This week's song has brought me so much healing through the years and I am so happy to share it with you. I share the difference between guilt and shame. I truly believe you will be encouraged.
Be Blessed and Choose Joy,
Dennis
To hear the story behind the song and to listen to the song, Trust Me I Know, use this link: http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/trust-mei-know-1709654882/
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/08/26/18/43/sadness-5520347_1280.jpg
Are there any areas of your life where you would like to see a change? Listen to The Dennis Jernigan Podcast called ‘Time For a Change’ at http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/time-for-a-change/
Blessings,
Dennis
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/11/27/21/43/time-for-a-change-3842467_1280.jpg
I am taking another week off from writing, but you can still hear my heart and this week’s message at https://www.patreon.com/posts/measure-of-man-102391829
I encourage you to listen and expect to be surprised with a deeper awareness of God’s presence with you.
Be Blessed & Choose Joy!
Dennis Jernigan
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/03/31/08/49/man-1292269_1280.jpg
Today I am simply going to post the link to The Dennis Jernigan Podcast because I believe it will be a good break for your soul. The link is provided below. Simply copy the link and paste it into your search bar and click the search icon. It will take you directly to the podcast.
Enjoy!
Dennis Jernigan
Listen to The Dennis Jernigan Podcast episode, Let Me Love You at https://www.patreon.com/posts/let-me-love-you-101944784
Photo Courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/01/08/19/52/canola-1963802_1280.jpg
In this weeks blog, I will be sharing the story behind the song of mine called I Wanted You. This song was received and written on July 31, 1997 for my friend, Lisa. I wrote the following note about the song when I first received it so I would not forget the circumstances behind the way this song came about. Here’s what I wrote:
“For those who feel they were not planned, expected, or needed. God creates us as blessings even if we were conceived as the result of sin. He delights in the smallest and most feeble life.”
I will never forget the moment I heard Lisa’s story. How she felt she was a mistake. An accident. That she was never wanted in the first place. What makes a person come to such conclusions about their own existence? If there is one thing I know, the enemy - Satan - hates the work of the cross and hates what it means to the heart of every new creation. If He can keep us from knowing Christ in the first place, he has won. But even if we come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, he still wants us to become crippled with his subtle lies that cause us to doubt God’s love for us. If he can get us to doubt that love, he can pretty much dictate much of the journey of our lives. When I heard Lisa’s story and how it caused her to feel unwanted, I became very angry with the liar and his lies and began asking the Lord for a song of deliverance for her - a song from His perspective concerning her life
For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139:13-14 NASB
Does it say God only creates and forms some people or is the Word of the Lord in Psalm 139 directed at the entire human race? I believe it means every life that is ever conceived was created and ordained by God…because God is perfect and He does not make mistakes. And let’s not confuse guilt and shame here. Guilt is the understanding that I have done something wrong. Shame is the belief that I am something wrong. I’m here to remind you that God makes no mistakes. You and I are here for a reason - regardless of the circumstances of our existence. We would not be here if God did not want us.
Lisa’s story is powerful and a testimony to God’s ability to take what Satan means for evil and use it for our good and His glory. She was born in the late 1950s in South Korea. Her father was an American soldier and her mother was a teenage prostitute. Because she was probably supporting her family by selling her body, her parents looked the other way…even after she became pregnant with Lisa. In the culture in those days, a child of mixed race was looked upon with shame. In fact, according to the culture of those days, Lisa’s birth mother had only three choices. She could give her baby up for adoption. She could keep the child and be ostracized by the family and be forced to live in a home for prostitutes - a further shame…or she could kill the baby. In fact, babies born under such circumstances were sometimes left hanging in trees in the hope someone would find them and take them in - and also so wild animals would not harm them.
During Lisa’s infancy, a couple of American missionaries were in the practice of visiting Korean households to give inoculations and share Jesus in the process. During one such visit, they happened into the home of Lisa’s birth family and recognized Lisa’s mixed heritage…and knew the fate of baby Lisa was not a good one. Such was the shame felt by the birth mother that Lisa was not even given a family name on her official birth certificate. Knowing Lisa would probably be abandoned, the young missionaries decided to take her into their own home at the birth mother’s request to give her up for adoption. I have since found out that these two wonderful missionaries were responsible for rescuing 150 babies from abandonment through the years.
Working with an adoption agency here in the states, Lisa was placed with a Christian family in Checotah, Oklahoma where Lisa’s adoptive parents eventually settled. Lisa’s dad managed a grocery store there for many years. Lisa told me she battled feelings of being unwanted and that those feelings were exacerbated when she lost her parents. One evening, her folks were traveling back from a revival meeting in a nearby city when their car was struck broadside, leaving her mom with a brainstem injury. She died a week later. Her dad received multiple injuries, the most severe being an aortic rupture which left him completely paralyzed. He passed away a year later from cancer. This was obviously devastating to Lisa.
This is when the enemy went into a full-fledged assault on Lisa’s mind, ravaging her thoughts with feelings of being an accident; feelings of being unwanted and unintended; feeling rejected. Lisa told me she knew her adoptive parents loved her. Of that, she had absolutely no doubt. Her exact quote to me was:
“I knew, in my brain, that my adoptive parents loved me…but there is just something about being adopted that causes a small voice to say that someone didn’t want you…you were rejected. It’s not logical, but it just within our nature.”
