Happy Spiritual Birthday!

Years ago, I read a blog post about spiritual birthdays. That's something I had never heard of before. The author was a delightful mom whose blog was recommended by a mutual friend. Her words inspired me, and one idea I kept tucked away was her celebration of the day each of her children accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

All three of my children came to the Lord at an early age. Admittedly, I was a little unsure that they were old enough to grasp salvation, but with each child, I received assurance from a church leader and a VBS teacher. I was told, and agreed that, they understood the truth in a way that a seven- or eight-year-old could.

Ida, our firstborn, was baptized as an infant. When she later professed her faith, we were at a church that didn't believe in baptizing a second time. So, we celebrated as a family and were joined by some church friends. That's when my blogger friend's idea popped into my mind. 

Why not celebrate such an amazing day every year! It gave us the opportunity to have a conversation about their faith and relationship with Jesus. Throw in a cupcake and a small gift, and it became a celebration.  Over the years, I gifted my children with devotionals, prayer cards, books, journals, Christian t-shirts, and anything else that reminded them of their relationship with Jesus. 

John was not baptized when he was a baby, so when he came to the Lord, he was baptized during a church service. I had never experienced a baptism in a baptismal pool with each person professing their faith beforehand. Hearing little John's sweet words and watching him come up out of the water to applause and shouts of joy was amazing. Our whole life group went out to lunch afterwards to celebrate. 

Then there was Asa's baptism, where it just so happened that Michael W. Smith was leading worship and singing one of my most favorite worship songs as my littlest was baptized. Being new to Nashville, we didn't have a life group, but our family-of-five lunch was special, nonetheless. 

Flash forward thirteen years and it got even better! In March of this year, Ida chose to be rebaptized when she recommitted her life to Christ. We didn't have a lot of notice, but you'd better believe we jumped in the car and made the three-hour drive so we could be there! Then in May, after a life-changing retreat, John also chose to be rebaptized, and my tears just flowed. 

Each of these days are second in my heart only to the day I gave birth each child. Having all three of them give their life to the Lord is an answered prayer and the most important thing they will ever do.  Because of that, we remember each year--it's that big of a deal! I pray their faith continues to grow and their relationship with God deepens as they go through life. Perhaps they will even celebrate spiritual birthdays with their children when then the time comes. And I'll cry all over again.