This past Sunday Loren and I did something we have been wanting to do for a long, long, time...
we got baptized!
We have been attending the most amazing church for the last 3 years and after becoming apart of the church family and hearing them talk about how important baptism is for believers we knew that it was something we needed to do.
So, when the registration began for the summer baptism down by the lake at Northwestern... we made sure our names were on that list!
As part of registering we were also asked to share a little bit about what brought us to today... what brought us to our decision to be baptized.
They called it our "Faith Story!"
And since this blog is our families scrap book, our story, our life... for documentation I wanted to make sure this day, this moment, our stories... were captured.
These are mine and Loren's Faith Story.
They were written by us personally and separately and then submitted.
Jen:
I have pretty much spent my whole life in church.
As a child my family went to church, as a teen I got involved in our youth group, and as a young adult I even went to a christian college. But after years and years in the church and multiple heart aches under my belt I walked away from church completely. I wouldn't say I walked away from God, but I just wanted to be free to explore and do what I wanted to do for once. I didn't want the rules of the church telling me what to do.
Well exploring and no discipline led to drinking, partying, and probably some bad decisions on my part. However in the midst of all that I made a strange connection... I met a friend online.
A friend I wasn't even looking for. A friend that would listen to me and be there for me at all ours of the night... really I friend I didn't even know I needed till I found him!
Turns out that friend, that boy, lived in Missouri.
After deciding to drive down and meet this boy in person... the strangest thing happened... everything clicked! It was like we were old friends that had known each other forever.
Don't get me wrong... he was no saint!
He had his problems... but so did I, and who was I to judge?!
Oddly enough, it was as if the Lord had destined for the two of us to meet.
It was as if we were destined to need each other at the exact same times in our lives.
I now look back and call it Divine Appointment!
Long story short...
That boy moved all the way from Missouri to live here in Minnesota and be with me!
Fast forward to today... this fall we will be celebrating 5 wonderful years of marriage and we have 2 beautiful children. - I couldn't be more happy!
Funny how finding love and Loren made me find God again.
It took Loren and his fun, care free, and gentle spirit to pull me out of the fog I was in and helped me see clearly again. It was Loren that was able to show me love... the unconditional kind of love I had never been shown before by any man.
He treated me how I was supposed to be treated, how God would treat me and love me.
Loren will tell you to this day how it was me that he needed, me that helped prompt him to finding a relationship with the Lord, and me that pulled him out of his old lifestyle...
however what he doesn't know is that all along it was I that needed him!
He was my saving grace, he is my rock and he is the perfect man to lead our family in a godly kind of way.
Together we found God and realize it was him all along that had this life completely planned out for us!
So, as of this Sunday we want to take the next step together and honor the Lord by getting baptized!
It was God that brought us together, it is God that continues to bless us and for that we want to say thank you God, this is our way of serving you!
You have changed our lives and for that we want to make sure everything we do honors you.
Loren:
I grew up not really believing in God.
I didn't doubt that he existed but that was about it and that was all I really knew.
I grew up in a small town of Butler, Missouri.
In a small town there is not much to do but fight, drink and party... so naturally as a young boy, I did all of those things.
This is the life of a small town farm boy, and it was totally accepted .
After high school I moved to Kansas City to get a new job and a fresh start.
However, I had found that once I relied on myself and had no one bringing me down, the drinking and partying spiraled out of control.
I had no idea who God actually was, nor did I care to even find out... until one day I happened to be in a chat room looking for car parts and saw this random name that just stood out to me... "Erickson."
Nothing special, but I was compelled to talk to them anyway, guy, girl, I didn't know, I didn't care.
Just so happens it was a girl.
Oddly enough we exchanged phone #'s and spoke on the phone almost every day for a year, before we met. She was this beautiful, sweet, "church girl?!"
She traveled 500 miles 7 or 8 times every year, watching me drink myself into oblivion, black out, and even get drunk on the day she would fly back to Minnesota.
But even with all of that... something kept her coming back. Something SHE didn't even know what it was.
Well, in a nutshell... a car crash, 2 dwi's, some jail time, some hard lessons, and the perseverance of this random girl from MN... I now live in Minnesota, and have 2 beautiful children with this random girl, my wife, Jen.
Since moving to Minnesota I have accepted Jesus and seen his blessings, time and time again.
The Lord was so blatantly trying to reach out to me and I didn't even see it till now.
Now that we have found
Eaglebrook I know that I must take the first step in obedience to Him, and that is baptism.
That was everything leading up to the day... and boy was last Sunday something exciting!
That baptism was so HUGE and so amazing to be apart of!
"Show me the way I should go oh Lord, for to you, I have entrusted my life."
Psalm 143:8
Chat later,
Jen
