On Sunday we saw Emma baptised as part of Bournemouth Church Collective’s “Baptisms on the Beach”. Here is her story written down:
Emma’s Story
I’ve been praying to try and understand my testimony, because I couldn’t piece it together in a narrative way. It hasn’t felt like a single moment for me—it’s been more of a gradual revelation over time.
I’ve always had a yearning for God, and have always called out to know truth and to know God. I remember at university hearing a worship song for the first time, and that began a relationship with Jesus where I’d sense his presence and guidance. I remember being out in the fields, calling out to God:
I don’t know what I’m doing here.
I don’t know what my life’s for.
Please let me know what I’m supposed to be doing, show me the way.
Since then the same inner posture and yearning has been guiding me. At that point, I didn’t fully know who Jesus was, or who God was. I was a bit apprehensive about dogmatic religion, and I couldn’t reconcile this knowing in my heart of who I was speaking to, with what I was seeing in organised religion. My relationship with Jesus or God at that point felt more personal and not fully formed.
However, I had a constant prayer for the Lord to overtake me. I prayed, asking for him to remove anything that’s not him and not true. And over time, he has been true to that, gradually removing everything that wasn’t him and bringing me to a place where I now understand more of Jesus’ full power.
Why do I want to be baptised?
Recently, I’ve realised that when I used to call out to GOd, it was from a place of finding life hard and confusing, wanting to know God as a way of getting the key our of the discomfort of life. Now, looking back, I can see that my relationship with Jesus has changed so much. When I call to God now, it’s from a place of love—of wanting to honour Him more and more and to give my life and my service to Him, driven by my love for Him.
This baptism represents and marks that shift in me. It’s also a commitment to step into Jesus’ church in a way I haven’t done before, and to mark this new part of my life.
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13