J'nan’s Story: Raised into New Life

For J’nan Tierney, June 2, 2019, was no ordinary day. The sun was shining, the weather was warm and a crowd had gathered on the shore as she and 41 others were baptized in the soft, rolling waves of the Atlantic Ocean, just off of Driessen Beach. Her journey to baptism and a new life in Christ is an interesting one, and it began with a letter she found in her daughter’s backpack. 

“My daughter came home from school, and in her backpack was a letter from the school talking about a lunch program that was started as a result of a donation made from LCC,” J’nan says. “I thought, ‘Oh, that’s really cool. Maybe I'll check it out.’ It went to the bottom of my to-do list, and it stayed there.”

Two days later, J’nan received a handwritten letter from an LCC staff member. “Basically, the letter briefly went over the school lunch program, but it also invited us to come check out the children’s programs at the church,” J’nan explains. So, J’nan decided to visit LCC one Sunday morning. “I walked into the worship center, and, immediately, I just knew that I was exactly where I needed to be. I felt like I came home. I was home,” she says.

Then, on her third visit to LCC, she saw a baptism during the Sunday service. “Immediately I thought, ‘Oh, I want to do that.’ Then I got home and I started feeling really reluctant about it because I was like, ‘Am I crazy? I've just started this journey. I've just started building my relationship with God. I've just accepted Christ in my life. Can I possibly be ready for this?’”

The following day, J’nan received a notification on her phone. She opened the notification and the image was water. “I was like, ‘Could this be it? I don't know. It could be a coincidence,’” she recalls. Then the next day, again, she received an image that depicted water, and the day after that, and the day after that. “In every single message throughout that entire week, there was water,” she explains. “I was like, ‘This is my sign.’ I was like, ‘OK, God. I hear You. I know that it is Your will for me. I am going to do this baptism. I am ready for it. … Here I am.’”

June 2, 2019, is a day that J’nan will never forget. On that day, J’nan was raised up out of the waters and into a new life in Jesus Christ. 

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