When I heard those words, I remember being so angry at the enemy for my friend and immediately began asking Father for a song of deliverance for her. That’s when the song I Wanted You came to me. Since sharing the song with Lisa so many years ago, I have continued to use it from time to time in public ministry. On more than one occasion, I have been approached after sharing the song by young women who told me they conceived children as a result of being sexually assaulted, choosing to keep the child, and of being ostracized by the church. I have also been told many times by both men and women that they remembered feeling they were accidents, some even telling me they were told by their own parents they should have been called “Oops” because they never intended to have another baby. The bottom line is this: You would not be here if you were not wanted. God is the one who creates life…regardless of the circumstances surrounding the conception of that life.
If you have ever struggled with feelings of being unwanted, not planned, or have ever felt rejected, this song is for you. Hear Father’s heart as you listen to the song I Wanted You. You can hear the song by using the link provided below.
Dennis Jernigan
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God…Romans 8:15-16 NASB
To hear the Dennis Jernigan podcast version of this blog as well as the song, I Wanted You, go to https://www.patreon.com/posts/i-wanted-you-101486243
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/09/05/11/37/baby-2717347_1280.jpg
This week I am sharing the story about a song called ‘Enter In’. I wrote it on July 19, 1996 but it’s message still rings true today. How do we move on from our past? We can’t live there. We can’t thrive there. It’s time to go on. Time to move on…groveling in our past failures and hurts does not produce life. We always have a choice as to how we respond to our failures and our hurts, even if we don't have a choice as to every circumstance of our life.
We can choose to be a victim or we can choose to be a victor over those things. In John 8:32 Jesus tells us that, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set set you free.” The problem comes if we never get honest about our failures and honest about our woundings. The first step towards freedom is always our own honesty. If we never get honest, we never get to the place of freedom. If we never get free it's like we don't really ever move on.
Living in the past is like trying to drive down the road by focusing solely on the rearview mirror. If we did that in our physical life, we would find ourselves in constant mishaps or constantly trying to dig our way out of the ditch we drove into. Is that any way to live? How do we move on from our past?
Again, we must get honest about it. If we sin, we repent and receive God's forgiveness and move on down the road. If we have been wounded in the past, we allow the Lord into those wounded places and allow him to show us his point of view. Regarding those past hurts and the people who have hurt us, we must be people who are forgiving. I had to forgive the people who hurt me, but that does not mean I forget what happened. I just choose to see it from God's point of you.
Having un-forgiveness - bitterness - in our hearts and minds - effectively chains us to our past and keeps us focusing, again, on the rearview mirror. Holding bitterness or un-forgiveness toward others does nothing to help you or even hurt those who have hurt you. It's like dragging around the wreckage of one's life. That would be a wearisome and unbearable burden to carry.That is no way to live.
And while you're forgiving those who hurt you, there is another very important person to forgive. Forgive yourself. Forgive those who have wounded you and forgive yourself for whatever, and receive God’s gracious forgiveness and then move on down the road.
And remember this while you're at it: As long as we have breath, we have hope. Every believer has one thing they should always give up hope on, though. We should give up on the hope of ever changing our past. It's not possible, so why focus on it? Acknowledge it. Put off the lies. Put on the truth and then move on down the road towards Jesus…and enter into the sweet rest and peace of His presence.
Even as I was writing this week’s blog, a question came up in my mind that I know occurs in the minds of most people at one point or another in their lifetime. Why did God allow that bad thing to happen in my life that has caused me so much heartache and torment through the year? I thought he was a good God. He is good and He is loving, but He is God and we are not. While reading the Wild at Heart Daily Reading by John Eldredge on December 26, 2023, I was shocked - in a good way - by the title of the devotional reading: Forgive Jesus. In that reading, which I am now quoting directly from, John writes:
Forgive God? This idea is going to cause some readers to freak out. Just listen for a moment. If you are holding something in your heart against Jesus — the loss of someone you love, a painful memory from your past, simply the way your life has turned out — if you are holding that against Jesus, well, then, it is between you and Jesus. And no amount of ignoring it or being faithful in other areas of your life is going to make it go away. In order to move forward, you are going to need to forgive Jesus for whatever these things are.
“But Jesus doesn’t need our forgiveness!” you protest. I didn’t say he did. I said that you need to forgive Jesus — you need it.
Let me be clear: To forgive a person, we pardon a wrong done to us; "Forgiving" Jesus means to release the hurt and resentment we hold against him.
This comes before understanding. We don’t often know why things have happened the way they have in our lives. What we do know is that we were hurt, and part of that hurt is toward Jesus, because in our hearts we believe He let it happen.
Again, this is not the time for sifting theological nuances, but this is why it is so important for you to look at the world the way Jesus did — as a vicious battle with evil. When you understand you have an enemy that has hated your guts ever since you were a child, it will help you not to blame this stuff on God. Anyhow, the facts are it happened, we are hurt that it happened, and part of us believes Jesus could have done something about it and didn’t. That is why we need to forgive Him. We do so in order that this part of us can draw near Him again, and receive His love.
That was a timely word from John Eldredge that I felt I needed to share with you in regard to this week’s song. To receive the daily readings by John Eldredge and his team, go to dailyreadings@wildatheart.org.
So, what do we do with past failures and hurts? I had the privilege of growing up on a farm and working with animals of all types and shapes and sizes, and one thing they all had in common? They left tons of manure…but even that did not go to waste because we used it to turn around and fertilize the very ground where we grew the feed and hay that became their nourishment.
