This is the testimony that I did for my baptism on 10/10/1999 at Christian Layman Church.
Sunday 10/10/1999, Christian Layman Church
Hi, my name is Kristian and I would like to thank everyone who visited today for sharing this special moment with me.
I grew up according to the Catholic tradition in the Netherlands. My parents had me baptized when I was still a baby for which I am very thankful. I really appreciate their Love for me and I have seen God's work throughout my life, even when I did not believe in Him and disobeyed Him.
Like every Catholic, I also did my first communion, and conformation. I did them because it was tradition to do so, not necessarily because I believed. And in fact I didn't. At that time, I wasn't even sure about the existence of God, or the role of Jesus.
The Netherlands is a very liberal country that also has a high standard of living. As such, I adopted quite a secular way of thinking, emphasizing success and intelligence over humility and spirituality, and concentrating on acquiring over giving...
But God had a plan for me. I went to college at Georgia Tech, which lies in the Bible belt. Over there people would openly evangelize and come up to you to invite you for a Bible study. I soon had many Christian friends and slowly but surely God softened my heart. Then, in 1994, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior during a Billy Graham crusade.
Since then, I have seen God work in many areas of my life and I started to grow spiritually, slowly at first, but faster as I progressed. On one hand, God has been there for me during bad times. But on the other hand, God has also used me to reach out and witness. For each case, I will give you an example.
In January of this year, I went through a devastating breakup. This relationship had lasted for more than 4 years. But God helped me to get through this. At that time, our Home Group was studying the topic "Man-Woman Relationships". These studies really helped me to gain the wisdom I needed. And I also found support in some Home Group members, who listened to me and prayed for me. God was there when I needed Him.
Just recently, something else happened. I was about to go back to the Netherlands for vacation, but the Sunday before that, I met a couple here at church, Paul and Dorothy. Paul has a Dutch colleague called René, who is not a believer. It turned out that René and his wife were going to be on the same plane as me and we thought that this could be a good opportunity to talk to them. On the day of my flight I was looking for them, but couldn't find them. So I prayed to God that He would help me find them by putting them next to me. And so it happened. The couple sitting next to me in the airplane were Rene and his wife! I was quite amazed! I used this opportunity to share with Rene about our church and how I prayed for this to happen. This is just one example of God using me to reach out.
With all these things happening, I have come to know God more closely. Therefore, I would like to consider my second, adult, baptism as an opportunity to publicly acknowledge and affirm that Jesus is my Lord and Savior!
Thank you.
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