Baptisms: My son Aidan's

Yesterday, I posted my youngest son’s baptism pictures and his testimony. Today I will post my oldest son’s baptism pictures and testimony. My middle son is also a professing believer who was baptized about 2 years ago so if any of you are interested in reading his testimony, you can feel free to email us here at True Women, and I can get that to you. But today’s focus is on Aidan’s testimony because he is the last of the group baptized on Sunday.

Aidan is a little mini-me. He is 13 years old and as much as a boy could possibly be like his mother, he is like me. His voice hasn’t started changing yet, so he even sounds like me. When he bosses around his brothers, people have been known to turn around looking for me, since he even has my intonation matched. Sadly he has many of the same struggles I do. For years he has battled with whether he could be saved due to his ongoing struggle with sin, especially pride. He has cried out for salvation many times but was never sure of whether he was saved since he saw how much he still loved his sin. Similar to his brother Austin, I would not give him any assurance of salvation, but would simply point him back to the complete work of salvation and forgiveness that we can have in Christ if we believe the promises of the gospel. Recently we went to a “Do Hard Things” conference and Mr. Harris spoke on the nature of a believer verses an unbeliever. He explained about how as a believer, your desires change and though you may have some (or many) of the old habits, God is still at work in you and it starts with your desires and affections, etc. (This is my quick paraphrase.) This really helped to define Aidan’s struggle to him and gave him a “peace” about his own battle. He had trusted in the finished work of Christ and was battling sin (by the power of the Holy Spirit). As such, God used Mr. Harris’ speech to reveal how He was working in Aidan, namely in his desire for holiness and honoring God in his life, as well as the pursuit thereof. Ryan and I and other people who interact with Aidan had thought that he was a believer for at least a year prior to this, and were thankful to see God move in Aidan to trust in the work of Christ for salvation and assurance of faith, too. Here is his testimony.

Aidan’s Testimony:
Good morning. My name is Aidan Aldrich. I learned about God and the gospel through my parents teaching, Sunday school, and reading the bible, etc. Before I was saved I struggled with pride, anger, lying and cheating. And I still struggle with these things, but now I know and believe that Christ died for my sins and I am covered with His righteousness. I used to not think about “life when I’m an adult”. I just did school and chores and played video games… and that was my average day. But as I got older I started to realize that I’m going to have to “do hard things” and not just be a lazy bum.

When my dad got laid off from work we had a lot of time to just talk about the gospel and things of God like obedience, kindness, self-control, gentleness, etc. while doing some jobs people asked us to do. Our talks helped me to realize that I needed a savior.

I’m glad that Jesus will always be there in my times of trials and struggles. I know that I will never be perfect before I die because God is holy and I’m not. I praise the Lord for my salvation. (Eph 2:8-10) For by grace you have been saved through faith not of yourselves, it is the free gift of God not as a result of works that no man should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we might walk in them.

I pray that God would guide me and help me understand His word and I also pray that He would help me strive for Him. I thank God that He would send His only Son to die for me, a wretched sinner in need of a savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ. I thank God that we have a hope for eternal life in Christ Jesus because He died and rose again on the 3rd day and defeated death. Jesus is my Friend, and God is my spiritual Father.

Baptisms: My son Austin

This week we are sharing the testimonies of some of our loved ones who recently got baptized. On Tuesday Jasmine shared the story of God’s work in her sister Kat. Today and tomorrow, I will be sharing the story of God’s work in my oldest and youngest sons Aidan and Austin. Today I will talk of Austin since he is the youngest. Let me tell you a little about him.

Austin is 9 years old. He is a talker! He is smart as a whip and he knows the gospel back and forth. As such, we’ve always had great conversations about eternal things. But within the last 6-12 months, we watched God change that knowledge into something more in Austin. He gave Austin a certainty that the gospel wasn’t just truth, but rather that it was real. God changed it from Sunday school truth to real life truth… it wasn’t just a story of “grace”; it became salvation to my little guy. God has given Austin a love for Jesus which He is also growing into a passion to live for Jesus. I am excited to see God at work in him and continue to pray daily for him and my other sons that God will use them for His glory and help them to live “all out” for Jesus. He was baptized by my husband Ryan this past Sunday. Here is Austin’s testimony which he read to our congregation at Temple Baptist Church before he was baptized. I hope you will be encouraged by it.