We can do the same thing with our past failures and past hurts. We can use them as holy ‘fertilizer’ to spread on the fields of our mind allowing us to grow grace and forgiveness and peace of mind, to grow out of being a victim and to grow into being a victor…to help us grow out of those failures and hurts. I believe this is part of God’s design…and He wants nothing but what is best for us. It really is time to move on from our past and learn to live in the present with Jesus.
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching and to hear the song, ‘Enter In’, go to https://www.patreon.com/posts/enter-in-101037294
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/01/21/18/46/ghost-5938210_1280.jpg
We often hear people use the phrase God is good all the time. All the time God is good. Yet, in today's culture, we also find people asking the question, “If God is so good, why does he allow bad things to happen to good people?” That is a reasonable question, but it does not change the fact that God is perfectly good all the time.
Don't think I haven’t asked that question myself since my diagnosis of Parkinson's five years ago. I had given myself, my entire life, to ministering the love and goodness of God to anyone who had been willing to listen and expected my later years to be a bit more stress free. That didn’t quite pan out for me, though…
So how did I answer that question for myself? First of all I had to come to the place of understanding that God is God and I am not. Then I had to come to the place of understanding He is perfect in all His ways. Absolutely holy. Absolutely good. Absolutely able to take even the harsh realities of life and use them somehow for my good and for His glory.
In the beginning, we must remember God gave man a free will and mankind chose to follow his own path and chose the path of sin. Sin brought with it all sorts of calamity, consequences, sicknesses and the ill-will of mankind to humanity. We brought sin into the world…not God. We cannot blame God for the bad things that happened to us, but we can know his presence and his love and his goodness in the midst of those occurrences. God made a way for us to overcome sin in our lives by virtue of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to pay the debt we owed due to our sin. In other words. He is so good and his love is so massive that He thought we were worth the life of his own Son. Our God is a good God.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to [His] purpose. Romans 8:28 NASB
Today I am sharing the story behind a song the Lord gave me regarding His goodness way back on February 4, 1998. Melinda and I have a very good friend, Tamara, whose mother, Ann, had become ill with cancer. As the cancer spread through Ann's body, the family drew very close to one another and found much peace and solace in God's presence.
At the time the song came to me, Ann and her husband, Tamara's father, Richard, had other concerns in addition to the diagnosis of cancer. Of major concern was their son, Tony. Tony was born with both mental and physical handicaps and at the time this song was born, he had the mental capacity of a toddler. This meant that Richard and Ann had not had much of a social life during a major part of their marriage. You see, Tony was 28 years old at that time and still required someone to change his diaper and feed him and take care of him. Ann had been a major part of that care. No one would've blamed them if they had opted for some type of institutional care, but Ann and Richard chose to care for their son themselves.
Knowing her time on earth was short, my pastor and I went to spend some time talking and praying with Ann and Richard. Our plan was to try to bring some comfort and encouragement to their souls, but after talking with Ann, we came to realize that Ann was bringing comfort and encouragement to OUR souls!
I remember asking Ann if she was prepared to be with the Lord. Her answer was, “Yes, I am ready.” Upon hearing her response, I felt compelled to ask her if she had any regrets about the way she had been limited in her ability to live her life as fully and freely as she had hoped due to the constant demand to care for her son. Her answer stunned me.
She said, “I have absolutely no regrets. God has been with me every step of the way and caring for my son has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. God is good. He has been so good to me.”
Needless to say, I was reduced to tears and this song came pouring out of my heart later that day. I was able to share it with Ann before she went to be with the Lord. The story behind this song still sends chills up and down my spine…and has taken on a whole new meaning for me in my own battle with illness. I can honestly say God has been…God still is…God will be good to me.
The LORD will send His goodness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 42:8 NASB
The minute we decide God is not a good God, we step into a mindset of misery and self-dependence that leads to self-focus and, often, to self-pity. Our God is so good that He is able to take what the enemy means for evil in our lives and use it for something good in our lives. Our God is very, very good to us.
I certainly believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD
In the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:13-14 NASB
Regardless of what the world says about the goodness of God or about his ability to love us, let's take him at His word. Our God is good. Our God loves us with the massiveness of the universe. Our God is for us and wants nothing but what is best for us. In the coming days, I challenge you, myself included, to put on a heart of gratitude even in the midst of whatever dire or painful circumstances life may throw our way. Bottom line? God is good…all the time.
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this story, go to https://www.patreon.com/posts/you-are-good-to-100595622
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/10/01/17/21/person-2806280_1280.jpg
Years ago I wrote a book called Help Me To Remember. That book was inspired by a collection of songs meant to bring comfort to those experiencing grief; to help them mourn. One of the songs in that collection is called The Covenant Song and it came to me on October 6, 1998.
While writing the book these songs are based on, I went through a lot of self discovery. I discovered some good things God had in me and I discovered some things I still needed him to work on. worked on and I realized early on that I experienced more lost than I realized, and I found that I didn't always respond to that loss very well. But since God is the redeemer, I've been able to see his redeeming hand at work in leading me through the grief process. I have also discovered that I am not alone. Of course, Christ never leaves me or forsakes me, but neither do some people. I realize that during the times of loneliness in my past, I did not need to be alone. If one wants or needs a friend, often stepping out and being a friend is what is required. I’ve learned many lessons concerning what it means to befriend another, especially during times of grief and loss.
