the Lord. After talking to some great friends of mine they invited me to their church which was a baptist church. I liked it so much I decided to start going to their church and even started attending bible classes where I met many awesome brothers and sisters in Christ. After going to church for a few months I decided that now that I had gotten saved and found a great church I was ready to commit my life to serving the Lord and I was ready to get baptized.
I was baptized on August 21st 2011 and it was one of the most intense days of my life. I remember just about a week before my baptism I prayed to the Lord for Him to utilize me to be an inspiration to the church. I figured this would be my one opportunity to give a testimony and speak in front of the church. Little did I realized I would get an answer to my prayer in a way I would have never imagined.
I started taking some classes to prepare myself for my baptism and when the date was set, I informed several people from my work and some people from my bible study class to attend my baptism. My parents on the other hand were getting very concerned that I was getting too involved in the church. Being that my family comes from a Hindu background and my father being an Atheist made things even harder. They started questioning me as to why I was going to church every week and why I was getting so deeply involved. They expressed their concern telling me they felt the church was a type of cult and that I was being manipulated into getting more and more involved. I tried to convince them their perception was wrong but nothing seemed to work.
The week of my baptism was full of inner battles and battles with my parents. It seemed like one thing after another kept coming up to convince my parents I was making the wrong decision about going to church. One of their friends daughters had became a christian about that same week and they were scared that I would too. They were afraid the church was trying to change my mind set and take me away from them, but that just wasn't the case. In the beginning I didn't want to tell my parents how deeply connected I felt in my faith because I knew they would not understand and would only try to stop me from getting baptized.
Finally the day of my baptism arrived and I had an uneasy feeling inside. I went to leave out the door and once again I was confronted by my parents about why I was getting so involved in the church. I was so desperate to get baptized I decided to tell them I was going somewhere else so I could at least get out the door and get to church.
I finally left the house and I still had a very uneasy feeling inside. I started driving to church and when I finally reached the church parking lot another car had pulled up behind me. My heart sunk because I realized my father had followed behind me to see where I was going. My mother had told him to follow me suspecting I would be going to church. I thought to myself out of all the days he could have followed me why did it have to be the one day I was getting baptized.
My father got out of the car and was pleading with me not to go in the church, I told him I wanted to get baptized and he got very upset. My father gave me an ultimatum that there was so God and no religion and I should come home with him. I thought about what he said and I looked the other way and walked into the church against his request. I ran inside and saw the pastor and my bible study teacher standing and talking to one another. I ran up to them and told them my father did not want me to get baptized and that I didn't know what to do. They took me into their office and asked me what was going on and I explained that I wanted to get baptized but my father was very much against it. I started crying and didn't know what to do. I was told that I didn't have to get baptized that day if I didn't want to and that I could wait until another day to do so. I decided I didn't want to wait and that I would go ahead with my baptism. I knew many of my brothers and sisters in Christ were all waiting for me in the church service hall to give my testimony and get baptized. I knew this wasn't something I could take lightly. I went back outside and my father was waiting for me and he again told me there is no God and no religion and to come home with him. At that point I again walked away from him. It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make in my life, I knew I was breaking my fathers heart and it really hurt me. But I knew I was given a choice to go home with my father who says there is no God and no religion, or to be strong in my faith. I knew in my heart I had to be a good example to my brothers and sisters in Christ and get baptized and give my testimony, it truly felt like the right thing to do.
Many of my friends had come to support me during my baptism. To my suprise a good friend of mine invited my whole bible study class to come to my baptism, I really felt I couldn't just walk away. Mean while word got out that my father had come to the church and was trying to stop me from getting baptized. My decision had been made, I finally changed and went up on stage gave my testimony and got baptized. Everyone in church cheered me as I came up from the water after my baptism it really gave me much strength. It was the most amazing moments of my life I felt so liberated yet my heart broke because I hurt my family so much.
As I went to change and leave the church, I came out and saw that my father had called my mother to the church and saw that my bother and my cousin and his wife had also come. My parents were fighting with me outside the church arguing that I made a big mistake. My mother and father were very much hurt by my decision to get baptized. My mother even told me she didn't know who I was anymore and felt a sense of separation. I ended up being kicked out of the house for about three days and all my friends were very worried about me since they had no idea where I was. My mother had taken away my phone and it was hard to communicate with anyone. I realized later that a good friend of mine had planned a surprise baptism party for me but I couldn't go since all the turmoil in my family had happened. I had only gone to church for a few months and yet and everyone in church knew who I was because of my testimony, and many people were praying for me everyday.
The Lord has really blessed me in my life I don't regret the decision I made to get baptized and give my life to the Lord. I knew that if I hadn't gotten baptized when I did I would have be baptized today. When I asked to be an inspiration to the church little did I realized the Lord would give me an answer to my prayer in a way I would have never imagined. I thought my baptism would be peaceful and full of joy, but it ended up being one of the biggest decisions I would ever make in my life. It ended up being a serious choice God gave me. A choice I would have to make in following in my faith and getting baptized, or saying there is no God and going home with my father. I love my parents very much and pray for their salvation everyday and I wouldn't have it any other way.
The Lord works in amazing ways many people fight for their faith everyday. Following our precious Lord takes great courage and a lot of faith and it's not something to be taken lightly. When following the Lord its all or nothing and no in between. This is the best decision I ever made in my life and I have absolutely no regrets.
~Praise God~
