Here is something I posted at Relevant that gives the story of my baptism (note: it's a bit long, but it's good):

Wow.

What an awesome experience! In church, I shared what God had been doing in my life, more recently in particular and also shared what baptism meant to me. I had been kind of nervous about talking in front of everyone, but I was fine once I was up there. God totally gave me the words to share.

I spoke about how it seems that every five years of my life there's a major stepping stone. I was five when I was saved, 11 when I really ralized what it meant to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I didn't actually mention this part, but when I was 15, God was teaching me a lot about really trusting in him in everything, because my life felt very out of my control in that time. Now, I will be 20 on Saturday and I'm finally baptized.

I talked about how this past year in particular, Jesus has been working in my life in major ways. As I look back, I realize that my paradigm has shifted a lot. I have a deeper understanding of God's love for me. A love that is much deeper than the love of a father, friend, or lover. And through understanding more of the depth of God's love, I've understood what grace means a lot more. I've come to understand that it's not the falling and sinning that really matters, since my sins have been cast away, but it's the getting back up and moving forward. It's about not letting the enemy keep me down. God wants to have an intimacy with me, and I prevent that from happening when I don't accept his grace.

And through that, I've also gained a lot of freedom. I have more freedom to step out and follow God's leading, even if it's something I've never done before. A couple weeks ago I was downtown with some of my friends from church and this kid came up to me and asked me if he could have my leftovers. I was just blown away. I gave him the leftovers, but I was left with this feeling like I could have done more. The next week I was in the area and I thought about the kid, and about all those times I've wanted to be able to help the homeless out more, rather than jsut passing them on the street. So I got some food and brought it downtown to give to people. I had always wanted to do that, so I decided to just go ahead and do it.

So anyway, we got to the beach and people just kept coming. I had a lot of friends and family there. Pastor Billy and Mark (I don'tknow exactly what Mark's "title" is) prayed for me and then we went into the water (which was not as cold as I thought it would be, especially considering I get cold very easily).

Then I was baptized! I felt very much at peace, and excited. Like the Holy Spirit just moved in me in a powerful, but at the same time gentle, way.

Right now, I am sitting here very much in awe of the goodness of God and how much he truly has done in my life. I am so excited to see where God takes me in the future!

Hallelujah!

Marieke