TESTIMONY 11: I WAS BAPTIZED

On 21 September 2014, I was baptized again (I was baptized as a baby, but I obviously had no idea what was happening then lol). My heart had been longing to get baptized "again" for quite some time since I said the salvation prayer and I had been coming across a Bible verse saying you must be born again, a lot, I had also been hearing of people getting baptized, and then my church (both Hillsong and The Bay) announced that they would be doing baptisms services. I took it as a clear sign, that perhaps I should get baptized lol I am so happy I made this decision. There's just something beautiful about leaving your old life, old self and old ways in the past and becoming a new person, with new ways. On 21 September 2014 the old Sydney died, and I was born again! I now leave behind all of my sins, and choose (now that my eyes are opened) to try my best to live a godly life like Christ, and through Christ. You see, thousands of years ago when Adam and Eve sinned the first time the devil took authority over them and all who do the same, because when they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree they were not listening to God Who said "Do not eat it" they were listening to the devil who said "Eat it" And so if you sin you are not listening to God who says "You must not sin" you are listening to the devil who says "You must sin" and since God's Kingdom is a Kingdom for people who obey God, those who listen to the devil will not enter it. But the good news is that:

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only

begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

(John 3:16)

God had a plan to save people and He sent His angel Gabriel to a virgin woman named Mary, who was highly favoured by God for being so pure, to tell her that she would be having a child and that He will be named Jesus and he will save his people from their sins. When Jesus came into the world and died on the cross, His was made to be a sacrifice for all of our sins, so that we can come back to God. And Jesus Christ is our example, and he was baptized (Matthew 3:13-17) and so as he taught, we must also be baptized (John 3:1-21). And below is a picture taken by Hillsong Church Cape Town of my baptism:

I remember quite some time back I had tears in my eyes as I read the story of Noah in the Bible, how God chose to save him and his family only, because he was righteous. I had tears in my eyes, because I kept thinking negative thoughts like "Now because of all the things I did in my life, all those drunk nights, I will never be righteous, because of these actions I chose. If I had just avoided drinking and nightclubs I would never have walked that path. It's too late for me, because I already did it.  If the world were to end tonight, I would not be saved from the flood" I went to sleep feeling down that night and the next morning, still feeling low I started thinking about it again in the car on the way home. "Why did I do all those things. Now I will never be righteous. God can't I just take it all away so why am I even trying" Immediately I looked out the widow to my left and there stood a sign in the distance against a wall "You do not have to be great to start. You just have to start to be great." I felt immediate motivation that I had been lacking all along and felt it was a sign from God telling me "Yes Sydney, there is a way." I smiled. Later I was lead to finding out about Hillsong's baptisms and I'm happy I have this second chance and I learned that God can wipe our sins away.

"I will be merciful toward their iniquities, 

and I will remember their sins no more."

(Hebrews 8:12)

Thank God for His Mercy, that He forgives our sins and wipes them away - that is true forgiveness. As it is written, God's will is not for people to perish, but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) Praise be to God!

TESTIMONY 4: SOMEONE HAD A VISION ABOUT ME

American Swiss event, where a girl approached me and told me that God showed her a vision of me

July 31 I was at an American Swiss diamond event my modelling agency had invited me to. For the first time in my life I had attended an event completely alone, not knowing anyone that was going to be there? I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to gain some independence. When I arrived at the event I had immediate regrets of coming alone though, because everyone knew someone there. "Hi there, welcome to the American Swiss VIP event, could I have your name please?" a lady asked me at the entrance "Hi, thanks so much, my name is Sydney Bailey." She checked the guest list and then ticked my name off. "Alright perfect, there is champagne on the right side if you would like to grab you a glass?" "Oh no thank you I don't drink." I then looked over to my right and noticed there was orange juice too. "I think I'll have a glass of orange juice though, thanks!" When I made my way into the American Swiss store I walked around looking at some of the diamonds, what else was I supposed to do? Interrupt somebody else's conversation that they were having with someone they actually knew? Lol, not a chance! A staff member of American Swiss then approached me holding a plate carrying a beautiful ring "Would you like to try on this diamond ring?" "Oh no thank you!" I said, scared it would get stuck on my finger, I wasn't going to be that person. "Are you sure? Just give it a try?" the staff member was persistent and I noticed there was a man with a camera following him everywhere waiting to snap someone with it on. "Okay, sure, I'll try it on." another staff member then put the ring on my finger as pictures were being snapped of the whole procedure. 

