We are less than two weeks away from Baptism Weekend! Michelle is stepping out in faith to get #dunked, find out what led her to the water:
My name is Michelle Fuller. I am currently a senior at Elizabethtown College where I am studying Elementary Education. I am so blessed to be student teaching in a first-grade classroom, where the I am learning an immeasurable amount about being a teacher. When I am not with my first-grade kiddos, I spend a lot of time hiking, camping and coaching middle school girl’s lacrosse. There really is something special about unplugging from society and spending alone time in the woods.
I wish I could say I was that kid that always loved going to church, but the truth is, I wasn’t. I would fight with my mom every Sunday morning, begging her to stay home. To my surprise, it did not work. Each week, I would show up and hear about this man Jesus, who died on the cross so I could go to heaven, but this amazing truth did not resonate with me yet. I was a perfectionist who thought if I did everything myself I would always live up to my personal standards. I thought I could go through life believing in Jesus’ resurrection without giving up control to allow God to transform my life. But the truth is, I was unwilling to surrender my life and lay it down at the feet of God. I wanted to reap the benefits of believing in God without allowing him to transform my life.
I went through most of high school holding onto so much shame because of my sin. I didn’t know what grace truly was. I was trying to live the “perfect” life my way, all while I was calling myself a Christian. As I was pushing God further and further away throughout the years, he was drawing me closer and closer, preparing my heart for all he had in store. It wasn’t until I experienced true heart break, when I felt alone and helpless, that my head and my heart aligned. I realized that I was living for me, trying to bring myself the glory and praise within this world. In this moment of complete darkness, God showed me that the heavy shame I had been accumulating for so many years, due to guilt of sin, wasn’t something that I had to carry any longer. To receive true salvation, all I needed to do was accept that Jesus had already carried that heavy weight for me on the cross. He truly saved me then and there, when I was able to lay 100 percent of my life down, accepting that I am not perfect and that I am a sinner who is made whole again through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Since the day that Jesus rocked my world, my life has been transformed. He has taught me that I am a broken sinner and I was and never will be able to live this life without him. And to my surprise, I don’t have to. Jesus meets me right where I am. Each day he brings the sunrise, my joy, my passions, and my love. He is the best role model and Savior this world could have. He has shown me that I am his and he is mine.
After Jesus saved me, my life has never been the same. One of the biggest transformations that has been happening in my life is that he has been shaping my heart to be more like his. Every day, through his grace, he uses me to shine his love and radiant light for others to see, specifically the children in my class. So many kids do not get the love and support that they need at home. They come to school seeking attention and love, and God has allowed me to show these children that they are not only loved by their teachers, but also by an almighty God that loves them and calls them his own.
For the longest time, I was too scared to get baptized. I couldn’t imagine how I was going to stand in front of the whole church and proclaim my faith. But Jesus has revealed to me how amazing and real his love is, and there is no denying how excited I am to proclaim that Jesus is in the driver’s seat of my life as my Lord and Savior. Today is about surrendering myself to the Lord to give him the glory in any and every situation.
Baptism at Grace
During all worship gatherings on Baptism Weekends, we celebrate the very reason we exist as a church: Christ’s mission to make disciples, baptizing and teaching in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28: 19-20). We share testimonies of how Jesus changes lives now and for eternity. And the best part… we baptize with a joy that’s out of this world!