You want me to do what?

By August I had become a permanent fixture at church, soaking up as much as I could and also trying to read my Bible. God had even dealt with me on some issues in my life and I started making decisions to draw as close to Him as I could. Doing everything He asked me to do wasn't always difficult, so I admit there were some things easy to give up. It seemed like my foul mouth cleaned up pretty quickly, obviously I didn't know much but I knew enough that a Christian shouldn't be out their cussing like a sailor. There is nothing about it that would glorify God. Also, drinking alcohol was pretty simple, I was mainly a social drinker anyways so no love lost when I decided to put my wine glass down for good. No need to remind me I was still living with a man I was not currently married too but for some reason that wasn't what God dealt with me on right away. Trust me though if there is sin in your life, He will deal with you on it eventually.

So come August I was sitting in church and on a Sunday morning after service my Aunt Carol (my pastor) came to me and said, "You need to think about getting baptized." I must have had a look of anger, fear or just downright "yea right" on my face because she pretty quickly dropped the subject. Funny, I gave up little things along the way and the one thing that was essential I immediately said no too. I'm not even sure to this day why, I just remember thinking, really, haven't I already done enough? The funny thing was I was not the only one going threw the same thing, my friend Traci had also gotten recently saved at another church and her pastor had said the same thing to her. Just like me she had a very similar thought. We had meet for breakfast one morning and the subject came up, it was almost ironic how similar our stories were. God kinda used us to talk each other into it. We both agreed however if we were going to get baptized and make that kind of statement we were gonna do it just like Jesus did, in the creek (ok Jesus did it in the Jordan River), but I really wasn't feeling the Ohio River and couldn't afford to fly off to Israel (that would come later), I was feeling more like Four Mile Creek was more my speed. On September 12th, 2004, I made my proclamation to the world that I was and was going to continue to serve Christ along side my friend Traci and two others.

God is always speaking to us,it's a matter of if we are listening and want to hear what He is saying. Sometimes it might seem easier to put our hands over our ears and hum so we can't hear Him. He is a gracious God, He will never force us to do something, and no different than children being obedient to their parents just because they love them, how much more should we want to be obedient to an almighty God who wants and gives the very best to us.

Do you have your hands over your ears humming loudly today, trying to keep God from speaking to you? Before long He might just quit, is that the better option, I hope that's not what you think because I want to always listen to Him and try to live the way He wants me to live.