For instance, when does a friend love, according to God's word a friend loves at all times. I mean even when lashed out at by the ones you love? Even then. Remember, I wounded person tends to wound others out of the need for self preservation. Yes, a friend loves at all times, even when dragged into battle with those he befriends. Even then. A friend loves even when those he loves are unloving in return. A friend is available at all times and under any condition. I don't mean that you have to drop everything and run each time a friend calls for help, but a friend always offers a shoulder to lean on. Even though I may not be able to see or touch my friend in the heat of the battle, I am comforted in knowing that he is emotionally and spiritually there for me.
With my friends, especially my inner circle friends, we have a covenant that joins us together at the heart. Just as God has a covenant between himself and us as new creations, I consider my close friends to be in an unspoken covenant relationship with me.
What is a covenant? In a worldly sense, a covenant is a written agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action. But God initiated a covenant with mankind by offering His Son, Jesus, as an offering to pay the debt of our sin bay His death - the shedding of blood as atonement - on the cross. God determined the elements, and confirmed his covenant with humanity. It is unilateral. People are recipients, not contributors; they are not expected to offer elements to the bond; they are called to accept it as offered, to keep it as demanded, and to receive the results that God, by oath, assures will not be withheld. What that literally means is that even if we don't uphold our end of the agreement to walk relationally with God, He upholds his end of the agreement by not withholding his love regardless of whether we return that love or not. That's pretty amazing if you ask me. That's the kind of friend I want to be to my own friends here on this earth. I am ashamed to say I have not always upheld my end, but I still try.
A covenant friend helps bear the load of another. A covenant friend covers the nakedness of sin that others would love to gossip about. A friend provides shelter in the emotional storms of life and is like a beacon of light on a stormy night. A friend is steadfast like a rock, and his heart is like a harbor where hurts and fears and doubts can be expressed without fear of rejection. When do you need a friend? In times of pain or in seasons of comfort, in times of joy or in fits of despair, in seasons of health and in seasons of sickness, in moments of laughter and in moments of weeping. A friend loves at all times.
Sometimes a friend just reminds those he loves of who they are. In moments of grief, self-doubt and rejection seem to be two of the biggest lies the enemy sends our way. So one of the best ways to do battle for our friends in such moments is simply to remind them of who God says they are and to remind them that there is someone who believes in them and wants to be there for them…someone who believes they can get through this. A friend is often required to walk through the pain and process of loss with those he loves. In that sense, the covenant sense, the pain or loss of my friend is my own pain or loss. Their grief is my grief. Their suffering is my suffering. But that also means their victory and their Joy are mine as well.
This week's song was written for a friend of mine named Paul. Even though we have not seen each other for years now simply due to the stages of life we find ourselves in, I believe he would be there for me in an instant and I would be there for him as well should the need arise.
A friend loves at all times, even when the ones we befriend are not so lovely or lovable, even when those friends lash out and hurt us in the heat of the moment. A friend loves at all times because a true friend loves like Jesus did. John 15:3 says, “There is no greater love than this: that a man lay down his life for his friend.” Our one true and faithful friend is Jesus. Receive healing from him. Cry on his shoulder. And out of your own sorrow and grief, be a vessel of healing to others.
Dennis Jernigan
Now let's take a few minutes and listen to The Covenant Song and think about how it applies to our life with our friends as well as how God's covenant applies to our relationship with him. You can hear the song on The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this blog at https://www.patreon.com/posts/covenant-song-100160204
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/11/08/05/20/sunset-1807524_1280.jpg
“Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your refuge [strength].” Nehemiah 8:10 NASB
In this week’s blog I take up where I left off last week. Once again, I am sharing the story behind a song. This song is called The Joy of Love and it came to me a little after midnight on September 5, 1996.
If you recall, last week’s blog was about a song called The Pain of Love and it was written for my daughter, Annē, after the loss of her baby horse she had named Surprise. Watching my daughter grieve after the loss of her horse did something deep in my heart. Having no power to change the situation, I did all that was left for me to do: I cried out to God for help. It was in this process of crying out to God that I began to focus my attention on the truth that no matter what life brings our way, God is in control. In a nutshell, this means there is always light at the end of any tunnel. This means that although I may feel grief and sorrow, joy is always the underlying tone of the river that carries my heart. How can this be?
My daughter’s favorite pet was irrevocably gone. Surprise could not come back. Yet this horse’s death became an opportunity for me to teach my daughter how to cry out to God for comfort. Watching her receive my instruction and cry out to God on her own not only afforded her comfort I could not give her, but it also helped comfort the helplessness I felt as a daddy who wanted to protect his little girl from pain.
How does one teach another how to find the hidden treasures in life? Sometimes treasures are only revealed over time. At the time of Surprise’s death, Annē could not see the new levels of maturity her grief would lead her to. But months later, when other trials came her way, she was able to see God's hand at work and easily call to remembrance all God had done for her. Slowly but surely, Annē found that the fire she had to go through had produced a more refined heart. Like precious gold purified by the refiners fire, grief prepares the heart for greater levels of maturity. Maturity is another way of saying one has grown closer to God.
What is joy and how does one find it in the midst of sorrow? Joy is knowing we are never alone. Joy is knowing Christ goes through the grief with us and that he is a firm, unshakable rock and a foundation in a stormy sea. Joy is knowing that even though we may not see the way out, He is still making a way for us and will reveal it to us in due time.
