The official launch of a new life (Part 1)

On Dec 6, 2008, I was baptized into the body Christ.  For the record, you can check out the photos here:

Baptism Pics

and video here.

My choice to be baptized was a struggle for some time, but as with all things I have sought after in Christ, my questions were not only answered to my satisfaction but answered far beyond it.  I am honored to be a full participant in the body of Christ and join many of you there.

If you want to know more about those struggles, I'll be happy to share them with you, but for tonight I'd like to focus on something different - looking forward to the future.

An answer to a serious prayer:

The weekend of my baptism was truly a life-changing time for me. I attended, with much initial reluctance, a speaker marketing bootcamp with my mom.  The advertised goal of this bootcamp was to teach us, as future speakers, how to make lots of money while speaking.  I was pretty bored by people selling me on so-called money-making programs and very uninterested on a whole, except that I really wanted to support my dear Mom.  Little did I know that God had much in store for me, as well.

For many, many years I have struggled with idea of living for God and making lots of money.  There are many passages in the bible telling us God wants us to prosper and also many that caution us against wealth.  I have always wanted to give a lot of money away, but I can't do that until I have a lot coming in.  Yet, I struggled strongly with this concept from a biblical perspective and often felt wrong about thinking about making money.  One passage that rang the loudest for me was Matthew 6:24 - can't serve God and Wealth.  I understood this passage with the context of the person He was directly talking to, but it still hung me up in other ways...until that weekend.  You see, at the beginning of the conference I was told to set 3 goals, but I was so burdened by this that I could only set one: to understand how personally making lots of money wouldn't conflict with me spiritually. 

Well, the conference started and I was incredibly impressed by the speakers.  Most speakers, especially in the marketing or money-making areas, have egos too big to fit in the room.  One of the common phrases amongst these speakers was to fill your pocket book, not your ego, and I was very impressed by that and now interested in learning much more - and wow did I ever learn a lot!  But it wasn't until mid way through day 2...or was it day 4?...that, out of nowhere, God gave me the answer to my top question.  Let's face it, most people want to know how to get wealthy, so someone asked a question and the main speaker said "Make a lot, spend a little, and you'll become very wealthy.  Wealth isn't about how much you make, but how much you keep."

And in that moment I remembered Matthew 6:24 and understood exactly what God wanted me to know from it.  I can't serve Him fully and completely if I keep my money for myself - the money He is blessing me with isn't just for me.  I knew this long ago...but didn't know it like I know it now - as personally and explicitly as I do now.  

Not having money has been one of my biggest fears in life, but I know that it is a hurdle God wants me to get past and it is a hurdle that He is helping me get past.

Not only did God set me free from this burden, but He also answered another strong prayer of mine:  How do I make a reasonable living follow the calling He has placed on me?  How do I even make enough to begin transitioning over?  

You'd think with a burden like that, I'd be excited by the goal of the bootcamp, but I was so skeptical I was totally blinded to the idea the bootcamp could actually teach me something useful here.

Lighting the new path:

Well, God lit the new path for me...but he didn't just light a few small lights, he lit an entire tree of lights.

Stay tuned for my next post to find out more...