Week 8 - Baptism!

      Another busy but amazing week is over. This week we had Mark Parker from New Zealand come and speak to us about Lordship and Fear of the Lord. It was a really in-your-face, challenging week. Mark was not afraid to ask people questions, push them outside of their comfort zone and be honest with what the Holy Spirit was saying to him. At the beginning of the week this was a little intimidating but as the days went on we realized he was doing this out of a fatherly love. I have a lot of respect for him and am really thankful that he completely devoted his time here to seeing us grow.

      When we were in lectures something that was repeatedly emphasized was the difference between accepting Jesus as your Savior, and making Him Lord and King over your life. The difference between being a believer in Christ, and being a disciple of Christ. We talked a lot about dying to ourselves and living by the spirit. It says in Romans 12 that our bodies are living sacrifices to God; because we're living sometimes we jump off the altar and choose to act out of selfishness. When this happens we don't need to get down on ourselves, we simply have to stand up and jump back on! There are some things we have to daily be surrendering to God and let Him have complete control in. The verse goes on to say "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." We can't just skip to the end of the verse and think we will know God's will. We have to 1) know God 2) Offer ourselves as a living sacrifice 3) Renew our minds and then 4) we can know Gods will for us. I dont know about you but that helped me to understand the topic of surrender and Lordship so much more. It actually benefits us to surrender things to God. We don't have to carry around our burdens or worry about the future because if we let Him take control he will guide us and provide for our needs. Isn't that so comforting?! 

     As a result of this week I chose to get baptized on our ministry day on Friday. I was baptized as a child by my parents, but I've never made the desision to do it myself. I really felt like it was the next step in my relationship with God and I wanted the date to be a physical landmark of my choice to make Him Lord over every part of my life. After a morning full of worship, giving to each other and repenting, we packed into the vans and headed to the beach to get baptized in the ocean. My friend and housemate Emma also chose to get baptized.

    After I shared my heart behind getting baptized to the group, both Mark Parker and my house leader Mikayla came out into the water with me. They prayed over me for a while and baptized me. When I came up, out of that water I knew I was a different person. The old Rebecca died and a new one lives! Hallelujah! I was greeted on the beach by all my friends and leaders and they spent a while praying and prophecying over me. While this entire thing happened the sun was setting beautifully. It was such an amazing day!

 

     When it was all over, I got to watch Emma do the same thing. It was so exciting ! The picture below is the girls I live with. 4 of us are DTS students and Mikayla (second from right) is our leader. I am so, so blessed to have them in my life. They are truly amazing people and I love them a lot!

 

     I also have exciting news regarding our outreach trip! We are leaving in January and flying to India, but in the beginning part of our journey we will be heading up to Nepal (!!) and ministering to the people there for just under two weeks. Then we will go back into India for the remainder of our trip. Please keep praying for our contacts, funds and trip logistics. We are applying for visas this week! If you feel called to give and support me financially I would be so blessed. Please message me so we can work something out. I love you guys so much and I would not be here without you! Thank you for everything!! xox