Taking Off the Old Self; Putting on the New
I got Baptized today. It was going to be at Blue Hole, but the all of the rain and flooding pushed us into friend’s very nice, warm pool. I was surrounded by close friends and church family. And guess what? God was there too. One day I will tell the story of how I ended up hearing God after practicing closing my ears to him for so many years.
Three and a half years ago, when I was still at the beginning of crawling out of my dark night of the soul, I had just been to a church service where I felt the presence of God. Grace and love washed over me there; an experience hard to put into words. A mix of joy and understanding — a knowing in your gut. Unworthiness made worthy. I opened the Bible and read these verses and found that they spoke to me so loudly I had to write them down:
“But I know your rising and your sitting, your going out and coming in, and your raging against me. Because your arrogance has come to my ears I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth; I will turn you back on the way by which you came. And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.” 2 Kings 19: 27–30
