The Day I Baptized My Mother

Yes, on December 18, 2016, 20 years after she accepted Christ in 1996, I baptized my own mother at our church in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!  She had been baptized when she was 21, but she didn’t know why she did it and she had not received Jesus yet.  I am going to give the floor to my Mom on this one!  I have posted her written testimony below that she submitted to our church before she was baptized.  I pray it is an encouragement to you all!  I love you Mom!

Before I get to her testimony, I wanted to share something my Mom just posted the other day under my piece titled “Seeing and Believing”:

“Ryan, when you returned home from college as a believer in Jesus Christ, my prayers had been answered and I was so grateful to Him for surrounding you with Christian friends.  Then, another blessing was brought to us when you came home for break.  Now, with the authority of the Holy Spirit, you went room to room, casting out the demon in our home that had frightened us for four years, it was cast out forever!  I don’t know how to explain the feeling in words, but after you were done, their was a real feeling of lightness in the air, a peace that filled our home because we just knew it was over.  And, it was.  “Praise God!”  You, along with the Holy Spirit, conquered and wiped out that demon, and I will be forever grateful.  I’m truly sorry you went through so much fear while living there.  Sorry, for all of us, but there was a silver lining…we were all saved that year.  I am forever grateful for that, too.  God is good.
Love you, Mom”

My Mother’s Testimony:

“When I was a child, my Dad taught me The Lord’s Prayer and to say my prayers before bed.  I grew up believing in Jesus and I was taught that God created us, the animals, Heaven, and earth.  But, we never went to church as a family nor was the Bible ever read to us at home.  I didn’t grow up really knowing Jesus, I didn’t have a Bible, and never saw one at home.

When I was around 11 or 12 years old, I walked to church with my neighborhood girlfriend and I enjoyed going very much. I recently reconnected with my childhood girlfriend on Facebook, and I was very happy to see she is cheerfully spreading His word.  Looking back, it feels like I was always seeking Jesus, I wanted more, but I didn’t know how except to go to church, so I continued saying my prayers and went to church and Bible School when I could.

Then when I was a senior in high school, I began dating the man I would one day marry.  His family went to church every Sunday, and I loved going with him and his family.  I enjoyed singing the hymns. I enjoyed helping his Mom with the Sunday dinners that followed church, and the rambunctious, fun afternoons with his family. I always liked that his Dad said grace.  I was baptized when I was 21, just before we were married, in my husband’s childhood church.  What I remember about being baptized during that time was thinking, “now I can go to Heaven.”  I don’t remember needing to or wanting to repent.  I know I didn’t accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at that time.  After our son and daughter were each born, we had them baptized at the same church my husband was baptized as a baby.  I thought we were being good Christians.

My husband and I sadly quit going to church after we moved from our hometown, five years after we were married.  We went a few times trying to find a church, but it never happened.  Our two children grew up like I did when they were little, hearing of God, learning to say their prayers to Jesus, but not really having Jesus in their lives.  Not going to church and not sharing our faith in Jesus and praising God as a family, is a sad regret for me.  I never thought it would be like that for our children since my husband was raised in a family that went to church.  I wanted that for us too, and for our children.

Then my son, Ryan, went to college after high school, 3 states away.  He was feeling a little lonely at first, but then he was blessed with good friends, who were Christians.  They asked him to go to Campus Crusade with them, and he began going.  Ryan accepted Jesus Christ!  He was baptized, this time with Jesus in his heart.  Here was a young man, who before college, had begun to scoff and talk with anger about his aunt and uncle going to church, or anybody else that was.  I was afraid he was on the path of turning away from God.

Then one day, our son called us to say he was going to Campus Crusade with his Christian friends, and he had a wonderful mentor teaching him the Word of God.  Not only was he going to church, he was leading many in prayer, and it was all from God.  Ryan came home during break, and shared with me, his father, and sister how he was saved…that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, told us of repenting our sins, and only through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior are we are saved, and then we will be in Heaven for eternity with him.  For the very first time in my life, I heard and understood.

I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at that moment, in the family car, going down highway 31, and so did my daughter and my husband.  It was such a blessing for our family.  I felt peace and gratitude, our family was saved.  There was such a great joy in Ryan’s heart when he came home, you could see it in his eyes and face, and hear it in his voice and his words. We had sent Ryan to college from Illinois to Colorado because he wanted to get back to the home he missed, but God had his own plan for taking him back home.  “Praise God.”

At that point in time of my accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, I wanted a relationship with Him that was a strong and personal one, and it is now.  That is what I was always seeking, Jesus was patient in waiting for me.  I wanted Jesus to know me, and I know he does.  In those 20 years since of accepting Jesus, I have grown in my relationship with him and my faith is stronger.  I follow, and want Jesus in my life because I love him for what he did for us on the cross, and for all that he gives us every day, the hope he gives us, his guidance, and our prayers he answers, and the strength he gives us.  He has blessed me with placing people in my life that I have been able to share God’s word with, and I feel that has given them comfort, and I know has strengthened my faith.  Because I am a sinner, I need him and give him control of my life, I know Jesus loves me and is with me.  I know he is the way, and will take us home.

I have been to Southeast many times as a guest with my son, Ryan, daughter-in-law, and both grandchildren.  I watch the services online from Illinois, and I am so grateful Southeast does that for those of us who can’t be there.  If I lived close-by I would be, Southeast has a wonderful, caring congregation and Pastor Phil is the best.  I’ve wanted to be baptized in your church for at least a year.  I feel it on my heart.  I am not the same person who was baptized at 21.  Now, since I have truly accepted Christ Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and I have repented my sins, I want this baptism so much more because I know what it means for me, and what a gift it is from God.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my testimony and share God’s word.  I also thank you for allowing my son, Ryan, to be involved with the immersion during my baptism, this is such a blessing.  My son had his mentor at Campus Crusade, but Ryan has been mine, and this means so much to me.  We have shared many passages, encouraging thoughts, and prayers together.  I feel our family is growing in our faith all the time and I am so thankful for that blessing.

God Bless you, Karen, and all the people at Southeast Christian Church.

Sincerely,

Rhonda Callahan

Baptism date:  Dec. 18, 2016, during the service at 11:00″

Glory to God and thank you Jesus is all I can say!  I love you Mom!  Tell Dad I love him too!

Grace and peace to you all!