A little horse named Surprise had died, but I watched a little girl grow into a young woman in the process of grieving that loss. Even in death, life had been supplied even more abundantly than we thought possible. Annie found enough joy and strength not only to deal with the death of Surprise, but to continue to raise other horses and another baby horse named Penny. Melinda and I have had the privilege of watching our daughter grow through the pain and walk in deeper levels of confidence and assurance, not in herself, but in her Redeemer and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The joy of love is knowing that even in sorrow, we are known by someone bigger than death. The joy of love is being able to share our sorrow and our grief with someone big enough to handle it when we cannot. The joy of lovers knowing we are loved and never alone. The joy of love is knowing God and being known by Him.
Dennis Jernigan
Let's take the next few minutes and think about some of the things that causes grief in this life and as we think about those things, let's allow the Holy Spirit to show us his point of view. Just as there is sometimes pain in the midst of love, there is joy that transcends even our deepest sorrows. Let's just bathe for a few minutes in the joy of love. God's amazing and massive love for us. To do that, listen to the song, The Joy of Love, along with the podcast version of this blog at https://www.patreon.com/posts/joy-of-love-99720666
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/01/21/13/23/freedom-4782870_1280.jpg
This week’s teaching is the story behind my song, The Pain of Love. It was born out of a time of grief and loss experienced by one of my children and a horse named Surprise.
I remember the day we first brought Jasmine home. We had spotted the beautiful white horse at a local auction, and my daughter, Annē, had quickly fallen in love. The horse was not too big and not too small. In every way she seemed just right. We purposely bought a female with the intention of having her bred because Annē had dreams of raising a baby horse.
Once we got Jasmine home, Annē set out to get to know her new friend. She learned the habits and personality of her steed. Day by day, Jasmine learned a new trick or behavior, and Annē and her horse were very close. My greatest joy was simply watching Annē and Jasmine glide full speed across the pasture. I couldn't tell who was having the most fun: Annē or Jasmine or me!
Day by day, Jasmine became more and more a part of the family. She seemed so healthy in every way. And she was healthier than we ever realized! On Easter Sunday of 1996, I was awakened by the screams of my daughter. At first, I thought something was terribly wrong, but then I realized Annē's hysteria was actually joy beyond measure.
“Daddy! Daddy! Jasmine had a baby! Jasmine had a baby!”
At first, I thought Annē had lost her mind, but as I approached the pasture Jasmine called home, I saw a small white creature hiding behind Jasmine's legs. I thought that perhaps one of the neighbor’s goats had gotten into the field, yet upon closer examination, I was stunned to see a little, white, gangly-legged filly that looked like a miniature Jasmine!
A baby horse! This had been Annē’s dream all along. It was as if God wanted to surprise my daughter with the most unexpected gift…just because! For this reason, Annē dubbed her new filly, Surprise.
My daughter was in heaven on earth! By the end of the first week with Surprise, Annē had tamed her and fitted her with her first halter. After only a few weeks, she had trained the little horse to follow her with a lead rope. As the summer passed and Surprise grew, each day brought deep joy to my little girl’s heart. It felt as if we were living in a fairytale.
But not all fairytales have happy endings. By the middle of August, Annē had come to know her horses pretty well. But as dads sometimes do, I didn't listen when she told me she felt that Surprise was not acting like herself. I assumed that Annē was simply overreacting to some dispositional attitude the filly had displayed. My thought was that Annē's apprehension would be alleviated as the days went by…as the filly grew out of this stage. Surprise looked fine to me.
But a few days later, the peaceful afternoon air of the Jernigan farm was pierced by the most heart-wrenching cry I have ever heard. The same voice that had so joyfully awakened me with the news of Surprise’s birth was wailing with sobs of grief and despair as Annē ran through the pasture back to the house looking for me.
“Somethings wrong with surprise! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! I think she's dead!”
My heart began pounding. My mind went numb. My heart began to break at the sight of my little girl grieving at the loss of something so dear to her heart. As she fell apart in my arms, I didn't know what to do.
“Are you sure, Annie? Are you sure?”
“Yes, daddy! Yes, I am sure!”
I began crying with my daughter. Although I was grieved at the loss of Surprise, I was more distressed at my daughter's broken heart. I grieved because she grieved. Leaving her side for a moment, I ran across the same field I had seen Annē and Jasmine fly across so many times. The same field where she had taught Surprise to follow her. Perhaps Surprise was just asleep in the afternoon sun. Maybe Annē had been mistaken. But then I saw the filly’s little body. She was laying on her side, and it was very obvious she was dead. How could this be? This didn't compute in my mind. And if I couldn't make sense of it, how was my little girl going to handle this?
Many thoughts flooded my mind. I hadn't I listened to Annē about Surprise’s health? Why would God surprise us with such a lavish gift and then allow it to be taken away so suddenly? What could I possibly do to help my daughter through the process of grief? How can I use this as an opportunity to explain God's grace?
After the veterinarian arrived to examine the filly’s body for a cause of death, we loaded the family in the van and drove to town to get Annē away and to talk with her about the afternoon’s events. We were able to grieve together as a family. We talked about what we could have done to save the horse and realized there was no way we could have foreseen the day’s events. Even though Annē had concerns about Surprise’s health prior to her death, other circumstances had come into play which kept a more intensive diagnosis from taking place…namely, that I had not seen her symptoms as major concerns.
I sought my daughter's forgiveness for not listening to her and for not taking action. But beyond that, we came to the conclusion, especially after the veterinarians report a few days later (her liver had evidence of parasitic invasion), that there was really nothing that we could have done beyond what we did. Upon reaching that conclusion, we decided to look back on our short time with Surprise with a thankful heart and take a look at our situation from God's point of view.
