Have you ever gotten to a place of such deep pain that you felt like giving up - where you wanted to curl up into the fetal position and have someone just hold you close in their arms of comfort and security and rock you back and forth until the pain was loved away? I have…
The whole year of 1981 will always hold a special place in my heart. That was the year I began getting honest about my struggles with sin and the year in which God supernaturally revealed His redeeming power and love to me at a Second Chapter of Acts concert.
As is often the case, the Lord allowed me to fall to the bottom of my own self – you know to the point where it is obvious that one cannot help or rescue one’s self? When I was at the bottom and needed to hear from my heavenly Father, He sent a friend named Linda to begin teaching me about my need for a fresh relationship with my heavenly Father. Her advice to me was to stop seeing Father God through the filter of my relationship with my earthly father.
My father and I were not close at all during my childhood and teen years. It was hard to believe he loved me. He never spoke those words to me until after I had my own family. We became close after I got married and began having children and he began to work for me in my ministry. But up until 1981, I had perceived God’s love for me through the filter of met relationship with my dad.
God used a song to help me process this new way of thinking. That song is called “Rock Me, Hold Me.” The song came one night as Linda challenged me to face the truth about my deep spiritual and emotional needs and to begin accepting the truth of my God’s deep, deep love for me. I remember vividly of sitting alone in my little pink house in Oklahoma City and crying almost all night as the words of this song brought deep release and comfort to my soul.
Just as a father has compassion on [his] children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
Psalm 103:13 NASB
I became completely honest with Father God about my wounds and my failures and I allowed Him to hold me close and rock me gently in His loving arms.
Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NASB
I urge you to take time to bare your soul to Father in the coming days…and allow Him to meet you right where you are. Regardless of your age or level of maturity, allow your soul to be rocked gently in the arms of His love as He holds you close to His massive heart of love.
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast on this subject and to hear the song, “Rock Me, Hold Me”, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/rock-me-hold-me/
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/11/18/16/44/child-1835730_1280.jpg