Austin’s testimony:

I learned about God from Mom and Dad, from Pastor Matt at home and at church. I learned that God is Almighty and about Jesus. Without God, we don’t care about Him. That’s bad because we need to care about Him. If we don’t, then we’ll go to Hell. God made us to glorify Him. If we don’t care about Him, then we won’t glorify Him. God sent Christ to die on the cross for our sins because He loved us and so that we could draw near to Him.

At first, I would sometimes obey and sometimes not. I sinned a lot. I didn’t really care about Him. It felt like He wasn’t really there. Whenever I heard that Christ died for me, I thought “No, He didn’t really die for me. He died for my mom and my dad and my brothers, but not for me. Then for awhile I thought maybe He died for me, but I wasn’t sure. Then I was reading my bible each day and it said that Jesus died for my sins. For about a week I was still thinking about it. And I saw those words again and I was just sure that He died for MY sins.

Jesus died for our sins. He rose from the dead. He ascended into Heaven. He’s coming back to earth and He’ll make a new heaven and a new earth. When I believed this, I was glad. Now I try to be more kind and to help people. When I sin, I try to confess it and seek forgiveness from whoever I sinned against.

Sometimes I think that I want to be like Paul. He was a missionary who preached the gospel. Or like Simon Peter. They loved God so much. I want to love God that much. It was possible for them to love God so much because God loved them and because the Holy Spirit helped them. He can help me, too.

Kat's Testimony to God's Grace

This past Sunday, my sister Kat, also known as Katie, or as I affectionately called her, the K K Monster, was baptized as a testimony of the work of Jesus in her life. This was a beautiful moment for her family. Just a little over a month ago, she was still avoiding talking about Jesus and still rejecting the truth of the gospel she had grown up with. Amazing Grace! Amazing grace to her and to those of us who love her and have labored to pray for her and speak to her the words of life. After attending small group with my mom out a sense of obligation for some things my mom had recently done for her, we began to see the Spirit suddenly and powerfully convict her of sin and bring her to repentance and faith in Jesus alone. Because of her experience in the small group sermon discussions she began to desire to hear more of the word by coming to actually hear the sermons and was convinced that all these years she truly had neglected to be a doer of the word and cast herself fully on Jesus. God delights in saving sinners; I am in awe of this. I am grateful and rejoicing. I am amazed at my salvation and I have recently been convicted through my sister's conversion how much I lack proper amazement, joy and expectation. I know and believe Jesus died for me and can only cry out in joy and receive mercy everyday, yet I began to believe God would never save my sister. What a contradiction. I lacked faith in a God who saves and I know full well delights in saving sinners. So, as I enjoy watching God work in and through my sister in such an amazing way, I am encouraged to press on in praying for and witnessing to my other siblings. My passion is reignited if you will, and my admiration for my mother's perseverence in doing good, praying and continuing to hope in the power of the gospel, has grown tremendously. The power of the gospel is something I want to keep at the forefront of my mind, since somehow along the way it was buried and jumbled in my messy faith. As you read Kat's testimony be encouraged to press on in praying for and preaching the gospel to your loved ones. The Gospel is the power, not you, not me.

Kat's Testimony

Scripture says in Matthew 7:21 - Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven will enter.

I was 7 when I first became guilty of shouting “Lord, Lord”. I had prayed, asked Jesus into my heart and chose Him as my savior. I did all the right things, like going to Sunday School and Church. And, as I got older I became a member of our Church choir, did 5 Day Club ministries, and assisted with our Church's children's musical.

I knew what God's word said, and I knew what sin was; but I never believed my rebellion and disobedience to my mom, was rebellion and disobedience to God. But, sin is just that, sin!

When I turned 18 and was able to make “ adult choices”, I didn't ponder for one second God or what His word says. All I saw was freedom to do what I wanted to do.

My fear of eternity in hell was my only drive to be saved and I repeatedly tried to save myself.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says: For by grace you have been saved through faith: and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

So, why did I think as a human created by God, Who made all things, that I have a right to think I even had a say! I didn't have that right. All I was truly doing was boasting in myself. I was a child of wrath, willfully sinning with a terrifying expectation of judgment.

I had let the things of this world be my focus and it kept me blind. It is only the grace of a merciful and loving God that saved me from myself. The moment I surrendered myself to the Almighty God, I was made broken and convicted of my sinful ways. It was in seeing who I was apart from God and His forgiveness of my sins that He redeemed me by the blood of the Lamb.

So, now I say to all of you, for now and forevermore, I desire to be a witness for my Lord, a slave to my father's word, and to follow Him all of my days.