Izzy couldn't stop staring up at Clyde.
This post has been delayed but I don't want it to go undocumented. On March 17th, we baptized Izzy. For a couple of born and raised Baptists, this was a pretty big deal and the result of a few years of study, questions to pastors, and much prayer. It was such an amazing and unexpected blessing. God continues to show us the true meaning of his Covenant and our covenant community. I don't believe that baptizing Izzy saves her or guarantees her future salvation, but I do believe that it provides an amazing blessing and hope for her and us and our families. Hundreds of years before Izzy was born, God made a promise to Abraham to be his God and the God of his descendants and that promise holds true for Nathan, me, and our children. He is faithful to his people. I do believe that there is a very real blessing for children raised in a covenant home. Being raised by believers and being raised to know God does not promise Izzy salvation but it does bless her and give us a very great hope of her future salvation. It is a reminder to us although that her salvation is in God's hands, and that our parenting choices, good or bad cannot impact it. God can and will use us to draw her closer to him, but He doesn't need us and we cannot get between her and God. What an encouragement it is also to know that we're not doing this alone. Our church and our families have committed to come alongside us in our parenting and to help raise Izzy. They have a right and a responsibility to show her the grace and love of God in their interactions with her and our family and how they live their lives. I don't think that my words really capture the joy and encouragement that we received from her baptism, but I hope they give a glimpse of it.
Nate and I wrote a
blessing for Izzy which we read at her baptism and that I hope we continue to
pray often:
Isabelle, may the
Lord bless you and keep you and show his love to you through these broken
vessels that are your parents and your church. You have an infectious light and
joy that we pray always marks you as a child of God. May the grace of God
so fully saturates every fiber of your being that it pours out into the lives
of those around you. May it overcome your weaknesses, devastate your pride, and
continually point you back to Christ. Take comfort in the covenant
promises that are yours in Christ, knowing that Yahweh is your God and you are
his beloved child. Know that nothing in all creation can separate you from his
love. Love indiscriminately and with abandon those who love you and those
who hate you, seeing the image of God in all people. May you discover the
richness of relationships with believers, sharpening each other, carrying each
other’s burdens, and loving each other with the love of Christ. May you delight
in His Word and find your strength, your purpose, and your joy there. Know that
you have been set free and need not rely on your own goodness for
righteousness. Rather, as you grow in the Lord, learn to draw ever more deeply
from the well of grace found in the Gospel and live by the Spirit, allowing Him
to transform you into a woman who is patient, kind, faithful, gentle and
self-disciplined. Izzy, we pray daily that you will know that you are loved and
that his grace is sufficient for you.
Here are links to a
few of the articles we read on Baptism with varying degrees of helpfulness:
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