Soft music played as I gripped my Christmas-coloured bouquet and took a shaky breath.

I was about to make one of the biggest decisions of my life. I stepped through a doorway and found myself surrounded by the smiling faces of friends and family. My husband-to-be, framed by an arch of roses, waited for me at the end of the room. Seeing him, my nervousness melted away as I walked down the aisle much too quickly and took his hand. "Do you, Lynette, take Stephen to be your lawfully wedded husband?" the minister asked. "I do!" As my husband and I pledged our vows and leaned in for the first newlywed kiss, our guests rejoiced with us.

Like a wedding, a baptism is a formal, public "I do" to God in front of witnesses. My wedding day was the start of a new kind of life, as I left my old single lifestyle behind. Similarly, baptism is a new beginning with God. In fact, the Bible uses even more dramatic imagery than marriage to describe baptism as the start of something new –metaphors of birth, death, and resurrection. For example, I am "born again" through water (baptism) and the Holy Spirit (John 3:3, 5). Going down into the water symbolizes that my old life is dead. My sins are "washed away" (Acts 22:16). Being raised up out of the water – a kind of resurrection – symbolises that I now have a new life (Romans 6:4). With this new beginning, I also become part of God's family, the Church (1 Corinthians 12:13).

With such vivid pictures, God really wants to make it clear that we have a fresh start with Him, no matter our past! As the apostle Paul writes, "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ...Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (Galatians 3:27 and 2 Corinthians 5:17)

Baptism is not the "finish line" in my relationship with God. Just as my love story did not end on my wedding day, my relationship with God continued and developed after my baptism.

After the public commitment of our wedding ceremony, my husband and I had to learn how to live well together and how to love each other better every day. There have been ups and downs in that journey, because we are two imperfect people. Yet as we do life together, we get to know each other more deeply, and we see the fruit of love, patience, kindness, forgiveness, and good humour in our marriage.

There are also ups and downs in my relationship with God. When I decided to commit my life to Him, I didn't "have it all together." I wasn't perfect – and I didn't need to be! Baptism was my public commitment to Him, not the end of my spiritual journey. So, there are still growing pains in my relationship with God sometimes. But I am learning how to love every day, and I am getting to know God more and more.

Just as I committed to my husband "for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health," so my baptism is a symbol and a promise that I belong to God no matter what life throws at me. And I know that whatever mistakes I make, whether I am in a hard season of life or an easy one, God's love for me is also committed. He is faithful and unwavering. "I have loved you with an everlasting love," God says. "I have drawn you with unfailing kindness" (Jeremiah 31:3).

"Choosing a new life with God through baptism is my response to His love for me. How about you?"

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Bible texts for in-depth study:
Matthew 3:13-15; 28:19-20; Mark 16:16; Luke 7:29-30; John 3:5; Acts 2:38; 16:30-33; 22:16; Romans 6:1-6; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:12-13