QC: BELLA'S BAPTISM

Four years ago, Bella made the decision to follow Christ with her life.  A few months ago, she told us she was ready to be baptized, and we reached out to the church to start scheduling.  This was all back in February before we knew how the spring was going to unfold.  We had picked April 5th as her baptism date, and she had talked to our children's pastor about her faith and what made her ready to take this step.

Then the world began to change, and things kept being cancelled.  I told Bella that sadly, her baptism would probably be postponed until there were church services again.  But, the church reached out to us and asked if she would be interested in being baptized at the church, during the week, with it being live-streamed and also recorded to be shown during the Sunday church broadcast.  Bella jumped at the chance to be our church's first "quarantine baptism."  What a world.

There were two baptisms that day, two hours apart.  They set up separate baptistries for each one, and everyone was good to stay socially distanced from us.  Seeing Bella's testimony and decision to make her faith public was really special, and John baptized her, which was such a privilege for him.

Buried with Christ in death, raised to walk in newness of life.

Honestly, my emotions ran high the whole time.  All of our friends and family tuned in live, and every family from our D-group filmed themselves watching it and sent it to us so that Bella could see how supported she was.

Like so much of life right now, the really hard is mixed with the really good.  Seeing Bella make this decision with so much courage and grace touched me profoundly.  I so badly wanted it to be the big moment it was "supposed" to be, surrounded by friends and family.  However, God had other plans for this experience, and I was profoundly touched by the support and messages we received from so many.  The wild thing is, her baptism ended up being seen by so many more people, because it was during this time.  I hope and pray that God continues to use her life to be a blessing to others!

So, we are celebrating Bella's decision, and we are putting our hope in the Lord, because there is so much uncertainty right now.  This social distancing thing is SO hard, but it won't be forever.  Bella's baptism reminded me all over again of what really matters, and I'm so thankful for the good moments in the midst of all this.

If you want to watch - here's the video!