I was then offered a small snack by one of the waiter's with trays. After that I pretty much ran out of things to do lol so out came the phone. I then noticed another lady standing alone and we started a conversation. I then noticed a girl I had seen before at the event, she was also a model. I remembered her from Cape Town fashion week rehearsals. The remember her specifically, because she was the only other model, apart from myself, that was being defensive and openly showing with expression that she was not happy with the treatment. The team treated the models horribly, like we didn't have feelings? It was mostly just the two main ladies in charge. What caused me to become angry was when one of the ladies yelled at me "Closer to the edge!!" I looked to my right and thought if I move any closer to the edge I will fall off, I'm already on the edge? I showed her I was confused using my hands. She again yelled "Closer to the edge!!!" Are you stupid???" I thought how dare you call me stupid, who do you think you are talking to me like that? When it was her turn to walk I spotted her complaining to the other lady, making huge arm movements angrily and then storming off while she walked back up the runway. 

That was the first time I had seen her, and this was the second. She saw me and walked towards me. "Hi, I saw you at fashion week?" "Yes, I actually recognized you!" I replied. "I had a vision of you." she said. I paused for a moment confused as she continued "God shows me visions. And I feel like I should tell the people when I see them what the visions are and I have you here now." I was still trying to process all of this, at one moment I was just bored at this event and now I'm listening to someone tell me they had a vision of me. "Are you a dancer?" she asked. "A dancer? No I mean I dance all the time in the house but I really can't dance" I joked, but she continued "I had a vision of you dancing. You were wearing all white, and it was flowing. You were smiling and really happy. You were really really happy." I was in shock and didn't said much she must have thought me rude, but I didn't know what to say back to that and all I could think of was "really?" She added "I know it can be weird if someone tells you stuff like this, someone once came up to me and was like I had a vision about you and I thought it was weird." I didn't really know what to say so I decided to randomly tell her something that had happened to me when I was younger. "No I don't think it's weird. I actually had a dream that my aunt had passed away when I was younger, and then she had actually passed away soon after that." "Oh.. so you get dreams!" she said. 

Somebody then grabbed everyone's attention on the mic and speeches started. After the speeches she shook my hand and said "it was nice meeting you." and her and her partner walked away. I left soon after that. I believe that God works through His people and that we are all connected by God. After I was saved I started meeting a lot of believers, even on set of my shoots? Where were they before? I am loving this journey and am looking forward to meeting more good friends through Christ :) 

Testimony 1: The day I repented of my sins

My spiritual journey began when I confessed that I was a sinner to God, and said out-loud with true belief that JESUS IS LORD, but long before this took place you could already see Jesus trying to get me on the path to eternal life by placing His wisdom in my mind.

6/09/2013 I posted the following on my Facebook wall: "Please, when reading this post instead of assuming I am doing this for attention, or thinking that I am crazy, understand it. I am also in no way meaning to insult anyone else’s religion. This is simply what I believe in.

It’s Sunday night and instead of chatting to other people on my new phone, flirting with the opposite sex, or stalking people’s lives on Facebook, I am on the internet doing research on Nostradamus and other life in the universe. I do this every night, literally. I am so interested in these things, the world and how it formed interests me and mainly religion. I am a FIRM believer in Jesus Christ and I want it to be known. I do not care what you believe in or how it makes me look to other people, it’s ME and GOD. I trust NO ONE ELSE. He is the only one I wish to impress. I have decided to change my life; putting an end to the person I used to be. One could say that I don’t deserve a reserved place in the heavens above with a past like mine, but all along I have been on the right path to get me where I am today. Every mistake made, every lesson learnt, it was all meant to happen. There is one thing I am certain about and that is that I have believed in God my entire life and REALLY believed. Since I was a little child I prayed knowing He was listening to me. I could feel He was listening to me, because every prayer, was answered - every single prayer. I find it really hard to believe that there are even people in this world who don’t believe in God. How do they think we got here exactly? If I were to sit them down and ask them this very question I’m sure I would find their answer amusing as they entertain me with all of the nonsense placed in their minds by the strong mental influence on brainwashing drugs, TV shows and misleading books.

