Christian Baptism Baptismal Testimonial My

Christian Baptism

Baptismal Testimonial

My name is Julie. I was born and was raised by Roman Catholic parents. My father was in the U.S. military and was not always around on Sundays, so it was my mother who always took me to church. Even though I have eight siblings, none of them seemed to be interested in going to church with our mother and me. When I was a little girl, I lost my mother due to complication with diabetes and breast cancer. This was a difficult period in my life and I felt lost and alone. One of the things that I found that I missed most about my mother was going to church with her and the time we spent talking before and after the services. These were special times for both of us and these precious episodes helped to form a lasting bond between us that made her loss all the more painful.

Like some of my peers, I started drinking alcohol during my high school years partly out of peer pressure and partly due to the lingering problems I was having in coping with the loss of my mother. Although I managed to successfully complete my high school education, my drinking got out of control after I started attending college. My behaviors became increasingly self-destructive and when I got pregnant, my father told me that I had to get married even though the father of my child and I did not love each other. As a matter of tradition and respect for my father, I obeyed him and married this man but lived a very miserable life as a result. After so many years of searching in pain, I was lost yet again but I was still not calling on God for help but kept relying on my self-will and intuition to guide me. Finally, after much self-reflection, one day I decided to file for divorce even though I knew how this act would affect my whole family and I was not surprised when they literally disowned me. Because of my actions, my family was disgraced because traditionally, Filipinos should not get divorced.

After my divorce, my family did not speak to me or even invite me to any family gatherings. This was just devastating for me because and for the third time in my life, I reached a point where I was overpowered by the events that were taking place around me and I felt lost and alone once again. In fact, I came to believe that my life was over. Then I looked at my son and I thought 'I need to be strong for him and for me.' At that moment, I came to realize that I have to set a good example for him by being strong and facing up to my circumstances. Remembering the special times that my mother and I shared as a little girl in our worship, I started going to church again and prayed to Him for help and guidance. Even today, I remember very clearly how I cried out to Him for help and asked Him what I should do in order to be saved. This was a turning point in my life because I felt so empty and lost but I knew in my heart that things were going to be okay.