Good morning, church family and friends. My name is Katerina and I have the privilege of sharing my testimony with you all today. I grew up in a Christian home with parents who taught me about God, brought me to church and enrolled me in Christian school. I was often described as a good kid as I followed the rules and I stayed out of trouble.

But good appearances are not enough to save me. God is all-knowing and he saw the depth of my sin. God is also holy and so my sins against him were not just minor indiscretions but cosmic treason. I deserve judgment but God was rich in mercy and he loved me greatly.

He sent his only son to be condemned in my place. Some of you may know that my husband and I are adopting a little boy from Korea. I can't even begin to fathom the amount of love it must have taken for God to give up his only son. This profound display of love and gospel truth changed my life at the young age of five.

I still vividly remember finding a small space in our home on our playground and praying quietly that the Lord would forgive me of my sin and that he would use my life for his purpose. In that moment I was justified but I'm still being sanctified. In particular I struggled a lot with control.

Those who know me know that I like things very neat and very tidy. I believe that if I worked hard at something that it should yield the results that I expected. This was often manifested in my relationship with other people. I worked hard for other people's affirmation but disappointments would often cause me deep despair and anger.

In hindsight I see how God withheld certain friendships from me because he knew that they would become idols in my heart. It is in vain that I struggle to control my life. My hope cannot be placed on things that change because otherwise my hope and my joy will also fluctuate.

Rather the safest thing for me to do is to trust and surrender in the Lord, one who is unchanging and in control of all things, because then I can be content in every circumstance. At the age of 16 I chose to undergo sprinkling as a profession of my faith in Jesus.

At the church that I grew up in this was the method of baptism and I believed at that time that it was sufficient as an act of obedience. This past year God has led me to meditate on Romans chapter 6, specifically verses 3 to 5, which states, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in death like this, we shall certainly be united with him in resurrection like this." Through this passage God led me to realize that baptism is meant to display his death and resurrection.

Just as he died, was buried, and was raised, my baptism shows how I die to myself and my plans. I am buried and then raised to live a new life with him. My decision to be baptized through immersion is an act of obedience to the convictions that God has placed in my heart through his word.

I am a child of God and my aim in this life is reflected through the words of Apostle Paul in Galatians 2.20, which states, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." May he receive all glory and praise.

Thank you. Thank you for sharing your testimony with us. Katerina, do you understand that by going into the water you still die, yet your union with Christ's death by coming out of the water symbolizes your union with Christ in the first place. I baptize you in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.