This past weekend, Melissa, someone's "one", was baptized at our 1pm gathering in Cartersville! 🙌⁠ "I was saved when I was 13 years old. I had a close relationship with God back then. One that felt pure and real. But as time passed, life happened. I went through things that no one should ever have to go through. I experienced pain and trauma, and instead of healing, I turned to drugs and alcohol. I lost my way. I lost my faith. I spent most of my life battling addiction and alcoholism, constantly searching for something to fill the void inside of me. Then in 2019, my world was shattered when my son passed away unexpectedly. That loss pushed me into a spiral of darkness and despair. I was completely out of control and eventually checked myself into detox and a program. And it was there that I started attending AA meetings. Those meetings helped me find my faith again, but even then, I hadn't fully surrendered my life to Jesus. A little over a year ago, I reached my lowest point. I didn't think I could go on any longer, and I truly felt like it was the end for me. But God had other plans. A friend told me about The Compassion Center and walked me through their doors. Walking through their doors changed everything. For the first time in my life, I was surrounded by people who believed in me, who said, 'You can,' when all I ever heard was, 'You can't.' And I started believing it too. Something shifted inside me. My heart began to soften. I began to feel emotions again—emotions that I always tried to bury. I came to realize that this was the Holy Spirit working in me and fighting for me. That realization brought me to tears and made me want to live differently. It made me want to surrender fully, to trust that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me, who never gave up on me, even when I gave up on myself. I spent most of my life wishing I was dead. But now, every single day, I thank God that I'm alive. I know I will struggle with addiction and alcoholism for the rest of my life, but I also know I don't have to carry that burden alone anymore. I've handed it over to Jesus because I know that I can't do this without Him. Today, through baptism, I'm declaring that I belong to Jesus. I'm not perfect—far from it. But I know that with God's love, I'm going to be all right. This is not the end of my story. It's the beginning of a new life in Christ. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me. I'm yours." Thank you to Melissa for sharing your story! To learn more about the work being done at The Compassion Center, visit https://www.compassionga.org/ (fb)

Thank you for joining us at Crosspoint City Church online today! We are one church in multiple locations and we exist to relentlessly pursue those far from God to help them know and follow Jesus. To help support this mission and work, visit https://mycpcc.com/give To learn more about all of our locations or what is coming up at Crosspoint City, check out https://www.crosspointcity.com/ (fb)