Baptism is a symbol of the new life believers have in Christ. This is Midge Mulrooney’s public profession of faith in Jesus from her baptism on Sunday, April 21, 2024.
I was someone who’s life was riddled with sin. Though if you had asked me at the time, I would have argued with you that I was a good person. After all, I didn’t murder anyone... I did however love to get into fights and arguments and exact revenge or as I called it – justice- towards any person who I felt deserved it. Titus 3:3 described me best, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.”
But God..
I was working 3 jobs and taking all the call shifts I could get my hands on trying to keep myself busy because quiet times were difficult. I came home tired one day and flipped on the TV looking for the Red Sox game. Instead, I landed on a tv preacher. I stopped and listened rather than quickly moving on as I normally would. It’s the first time I heard the gospel. I grew up thinking that being a ‘good person’ was sufficient. I prayed along with that TV preacher and so began my journey. That was 2003.
Now I’m saved by grace as Titus 3: 4-7 says “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
Though I have been walking through my own wilderness these last 20+ years I’ve not walked alone. In that time Jesus has been humbling me and teaching me to trust HIM and him alone. The refiner's fire in 1st Peter 1:6-7 is very meaningful to me. It is one of the very first things I learned about as a new Christian. It says, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
He’s still using this refiner’s fire to remove the impurities in my life. And I freely submit to this process and count it all as joy because I love Jesus!