New creation......

"I am redeemed You set me free, break off these heavy chains wipe away every stain, I'm not who I used to be, I am redeemed!" The most amazing love story we will ever witness is the one being written right now between God and His children. A true passionate example of beauty, grace and redemption. Its overwhelming for me to think of how much God loves us and even though we are messy and fall short of His glory every day there is nothing that can ever separate us from His embrace. Following Christ doesn't mean a life free from pain or sorrow but it does mean being filled abundantly with blessing after blessing as the love of Christ and His favor is poured out over us.

When I accepted Jesus into my heart and declared Him as my personal Savior at the age of 17 I had no idea the transformation and rebuilding that would take place within my heart. Although I had made the choice to commit my life to God's will and to surrender all the pieces of my past, present and future story it was a process. One of the things I remember struggling with the most as a new Christian was really trying to grasp in my mind that by giving my life to Christ I was a new creation, the old was gone and the new had come and no matter what I had done the blood shed by Jesus on the cross had washed every sin, failure, fear, insecurity and mistake. 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here!" It was hard for me to grasp the unconditional, real, raw, intimate and personal love of Christ at that time. Throughout this beginning process for me I remember being Baptized.

As we read in the Bible of many examples of those being Baptized we understand Baptism to symbolize the process of being washed clean and by coming up out of the water we leave our old selves in the water and are transformed into a new, clean child of God that is free from the bondage of our past and the sinful life that Satan had entangled us in. I can remember that day like it was yesterday. As I stepped nervously into the water my heart was flooded with so many different emotions I couldn't even process everything I felt at that time. After a few words by the Pastor I heard the phrase "we baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit" and within seconds I was placed down in the water and brought back up. As my body was pulled back out of the water and my sins and past left behind I remember emerging with the most amazing feeling of hope, excitement and freedom I have ever felt in my life. It's as if I truly felt the chains fall off and drop to the bottom of the water because Christ came in that moment and penetrated me with the cleansing, powerful and ecstatic anointing of the Holy Spirit.

I will never forget that day. I will never forget the emotions I had before and after, I will never forget the people, the sounds, the hope that I found, and the excitement that God placed within my heart because of His promises for my life. Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you." The only thing I didn't hold onto that day was the person who walked down into the water of that Baptismal, she was gone and so were the strongholds that had came into that place with me as well. Instead I walked out of the water a new creation, forgiven, redeemed and loved so unconditionally. Thank You Jesus for new beginnings, thank You Jesus that by Your precious blood we are set free, thank You Jesus that I am a new creation the old has gone and the new has come. 1 Corinthians 2:9 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can imagine the plans that God has for those who love Him."