Waters of Baptism

Two of our daughters were baptized this past Sunday and they have given me permission to share their testimonies on my blog. God has done much work in the lives of these girls and we have been incredibly blessed to see them come to know Him over the past couple of years. The message of Romans 8:28-29 was pivotal in helping them understand the grace and mercy of God, as they have been through such difficult times in their short lives. Here are their testimonies, as they read them before our church:

MY TESTIMONY
Before Christ, my life was very different. I remember, when I lived in Vietnam I disrespected my mom a lot of the time. Sometimes I'd fight with her when she tried to discipline me. We hardly had any happy family moments because of arguing and yelling. After my mom died I felt regret for what I did to her and I wished that I could take it all back and fix it.

Several months after her death, my two sisters and I went to the orphanage for two years. Then we got adopted by an American family from Seattle. Life there was challenging and I was confused about the whole new world and the new family. I remember that there was a lot of anger in me. Most of the time we would get punished for not obeying the rules or if we didn't do it in the right way. I didn't understand what to do to obey.

We went to a Catholic church but I didn't understand anything about it. They decided that they couldn't handle us anymore after we lived with them for nine months. I was adopted by the Edwards family and two of my sisters were adopted by a family in Canada.

When I came to the Edwards family, things were a whole lot better. I felt more myself and I wasn't afraid that they would punish me for the wrong reasons or disrupt me. Even though I felt like this, my heart was still hard. For long time I was angry at God for taking my biological mom and then taking my sisters away from me. I didn't understand why He did it. I thought He said He loved me. I was so confused. I continued to disrespect my new parents and I got in trouble quite a bit.

In my new family, my dad taught me a lot about Christ. Going to church and being around Christians showed me a lot of good examples. Later I came to understand that God works all things together for good and He does things for a purpose as Roman 8:28 says, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Even though I understood this I still felt mad.

Last summer, I was having a hard time with myself. I was doing things that I wasn't supposed to do and I got in arguments with my parents. I decided I wanted to run away and kill myself. I sat in the middle of the road wishing that cars would just run over me. I wanted my life to end. I was so mad at myself and my parents. But then I questioned myself. Why do I want to die? And then Christ showed me that we are made for a purpose, made to live for Him and to glorify Him. I'm a sinner and I need Christ so I repented that day. I made my parents' authority more important than mine. I want to obey God's commands as much as possible. I also told myself that no matter what happened in the past, God did it for a reason and He did it for my own good.
I feel happier with Christ and I'm aware of my sins. I'm a sinner and I'm still learning about Him. Roman 3:23-24 says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.I have no idea what His plan for my life is, but I am willing to follow wherever He leads me.

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MY TESTIMONY
I lived in an Orphanage for 8 years in Kazakhstan. I was taught to be kind, thoughtful, and obedient. To the caretakers eyes I was that, but in my heart I knew that I was deceptive. I was adopted at the age of 8. I had no idea what was going on, but at least I was getting out of there. I didn't know what a family was or how I as a daughter should act , but things went well at first. As time went on things seemed to get worse. I got in trouble so many times, but never knew why. Later, I started to lie,steal,cheat and sneak around. I had so much anger in me that I started to physically hurt myself, thinking that would solve everything.

I went to a huge church but I never listened to the pastor. As days passed I felt like nothing would change. I continued to disobey and my anger grew more toward people and myself. I wanted a new life, a life where I could finally be happy. I found out that I was going to go to a different family by sneaking around in my parents room when no one was there. I was happy, but I also realized that I was a sinner. I tried to be a better daughter,but it was hard since I knew that I would be leaving soon. When I found out that I was going to go to a bigger family I thought that things would never get better there, either.

In the beginning, at the Edwards home, things went well, but I still had all that anger and hurt in me. I wanted it out of me but I didn't know how. As time went on I started to reveal how I really felt. I had so much anger ,hate and other problems that I really needed help with. I thought about God and why He did all these things in my life. I didn't understand why a loving God would let all these things happen. Every night I thought about this. I prayed to Him to help me understand why He did all this. It wasn't until I read the verse Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

I understood that God lets things happen for my own good. This is His way of showing me His Love. "Another thing that struck me was that Jesus came down to earth to die for us. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. I understood that I was a sinner without Christ and I would be lost without Him. I knew I needed His help, but my pride was pulling me away. I went to Him and asked Him to save me. I thought I was fully Christian, but I still had that anger in me. My pride stood in the way of life. It seemed that life would always treat me bad. I asked God to help me not be so prideful and to help me overcome my anger.

I am still sinful and full of pride, but I know that God loves me and I know that all things happen for good reasons even when it seems to be bad at the time.
Christ is my savior and I love Him.