Having heard the Buddha speak the Lay Disciple exclaims:
Excellent, Lord, excellent! It is as if someone were to set up
right what had been knocked and turned upside-down, or it
is as if someone revealed what was covered up and hidden, or
it is as if someone pointed out the way to one who had got lost
by going astray, or it is as if someone brought a lamp into a
dark place, so that those with eyes could see the forms there!
Exactly so has the Blessed Buddha explained this Dhamma in
many various clear ways. Therefore do I, Venerable Sir, hereby
take refuge in the Blessed Buddha, hereby take refuge in the
true Dhamma, and hereby take refuge in the pure Sangha...
May the Blessed Buddha accept and know me as a lay-follower
from this day on and as long as this life shall last!

So is the faith of those who after countless lives at last have
accumulated and now possesses the right and ripe conditions
for attaining the valuable state of lay disciple of a Buddha...
This is the first step towards the Bliss of Deathless Nibbāna!

Source: DN 2 The Fruits of Retreat: Sāmaññaphala Sutta I 85
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.02.0.than.html