Holy Spirit baptized me....

[Jollybean]

The dream: I was standing on the bank of a large body of water and I remember the wind blowing and the feeling of it against my skin. I looked up and watched the trees swaying above me. Green leaves. It appeared to be spring time and it was a tad bit cool. I watched the ripples in the clear water and I smiled. I looked away back towards the wooded area I had just come from. Then I heard a voice. I turned to the voice and there in front of me was a translucent Jesus figure.... the way that Jesus is typically depicted, but only translucent and glowing. He smiled and his eyes were radiant. He held a hand out to me and I took hold of his hand. He led me into the lake. When my bare foot touched the water, it sent out silvery waves that shot across the surface, behind the waves from the area where my foot touched, the lake changed into a glistening silver looking inground kind of pool that stretched farther than my eye could see.... it only changed as the waves from my foot crossed over, so at times it was half lake and half silvery and pool like. When my foot touched the bottom, the water only to my knees, it was warm. I stepped into the water and noticed that I had on a very flowy and pretty summer dress with spaghetti straps. It was blowing in the wind. It too was silvery and almost looked like silvery water. The bottom of the pool shined and the sunlight danced on it the way it does in a pool. Silver lines danced all over the floor of the pool and my feet. It was silver lines on top of a silver floored pool. Everything was so bright and shiny. I smiled at the translucent Jesus who I figured was the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost. We walked out together a ways, hand in hand, smiling but never really speaking. It was as if we were talking with our eyes... without using our mouths and words. There was calm understanding. Once out a ways into the water, now up to my stomach, I put my fingers into the water. I smiled as I looked once more at my beautiful surroundings. Then the Holy Ghost put a hand on my back and dipped me back into the water, baptizing me. While under the water I heard him say "You must be baptized by the Holy Spirit in order to have eternal life" and I opened my eyes and looked up through the water at this Holy Spirit and His radiant eyes smiled at me. I smiled back and then BAM - woke up. Now more about me and my spiritual background since it is a bit relevant to this dream I think: In 2003 I was baptized by a pastor whom I had grown quite fond of. To me he was the world... he had helped me through some difficult times and he had taught me all about God and God's love for me. I was thrilled that I was finally being baptized at the age of 21. I would have many conversations with God and it seemed as if he was right there with me and talking to me too. After a time though and after moving 8 hours south, I couldn't find that same sort of connection in a church and I just stopped going. Simple as that. It's been a little over a year since I've gone to a church service. Well a year ago, the preacher that had baptized me called me on the phone to tell me something and to apologize and ask my forgiveness. What he told me was that all along he has had intentions of "getting me" so to speak... basically he was trying to win me over so he could have sex with me... even though he was much older and married. This really messed with my spiritual side and I no longer wanted anything to do with church or him. I even turned away from prayer and God. I told my husband that my baptism by that preacher meant nothing to me... and that I would be baptized again if I ever became interested in church again..... Sooooooo, that's a bit of the background when it comes to my spiritual walk. The dream was beautiful to say the least.

[JR1]

Wow!!!! You wrote this dream out like it would be written in a book. You worded it as these authors would write something out. Lovely dream. It does not need interpretation. On the other hand. You would be a good writer.

[JR1]

I forgot to mention, do not let that Pastors behavoir or intention stop you from returning to the Church. God will deal with him accordingly. Remember, he is flesh just like you. We ALL have fall short, thats in the Word. Dont let that stop you from pursuing God in every way. God may call you to join another church. Once you are baptized, you are baptized, your faith completed the deal. Since you felt the way you did about your baptismal experience and felt that it was nullified because of this Pastors motive, who is to say that you were not rebaptized right there by God in the spirit of the Holy Ghost. God can do it. He is all powerful. He really does not need our Human help for nothing. If you feel that you need another experience go ahead but it feels like it has already been done. Bless You,

[Baron Samedi]

Well, that's awesome that you had that dream. It shows that you don't need a human to baptize you. The pastor should not have called you to apologize for ill intentions. The only harm he caused was from his apology.

[Jollybean]

JR1 - Thank you! I love to write. An art therapist friend of mine once told me that when I write out my dreams that I should write them in first person and use many descriptive words because it lets the reader feel as if he or she is there watching it happen. As for returning to church, I know that I shouldn't let the pastor's behaviors keep me from going back, but when I go into a church it seems to remind me of him. I seem to associate things with other things too much. Lately though I've started praying more and am starting to warm up to the idea of finding a new church. I'm not opposed to finding a different denomination to explore and hope to eventually find my place. For now though, it is slow and I'm easing myself back into it. Maybe I should think of this date (the date of this dream) as the date of my baptism... that will make it better. This dream seemed so real. I really like that I dreamed this. Usually my dreams are more scary and gross. Waking Nomad - Yeah, I'd prefer to be baptized the way I was in the dream.. that was much more meaningful! I think the pastor must have been trying to rid himself of guilt by apologizing, but you're right, it was more harmful to me than if I hadn't known his intentions. After he apologized he continued to try to contact me as if I wanted to be his friend. I wrote him a stern e-mail and basically told him to not contact me any more and that the friendship wasn't real if his intentions weren't good. I sent it to him from my husband's email address to add emphasis to my words. He never replied. By the way, the quote that you have attached there is beautiful! :-)

[Baron Samedi]

Weird that he behaved that way afterward. I had a feeling his "confession" was his way of seeing if you were interested in him. I am sorry that you had to go through that creepy experience! Harriet Tubman is one of my heroes. I like the quote because she did a Reality Check! How awesome is that?