We had not expected a baby horse, yet God had surprised us. We had many memories as well as pictures of Surprise to remind us of all the joy her short life had brought us. Just as I had taught my daughter to get back in the saddle after being thrown from a horse, in much the same way, we needed to get back in the saddle of life. What did this mean for Annē? Overcoming the fear of losing the things we love.
To love someone is to risk being hurt. Just think of Jesus and His great love for us when he took the weight of the sin of the entire world upon Himself and paid our debt with His own precious blood. Annē could have chosen not to spend any more time with her horse, Jasmine, because of all the hurtful memories this could've turned up. She could've chosen to cut off the risk of further wounding and loss by not allowing herself to love or to be loved.
To love means to risk. To risk means we might suffer loss. But our final understanding was this: not to risk loving for fear of loss is to cut off life. But because of our example in Christ, we know that love requires risk and that risk can mean loss. But we learned that love gives of itself regardless of the outcome. To love is to give. Not to love is to close one’s self off from life. Away from hurt. Away from reality. Away from Hope. Not to risk loving is to place oneself in the realm of hell. And hell is a place devoid of love. No love equals no relationship. No relationship equals no life.
Jesus loved. He risked his life. He suffered loss. Yet from his loving, his risking, his loss, came our hope for relationship. From his love came our life. For us, it is no different. We will always be faced with death in this life. How we respond to that death will determine the depth of life we are able to experience on this earth. Even in death, little surprises come shining through to remind us to keep on loving, to keep on living.
In the days following Surprise’s death, the Lord gave me a song for my daughter. Let's take a few minutes and listen and allow the Lord and his massive love for us to comfort us wherever the circumstances of life may find us right now.
Dennis Jernigan
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NASB
You can listen to The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this blog and hear the song, The Pain of Love, at https://www.patreon.com/posts/pain-of-love-99242912?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2023/08/01/16/48/horse-8163366_1280.jpg
I love to share the stories behind the songs I write because they help me stay transparent and dependent upon the lord. I especially love the song I am going to be talking about today because I love the family this song was written for very much.
Let me tell you about that song that came to me in the middle of a trial experienced by a friend and his family. This song is called Time Will Tell and it came to me on May 20-23, 1998. The events I am sharing with you took place over 20 years ago now, but the message is…timeless. Here’s what I wrote about the song at that time:
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every matter under heaven…
...He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, without [the possibility that] mankind will find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11 NASB
Watching my friend Paul deal with his dad's illness was a lot like watching one of my own children suffer through a life lesson, knowing there is nothing I can do to stop the pain. What made Paul's situation so difficult was knowing that he had never lost a loved one to death. Having to face the loss of his father, Paul began a spiritual journey that I have watched from a distance; a journey that has taken him from times of anger and action to denial and depression; from deep moments of nostalgia and peace to times of loneliness and fear; and then back again.
Paul's journey with his dad had been one of God’s grace. As a boy, he witnessed God's grace as the Lord faithfully healed the marriage of his parents. As a young man, he was privileged to have been mentored by his father in the family business he would one day inherit. Paul had been a firsthand recipient of God's grace and power because Father God restored his own marriage. When he and his wife spent many years desiring children and having no success, they learned to rely upon God's grace again. Then, God gave them five children in a few short years. All these events prepared Paul for the day he would need grace to see his dad through the process of death. It is one thing to receive God’s grace through the normal trials of life’s circumstances; it's quite another to receive enough Grace to grieve the loss of a loved one such as the loss of one's father.
As I watched Paul, I noticed that he had a deep desire to bless his father during his illness. He also had a need to create memories that would not only ease the pain of the coming loss, but memories that would also sustain his mother and his own children when they did finally come to the time of parting.
I gazed with joy at the photographs of Paul and his children vacationing on the beach in Florida with his mom and dad. I could see a sparkle in his eye and hear an excitement in his voice that communicated pure joy. It was bittersweet, perhaps, but joy nonetheless. When faced with the loss of a parent, we can't help but be drawn into times of reflection and nostalgia.
I relived many of Paul's childhood memories with him by asking questions about his relationship with his dad while he was growing up. Many times he and his father ran away to Colorado for extended father/son ski trips. He told me of several times they got to the end of the trip and decided to extend it another week…and then another! During that same time, Paul and I took a short ski trip one weekend, and many such memories surfaced. Paul knew he and his dad would never ski together again. Cancer, in time, had seen to that. But he did the next best thing. Right there in the warming hut in the heights of Vail, he called his dad and reminisced about their times together there. With child-like exuberance, Paul told his dad of our exploits of the day and asked him if he remembered certain trails and if he could remember the invigorating rush of being on the mountain together. They talked about how much of it looked the same, and of how many things had changed. Above all, they shared nostalgic moments that brought joy to their hurting hearts.
Instead of allowing the pain to rule during his dad's final days, Paul took the initiative to make as many memories as possible. I marveled at a man who recognized the impending loss, yet chose to respond to death with life, rather than to allow death to rule his own life. Paul's attention to his dad also had a positive effect of demonstrating to his own children how to honor and love their parents. The loss one feels about losing a parent can often be turned into positive gain because their own children learn how to love and care for their family.
Time is never truly wasted upon someone we love. As humans, time is the framework by which life tends to be measured. But in the grand scheme of eternity, time is not even a factor. In fact, Paul didn't even worry about the time factor in those last days. Paul, by earthly standards, made a good living, but what made Paul a wealthy man was the deep treasury of joy, hope, faith, and love he had built up in and through the lives of his family members. If he allowed the fear of losing his dad to control his life, none of those precious assets would've been stored up. If he hadn't taken the time to create lasting memories with his dad, would his life for his dad's legacy have been as sweet? I learned that time is not to be wasted, nor should it control us. By trusting God to work his creativity through us, we can become vessels of life even in the face of death.
