LORD, You have searched me and known [me.]
Psalm 139:1 NASB
Asa Robert Jernigan came 9 weeks early to this world, along with his brother, Ezra, on July 15, 1994. Asa weighed in at 2 pounds, seven ounces and Ezra weighed in at 3 pounds, ten ounces. They were in the hospital for seven weeks. For a great deal of that time, we were unable to hold them because of their frail condition. This was super frustrating because Melinda and I needed to touch our boys and to be touched by them.
Since we could not physically hold them for several days after their birth, God inspired me to do something practical - to do the next best thing. As I had learned to listen for my Father to sing over me, I realized that the next best thing for me to do was to make a recording of me singing over their little lives.
The nurses gladly played the tape constantly there in the ICU and we believe God used it greatly to minister life and healing power to their little bodies and spirits.
When you almost lose a child, you understand a little better the great value God places on each and every individual – no matter how fragile or small that individual may seem to us. In Asa I saw a little boy who wanted to know his father even though he had to fight for his life. I believe it was the desire to know that intimacy and communion with me and his Mom that put the fight in him.
With me, the need to know my God has been the fire behind the passion in my fight for freedom. When I hear Him singing over me, I hear acceptance and fulfillment and receive strength for the next breath of life! Life is priceless – and to know God is worth the fight for life! For Asa Robert Jernigan. We almost lost you…and had to go a long time without holding you…so we sang over you. Now I know God’s heart toward me a little better…
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them [mere] rubbish, so that I may gain Christ… Philippians 3:8 NASB
The greatest human need - this is just my perspective - is to know and to be known. And the only way to truly find that depth of relationship is to know and to be known by the One Who created us in the first place. Sin left an empty place in every human soul…and that empty place can only be filled by the One Who made us.
Jesus wanted to know us so deeply…and wanted us to know Him so deeply…that He felt such knowledge was worth His own life. Let us be free from the cares of the world by enjoying getting to know our Father God and by honestly letting Him know us. This kind of relationship transcends all human circumstances and is, I believe, vital for human life to thrive. Let’s not settle for just getting by in life. Let’s settle for nothing less than thriving. Let’s get to know our Father and let’s open our hearts in honesty to Him.
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this blog and to hear the song called Little One, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/little-one/
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/05/17/21/11/newborn-1399155_1280.jpg