Monday, April 3, 2017
Ps. 23; Jn. 8:1-11, 12-20
I was “introduced” to Jesus by a colleague, Linda, and accepted Him as my personal Savior when 23 years old but only was baptized three years ago.
When my husband and I moved to Florida from Iowa, 28 years ago, God gave me a peace that transcended all understanding. We left behind parents and friends, yet He had something better for us here.
I had hoped to be baptized by Linda in a small river in Iowa, but it never happened. Then seven years ago, God led me to Bayshore where I became a member and began to serve Him through women’s ministry.
God urged me to be baptized on Easter Day 2014 by Pastor Tammy Snyder. It was an especially sweet day since my friend, Caren Hayward, also was led to be baptized the same day. Neither of us knew that God was speaking to us individually until we shared our news.
Baptism was the means through which my journey with God became a living reality and, since then, my relationship with Jesus deepens each time I come to the communion table and eat the wafer and drink the cup. As I approach the sacraments with other members of my church home, I experience the breaking of Jesus’s body and shedding of his Holy blood as I chew the wafer and swallow the juice. Since my baptism, the reality of the death and resurrection of Christ became more real to me because I, too, was buried and raised from the water.
After my obedience in being baptized, God has blessed me in countless ways. My baptism, later in life, was perfect and more meaningful because He planted me in Tampa and in Bayshore.
—Patricia Edwards