“I made the decision to seriously seek God—to know Him, understand Him, and draw closer to Him. And as I sought Him, I began to realize what my life had been missing all along. I’m still seeking, still learning, and still growing every day. But my faith in my Lord Jesus Christ has allowed me to experience a true, deep, and profound love that I had never known before.”

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I was raised Catholic, and I have always believed in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. But for many years, I didn’t truly know Christ as my Lord and Savior. I believed in Him, but I didn’t fully understand what it meant to have a personal relationship with Him. For years, I searched for meaning in all the wrong places. I experienced moments of happiness, but deep down, I always felt like something was missing. I was living as a shell of a person—burning my wick at both ends and carrying a level of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion that I could no longer ignore. About a year ago, something began to change. I made the decision to seriously seek God—to know Him, understand Him, and draw closer to Him. And as I sought Him, I began to realize what my life had been missing all along. I’m still seeking, still learning, and still growing every day. But my faith in my Lord Jesus Christ has allowed me to experience a true, deep, and profound love that I had never known before. God has quieted fears and anxieties that once consumed me and has given me a peace in my heart that I cannot fully explain. For me, baptism is an outward expression of the inward reconstruction God has been doing in my life. It represents my decision to follow Jesus with my whole heart—to surrender my life to Him and continue walking with Him wherever He leads me. I know I’m not perfect. I know I will still stumble, struggle, and have moments when I fall short. But I also know that I am loved by God. In Jesus, I have found my true identity—not in the world, not in my past, and not in my mistakes, but as a beloved child of God. And I know that nothing can separate me from the love God has for me. John 8:12 says: “Jesus spoke to them again: ‘I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.’” Today, I choose to follow that Light. Today, I publicly declare my faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And today, I’m grateful to begin this next chapter of my life—not because I have everything figured out, but because I know who I belong to. I belong to Christ.
— Chrishaunna Smith