Water.
Water has always been central in my life. My mom had me in the pool before my first birthday for swim lessons, and I never looked back. I took every single swim lesson available until I took my last one, with 11 boys and me. I couldn't take the lifeguard class because I was only 12…but MAN, did I want to! It still irks me.
Being in the water is my favorite place to be. Always has been. Near the water. In the water. On the water. Hearing water. Warm water. Cold water (especially!) Water. It is in my bones…maybe in my DNA. I don't know, but my mom's genealogy is from the Azores Islands, and my dad's from England/Scotland/Ireland, so it's possible.
While swimming laps this morning — hubby and I recently bought passes to our local aquatic center, I realized just how much I missed the water. The feel of it. The cool against skin gliding through it. The resistance of the water. I can't explain it in words…which is a lot for me because I obviously LOVE words. It is relaxing. It is invigorating. It makes me so happy!
Water is mentioned in the Bible in so many different instances, including:
• John 4:13-14 — "Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.'"
• Hebrews 10:22 — "Let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
And so many, many more, including baptism.
I was baptized when I was little and knew what I was doing when I chose to be baptized. I loved and believed in Christ and wanted to follow Him by being baptized. I was eight or maybe ten years old and was baptized at Family Camp in California's redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains. I was baptized by my childhood pastor, Pastor Doug Schultz, who I loved dearly, and it meant so much.
After what felt like a completely different life full of growing up, marrying and having my girls young, and the nightmarish divorce and freefall I took after — followed by marrying my saint of a husband and rebuilding my life with God's help and following what I genuinely believe is his plan…I have been thinking for a few years about getting re-baptized. I wanted to make the outward confession and commitment as an adult after everything he had brought me through.
Then, my dad passed away. We celebrated life for my daddy and my cousin Darlene who died after her courageous nine-year battle with cancer three weeks after my dad last month, and I knew it was time.
My cousin, Dr. Timothy M. Allen, would be there, and I wanted him to baptize me — my blood and a man of God I respected.
So, I got in the water. I GOT IN THE WATER. I got in it again after so much time. When I needed to. When God called me to, and I am grateful. My life is His. I'm All In.
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