Keystone Stories – Kayla and Courtney

KAYLA STEFFENS.

One of my prayers that I had been praying for for about a year and half already when Prepare happened was that a good friend of mine would walk in obedience and get baptized. She shared with me and another friend that she wanted to but had a lot of fear surrounding it and couldn’t do it. And so, I would just pray for her as I would think of it and I would send her the baptism announcements from church. Then, when Prepare came, I wrote it down and asked God that her and her husband would get baptized that year, saying: “Lord, let this be the year.” 

As I stood on the stage with her, I couldn’t hold back the tears because all I could think about was that time two years ago when she shared with me that she COULD NOT get baptized, and I got to watch God totally transform her and, in His kindness, He allowed me to be part of the answer to that prayer. 

“Without all of the prayers, I would still be paralyzed with fear.”

COURTNEY LIENEMANN.

I saw countless people baptized, and each time I was moved to tears. I began feeling the Lord asking me to become baptized, but I pushed back out of fear. As a young child I developed a stutter, and I spent many years hiding my stutter, as it typically only came out in high stress situations.

I knew getting baptized could trigger my stutter. The thought of stuttering in front of the entire congregation gave me so much anxiety, I could not get past it. How could I face something I had been hiding my entire life? 

Finally, in the summer of 2023, I was baptized. I was able to be baptized alongside my husband. 

And Kayla was the one who baptized me. 

I prayed (and I know others prayed) the Lord would give me the words to say. And He did. I was able to fully speak and profess my faith in front of our church on the final baptism Sunday at our old building.

I will never forget the joy that overtook me the moment I was able to hug Kayla coming out of the water. As the Lord had taken me “from death to life.” Without all of the prayers, I would still be paralyzed with fear.