Keystone Stories – The Baker’s
Fear. If I’m honest, I struggle with it constantly. So when my daughter, Zayli, told me she was afraid to be baptized in front of so many people, I understood at a very deep level and knew there was nothing I could do as a mother except to lay it at the Lord’s feet.
Zayli had accepted Jesus at an early age, but my husband, Erich, and I knew she had to make the decision to take the next step of obedience on her own. Prepare 2023 was incredible. We listened to a life-changing sermon by Mark Vance and the Lord used this sermon to continue to help me reorient my life around Jesus.
That week, Erich and I jotted down our desire for Zayli to overcome her fear and get baptized this year in our Prepare workbooks. I kept a notecard with this prayer by my desk at home so I would be reminded to pray. We received our Prepare prayer requests over the summer that the church had mailed back out to us and kept praying. Erich was also fasting on a monthly basis and this was one of the things he was praying about.
There was nothing I could do as a mother except to lay it at the Lord’s feet.
Shortly after Zayli started Keystone youth group, she approached us and said she was ready to get baptized. She shared that Isaiah 41:10 had helped her. Praise the Lord! On Sunday, October 29, 2023, we watched as her youth group leader, Allie, baptized her in the new Keystone Church building with people–who have poured into her and our family–watching and rejoicing with us. (Fun fact: We had Zayli dedicated over 10 years ago at Northview Middle School when Keystone Church was still Cornerstone Church of Ankeny! What a blessing our Keystone Church spiritual family has been to us!).
Zayli shared her God story and Isaiah 41:10 before she was baptized. Afterwards, her grandmother (Erich’s mother) told Zayli that it was her great-grandmother’s favorite verse, which we did not know. God’s Word stands the test of time. It’s not a coincidence that the Lord used the same verse to encourage our daughter and, generations before that, her great-grandmother. We look forward to Prepare 2024 and what the Lord will do!