None of us knows if we even have our next breath. Wouldn't life be better served if we lived each moment as if it were our last? There is no fear of death to those who know death is not final. There is no fear of things left undone or incomplete to those who have invested in intimacy with those they value because they know they will see one another again.
Time is not a silent witness to life. Time is transcended by the memories we create through relationships. Time cannot help but speak witness to a life well lived. Does Paul miss his dad? Of course. But when times of sorrow and the pain of loss flood back in, a heart that has invested in eternity cannot be silenced; and joy floods in. Time will surely tell. After all, we serve the God who steps in and out of time as he sees fit; Almighty God who is not controlled by what we understand as earthly time.
So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord [is.] Ephesians 5:15-17 NASB
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching and to hear the song, Time Will Tell, go to https://www.patreon.com/posts/time-will-tell-98773222
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/02/16/02/03/pocket-watch-3156771_1280.jpg
Let me tell you about a song that came to me in the middle of a trial experienced by a friend and his family. The song is called Rest In Me and it came to me on January 25, 1997. Here’s the story behind the song:
This song originally began as a song for one of my daughters, but it soon became apparent it was for a couple I have already shared about earlier in this series, Elden and Vicki Peterson.
Elden had just come back from a ministry trip to Central America. Before he left he had noticed a lump on his neck but hadn't given it much thought. But back in the states, the lump was still there when he returned. He didn't really think it was a cause for concern, but he made an appointment to see his doctor anyway. After running some tests, the physician called Elden and Vicky into his office and delivered the bad news…that Elden’s lymph glands had swollen due to an invasion of cancer.
I had not known the Petersons very long, but when Elden's diagnosis came, our relationship took on a decidedly more rapid pace toward honesty and intimacy. As the months went by and it became obvious that the radiation treatments were not working, Elden became less and less mobile. For most of his life, Elden have been an outdoorsman, hunting, fishing, playing with his two daughters in the pool, landscaping the church parking area, or cooking a barbecue feast for several hundred hungry men, and now he found himself unable to even walk without help from Vickie.
Because we knew the physical challenges Elden faced, my wife and I were astonished when he and Vicky came knocking at the door one day. Elden walked in and handed us a large plate of chocolate chip cookies he had made. This was his way of saying ‘thank you’ to us for walking with him through the trials of the previous weeks. In our minds, Melinda and I felt we had done very little, but Elden’s gracious, servant’s heart was one of the things the Lord used in his own life to bless his wife and daughters and many others. It also helped to sustain his own spirits when circumstances tried to flood his mind with darkness and despair.
Elden always thought more about meeting the needs of others than he did about meeting his own. For instance, just a few weeks before he went to be with Jesus, I called Elden to see how I could pray for him. At the time, I was preparing to lead a large worship gathering in Oklahoma City, so I told him that several thousand people would also be praying for him that night. His response? “That I might know God's next step for me, and that I might know how to serve the Lord and other people even in my sickness and Dennis, I will be praying for you and for all the hurting people in that place tonight, that others might be set free and saved by the power of God's love.”
In pain and obvious discomfort, Elden had chosen to bless others. I believe God's grace became even more apparent to him in that moment. I led the people that evening in great freedom because I knew I had someone praying for me who knew God's power and love in a deep, profound way. When facing imminent death, we are more prone to shed the masks and games of life and then readily and willingly plunge deeply into the safety and intimacy found in God's arms, in His presence.
It soon became apparent that Elden would not be healed physically. Knowing this, Vicky's grief began even before Elden's death. I was amazed at how she relied upon God's grace to carry her through. To know the one you had spent your life with is dying right before your eyes is one thing; the fact that Elden was only 46 made the loss even more bittersweet. Putting aside your own grief to minister to a dying loved one has to be one of the most difficult burdens of life. As was my custom, I spent time singing my prayers over Elden and Vicky.
One particular evening, I was praying over one of my daughters, grieving as a father does when he learns of a willful act of deceit by his child. Weeping over my little girl, I found myself singing and seeking God's direction and intervention. As I sang, a melody began to pour forth from somewhere deep in my heart. The words seemed to be coming from Father God's own heart toward me. “Rest in me”, I heard him sing. As the words flowed and the melody grew into a complete song, I realized God has shifted my focus from my own need to that of Elden and Vicky. With this new focus I also found new freedom and received a vision of what God was trying to do for the Peterson family in the midst of their battle.
In the days to come, the Petersons turned even more toward God. Rather than blaming Him for their trial, they thanked Him for walking through it with them, and they placed the blame squarely upon the shoulders of the enemy of God, thus freeing their own heart from the despairing bondage of bitterness. Rest came as they allowed God to fight the battle for them.
As the storm intensified, God whispered peace to their hearts. As the weight of the burden that comes with impending death further encumbered their hearts, they allowed the Lord to take the burden upon His able shoulders, and by faith, they let Him carry those things they could not carry themselves. It became more and more apparent that God's grace, His power, was not only present, but that His very presence surrounded them. He had literally become their shelter. The God who made them had not forsaken them. Even when the need for medication became an hourly issue, God met them throughout the night.