I think if people just took the time to actually read the Bible they would learn a lot more than just God’s existence. There are so many life lessons in that book, pages filled with life examples, mistakes, punishments. The Bible teaches you what you will need to do and be, if you want to live for eternity (in the heavens above) and it teaches you what not to do in order to avoid going to hell. (You don’t want this. Living like a King/Queen here on earth is not worth suffering there) I have believed in my God all my life but never ever read every page in the Bible, “because I have an understanding of the basics of what is in there”, I believed, but come to realize that I was just too darn lazy to take the time to pick up that big book and read every single word, nor did I have the time. Now, I am MAKING the time, I plan to read every page. Everything happens for a reason and I believe that, there is a reason I did not read the Bible earlier and there is a reason I am going to read it only now and discover things I need to know, now. I have made enough mistakes to sculpt me into this person that is brave enough to make this change (and type this post to the public). Now I am ready to read, learn and teach.

I have been alive long enough to know that people do not like to be preached to. In the past, I have received inbox messages myself from complete strangers sending me verses from the Bible. I thought these people were crazy. The curiosity and belief in God made me read the message they had sent me, but the judgement kept me from replying or implementing that lesson in the verse, in my life. I just simply carried on doing what I thought was living. So, when I say I am “changing my life” and doing God’s work from now onward, this does not mean that I will be inboxing everyone on Facebook or making long status updates (like this one exception) and that I will now become a bitter person towards people and judge their every move and choice of religion (How Christian would that be of me to judge? ) I will not run around with a huge sign hanging over my body saying “The end is near” either - that’s just not for me lol it is also pointless, nobody will listen to me (unless I’m walking around in a bikini - it seems). I refuse to lose my sense of humour as well, as this is a contributing factor towards my happiness and the happiness of others in my company. I will, however, no longer be socializing with people who choose to spend their time they have here, in nightclubs, wasting their (or their parents) hard earned money on alcohol and other substances – which in the end only prove to be a distraction from what you were actually created to do (Everyone has a purpose). These places, I feel, are places created for sin. (Mainly used for brainwashing/mind control)

What are you even there for? “I want to have a good time and enjoy my life - YOLO!” Why is getting drunk and high and dancing like animals or sexually considered a good time? Ask yourself this, and think deeply and simply about it. All you are going to do there is move your body to fast music (which puts you in a wild mood and mind-set) in a room filled with other people, whom you you either want to impress (why else would you spend so much time on your hair, face and outfit?) or you want to meet someone you can date for a while then break up with and cry about. (You are far less likely to find the man or woman you are going to marry in a nightclub. Being there in the first place already says enough about them to know that they are not ready for settling down. Throughout your relationship they will obviously want to carry on going to nightclubs, listening to the sound of the devil, getting drunk. And you will be on that path to nowhere with them. (You want your heart to waste love on a temporary someone? Go for it, but learn from it.) Or you could be there to support (or worship) a specific DJ/genre of music.

People need, to wake up and SEE that music has a MUCH larger influence on the world than we think. It is far more than just a sound. It is a feeling, which creates thoughts which lead to actions. (I will soon elaborate on this). If you listen to music about making money, getting drunk, taking drugs and having sex, you will be influenced into that direction whether you like it or not. Music lyrics are affirmations you repeat. Affirmations create beliefs in your mind and your mind forms your life. I’m not going to let these drugged up drunk “celebrities” (not role models) tempt me anymore, into wanting  to live a life like theirs, because it’s far less glamorous and far more messed up than it looks. Majority of them are secretly insane caused by drugs, you can hear it in their music. 

I no longer drink alcohol. I decided this only 2 weeks ago, making me 2 weeks sober and proud. Two sober weekends have passed. I am the happiest I have ever been, and this is just the beginning of my beautiful decision. I am so excited to see where this journey takes me, I am not even afraid of death anymore; I have come to terms with it and accepted it. I feel that no matter how painful your death will be, the shock and surrealism of it will outweigh the pain. I understand death now and when it is my time to go, it will happen. In the mean time I will place my life I’m living here in God’s hands, and He can now do what HE wants to do with it. I don’t care about my dreams anymore, unless they go hand-in-hand with His plan.

After this post, I get it - Inevitably I will be ridiculed. I would just like to be clear on one thing; this will not bother me at all. Jesus was ridiculed. Einstein was ridiculed. Nostradamus was ridiculed. Most people who preach the word of God on social networks are ridiculed. One should not worry about what people think, they are just another creation like yourself, they should not be more or less important to you. You are equal to them. 

GOD is the one you want to impress, Amen."

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