This picture was taken of my first son Gabriel back in 2003. This little man stole my heart when he was born thirteen years ago. To be honest when I found out I was having a boy I was scared. I have always been such a girly girl and did not know if I could be a good Mama to a boy. While I was still pregnant the Lord encouraged me with this verse.
"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us." - Ephesians 3:20
I was doing a Bible study, and when I came across that verse I felt the Lord was reassuring me that having a son was going to be far more wonderful than I could imagine.
When Gabriel was born I instantly fell head over heals in love with my little man. It was so fun to dress him up in little ties and suspenders for church and to experience the sweet affection he has always displayed for his Mama. I quickly learned how to get excited about trains, tractors, and bulldozers.
Time has flown and thirteen years later I find myself still very much in love with my precious son. He is quickly changing from a boy into a young man, and there is still a very sweet connection I enjoy with my son. He tells me often that he loves me and seeks to step in and help me with things. He has always had such sweet ways of making his Mama feel loved.
Years ago Gabriel prayed that the Lord Jesus would save him, but he was not baptized for five years. It has been an interesting journey watching this play out. At the time that he prayed to be saved we were attending a Presbyterian church, and we were not quite sure what to do about his baptism. We loved the church but our views on baptism were a bit different.
Then we joined a church where children were not baptized until at least the age of twelve. This was to give time to make sure they knew what they were doing and that there was fruit as an evidence of their profession of faith. Then just about the time he was turning twelve we ended up leaving that church.
Over the past year we have been settling into a new church, and we were not comfortable jumping straight into baptism.
Well, just a little over a week before Resurrection Sunday Gabriel came to me and asked if he could be baptized on Easter Sunday which happened to also be his thirteenth birthday! He told me he thought it would be a very special day to be baptized. I asked him why he all of a sudden was bringing up baptism. Gabriel told me that he had heard our pastor teaching about how once you have believed and trusted in Christ that you need to be baptized. He wanted to take that step and do what he should do. We talked about how being baptized is identifying publicly with Christ. I think it is inborn in human beings to want to identify with something and thus we have the tattoo craze in our culture. People are looking for something to identify themselves with, but in Jesus our identity is wrapped up in Him. We do not need a tattoo to give us a sense of significance. When we follow Christ in baptism we are proclaiming the greatness of what He has done in our hearts and our desire to follow Him and be identified as a Christ follower. That is all the identity we will ever need!
My husband was able to set up a meeting with our pastor, and a last minute baptism was scheduled! We are grateful for Gabriel's desire to publicly make known his profession of faith and walk in obedience to Christ in baptism. Praise the Lord!
I feel blessed to be the Mama of this young man, and I look forward to seeing what the Lord does in his heart and life as he enters this new season of young manhood. On his birthday I wrote him a note and shared this verse with him.
"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." - I Timothy 4:12
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