THE NIGHT I DECIDED

Decisions, decisions, decisions

In life, we make many decisions- whether we are going to resist the temptation of another chocolate bar or whether we are going to give in and scoff it, what school we are going to, what we are going to buy for Christmas presents, what we are going to have for lunch or what car we want to drive, but on this day, I made the biggest decision of my life.

Not a typical day in the life of Katie Graden

It was a seemingly ordinary day in the life of Katie Graden, I had been at school, did my homework, laughed I don’t know how many times, talked incessantly, but when I arrived home mum was telling me that she was going out. I didn’t listen because mum was always out and about doing various errands, but she was going to a Baptism information meeting at Thriving Life, immediately I felt an urge to go, I put it down to supporting my mum and granny, but when I arrived I knew there was something more. I felt strange walking into room 222, I mean I knew many people here already, but I didn’t quite feel 100% comfortable yet, I didn’t know what I was walking into. We were told everything from what baptism is, how they did it at Thriving Life, the fact we could have two family members or friends baptising us if they were Christ Followers and just 10 minutes into the meeting I had decided that I was going to be baptised. You may be wondering, “that quickly, really?” Yes is the answer. That is the true power of God, He performs miracles, He uses the seemingly useless to transform them into something incredible and He changes lives.

It's real

At the end of the meeting, I remember everyone stopping to talk, the people being baptised had to put down their baptism shirt size and contact details, I finally got granny’s attention and immediately I just burst into tears, “you’ve decided,” she said. ‘How on earth do you know?’ I thought. It didn’t take long before mum was over wondering what was wrong and I just exclaimed, “Mum, I want to be baptised.” The room just went silent to hear these words and it was such an extraordinary moment, I was ready to declare my faith just a few days after I had decided to step into a life with God, knowing that I would be baptised less than a month after I had made my first faith decision.

The chase

I remember racing down the stairs to tell Olwen (an awesome family friend, a leader in my life and one of my favourite people) who was in the middle of teaching a GCSE maths class. Mum went in as I was too nervous and nothing could have prepared her for what I was going to ask next, “Olwen, will you baptise me?” It felt right, she had been there all my life, guiding and supporting me, she was a rock and an incredible influence. Well… I had never heard her shout so loudly before, I am sure her class were in fits of giggles or just delighted that their algebra sums had been interrupted. “YESS!” she exclaimed. This quite possibly had been the best yes that I had ever received, it filled my heart, I felt loved and I was so unbelievably ready for the next chapter of my life, in fact I believed that my life had just begun- a life with God is entirely different, there is nothing more incredible!

Explore

It was also another night of Christianity Explored- one of the courses I was doing to basically figure my life out. I knew where I was going with many aspects of my life, but spiritually I had no idea, I couldn’t have even called myself a beginner! Christianity explored helped me to hear more of the heart of Jesus and how my life would be so different- at the time, I am going to be honest, I thought it was nonsense, but now it all makes sense. My life changed. It changed dramatically. Walking into Christianity Explored on this night was quite an experience… Everyone had already heard that I wanted to be baptised and everyone was cheering us on and hugging us all. I needed to speak to Ronnie though, it was a priority. Ronnie is Olwen’s husband and another huge part of my life- he used to stand on my baby grow and he has led me through absolutely everything. He truly believes in me and that is something that I will always treasure. Finally, I plucked up the courage, “Ronnie, will you baptise me?” I had never seen him so emotional before, he just threw his arms around me and I guessed his answer was yes!! Everyone was so supportive and it was a night of celebration as granny, mum and I had all decided.

The Plan

There was something that I knew for definite, I would never ever turn back… I was a child of God and nothing would replace that. I was no longer afraid to show the world who I was, who I believed in and where I was going.

Until next time,
Katie G