One year after my honest-to-God conversation in Hawaii, I felt in my heart to go and get baptised in water. During this time I grew to love God, to trust Him more and I’ve noticed He always answers my prayers when they come from my heart, in spirit in and in truth. God doesn’t listen to our emotions or our mental noise, but to our cries from spirit. My prayer for the whole year had been “I want to know You more.” I pondered for a while about the idea of getting baptised but I didn’t listen and just ignored the thought. Time passed and the nudge in my heart to get baptised was still there and kept growing. I didn’t listen. I went to work every day, wrote for my books every day and life was going as usual. One afternoon, a friend from the other side of the world with whom I haven’t spoken in a while sent me a message out of the blue saying: “God wants you baptised in water. What are you waiting for? Go.” I called her to ask how she knew that and she told me she just did. We talked for a few minutes and before we hung up the phone she said one more time: “God wants you baptised in water. Go do it.”
The following Sunday I was sitting on the edge of the swimming pool. In front of me the minister – a man from New Zealand filled with passion and love for God – immersed a young woman in water and then called me to step in. I didn’t know why I was doing this, but I’ve learned over the years to trust God and do His will even when I don’t understand it. I whispered without moving my lips: “Jesus I die with You, so I live with You.” The minister raised his right hand: “I baptise you the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit” – and I went under water. A second later I was outside the pool again, surrounded by strangers clapping and laughing. A man from Africa laid his hands on me and started praying a long prayer. I closed my eyes trying to focus on his words, but I couldn’t. I was thinking only of what happened when Jesus got baptised by John and the Spirit of God came upon Him as a dove. “How cool it would be to have a dove coming over me as well” I giggled with my eyes still closed. The man from Africa kept praying for me with many words and good wishes, and I kept not listening to him but thinking of the dove. “Let me look to see if there’s any dove above me” I thought and I opened my eyes for a second. I looked up and saw nothing except the ceiling of the swimming hall. “I guess that’s only for Jesus” I raised my shoulders with a little sadness, and closed my eyes again. A minute later people clapped their hands, we hugged each other and everybody left home.
I stayed behind to put my winter clothes on and walked out in the street, when an elderly woman whom I’ve never met before approached me.
“What a beautiful ceremony!” she said. “My name is Manawa. I was watching you and the sweet young woman who got baptised.”
“You come to our church?” I asked her. “It’s my second time here, I don’t know anyone.”
“Every Sunday. This baptism ceremony was special – very special. The presence of the Lord was abundant upon us. When the young woman came out of the water I saw a honey comb above her. Golden honey flowed in her soul from above.”
“I love this church, it’s full of Life” I said to her.
“But I want to ask you something” she interrupted. “During your baptism at one moment you opened your eyes and looked up. What did you see?”
“Nothing” I smiled trying to hide my naivety. “I was thinking of something and I just opened my eyes, but I saw nothing. Just the ceiling.”
“The moment you looked up” she put her hand on my shoulder “I saw a brilliant white dove shinning above you. I was so surprised to see it, but it was magnificent – a pure dove of light flapping its wings above you. Just like the dove that came upon Jesus after He was baptised by John.” It only appeared when you opened your eyes and looked up, and disappeared when you closed them a second later. I thought you saw it too when you opened your eyes.”
I stayed silent for a while.
“Thank you” I eventually said before she hopped on the bus. “Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
We can never take miracles for granted because when miracles happen we realize we find ourselves in the presence of God. Sometimes we share these miracles with strangers.
And there is nothing more precious that to know you are truly loved with a wild and divine love, just as you are.
I love you,
Dr. Dragos