What a blessing and what a legacy were built from a life that seemed to be taken all too soon. Death had not won. Cancer had not won. Yes, Elden's body died as his family sang and listened to songs of praise at his bedside, but God ultimately gained the victory because Elden knew that to be absent from his physical earthly body was to be present with Christ. What a celebration his memorial service was. Yes, we shed many tears. But we had a very real sense that Elden's journey had not ended, that just as he knew the fullness of God's peace, we, too, could know that peace even in this life. We committed Elden's body back to the earth that day, but we all left with a keen awareness that Father God was singing a little song over us all.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 "For My yoke is [easy] comfortable, and My burden is light.”
Rest is a cessation of work, exertion, or activity. Elden and Vicky have been fighting a battle. Warriors need times of rest to regain their energy for future battles. Through Elden and Vicky's trial, God showed me that He desired to bring both mental and emotional rest to his people. Rest can also include peace, ease, or refreshment. God's presence is a place of peace, and knowing that God is in control brings peace even in the midst of storms. Rest also means relief or freedom from disturbance. In a quiet place, it's also easier to hear a still small voice…you know…the type of tone and manner that God uses to speak to a suffering heart. All of these sentiments and more flood my mind and my soul whenever I hear this song to this day.
Take time to rest in Jesus today. You can hear the song, Rest In Me, using the link provided below.
Dennis Jernigan
Listen to The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching and hear the song, Rest In Me, at https://www.patreon.com/posts/rest-in-me-98334964
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2022/04/19/08/32/relax-7142183_1280.jpg
Grief is deep sorrow, especially that caused by someone’s death. Mourning is the outward expression of grief and sorrow. [Mat 5:4 NASB20] 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Let me tell you about a couple of songs that came to me in the middle of a trial experienced by a friend and his family. Here’s the story behind the songs. Those songs are called Run To Jesus / Over Yonder and they came to me on July 31-August 1, 1996. Here’s what I wrote about the song at that time:
I have several very good friends. One of them is Matt. I met Matt a few years ago as of the time of this writing, yet it seems as if we've known each other our entire lives. When God knits two hearts together, time is easily bridged on the wings of intimacy. Matt became a sounding board for me…a safe place to unload my burdens., confess my sins, and expose the deepest places of my heart without fear of abandonment or rejection. As in any relationship, for closeness to take place, sharing must be mutual. As Matt was a safe place for me, I was a safe place for him. The song Run to Jesus/Over Yonder was born out of our relationship and forged from Matt's journey through many years of grief.
Matt is the middle child of nine. When he was 10 years old, God gave his family their last baby…a little girl. It was soon evident that this little girl was not like other little girls. Stacey was born with Down Syndrome. Even though Stacey was born with a disability, Matt’s parents didn't complain. This child was a gift, regardless of her physical or mental capacities. They didn't become frustrated, but saw this as yet another opportunity to overcome adversity. Adding one more child to an already large family seemed to be business as usual in this special home. The patience and grace with which Matt’s parents responded to Stacey helped Matt get through the grief a big brother feels towards a little sister who seems challenged.
But Matt did grieve. The shock of having a sister who was not normal when compared to other little girls may not have been readily apparent, but in a gradual sense, Matt did have to deal with the mental and emotional trauma of the realization of Stacey's weaknesses.
Even though he didn't know what he was experiencing as a child, in looking back, he sees that there were times when he was overcome with anger. Why did she have to be born this way? Why did other people have to make disparaging and cruel remarks about her? Stacey knew she was different, so why did she have to experience the stares and pointing fingers her entire life? Why were people so insensitive? Little boys dream of being the defenders of their little sisters. What Matt soon came to realize is that, many times, he would be called upon literally to defend his sister against the sometimes endless taunting and insecurity of others. Anger was difficult to avoid. He felt as if he were bearing Stacey's burdens for much of his life.
Matt soon learned to turn these burdens into catalysts for the further laying down of his life and service to his sister and family. When others would point or tease, Matt wood shield and protect. When friends came over and Stacey threw her fork or didn't make it to the bathroom in time, Matt learned to graciously diffuse such tense times with humor and discretion. When Stacey could not play games like other children, Matt would play what they called ‘slow motion games’, which Stacey dearly loved and looked forward to. In one of these games, Matt and Stacey wood pretend-box in slow motion. Stacey would reel with glee as she knocked her big brother senseless with a right hook and watched him fall slowly backward into the wall. Stacey struggled scholastically, so, to help sharpen her mental capacities, her siblings quizzed her on baseball stats. Stacey could quote the batting averages of her favorite major league team players from specific years. This family had learned to take hardship and grief and turn it to blessing and joy.
I had only known Matt for a couple of years when Stacey died. At 31 years of age, her body had been showing signs of giving out so she had to be hospitalized. One day Matt went home to shower before returning to the hospital, and Stacey died before Matt could get back there. His immediate response was grief. His baby sister was gone and he had not been able to say goodbye. Yet mingled with the sorrow were tinges of relief. And with those feelings, guilt poured into his soul for feeling that relief. All the years of helping to bear Stacey’s load now seemed insignificant compared to this loss.
I knew Matt was hurting, but I didn't know what to do or what to say. I only knew that I had to be there for my friend. I picked him up for lunch the next day, and we drove around town. When I asked him how he was doing, he began to unload the burdens that had accumulated over the many years of growing up with and caring for his little sister. We soon found our way into the quiet country back roads and drove around as my friend wept over the loss, wept over the guilt he now felt because of the sense of relief he felt, wept because he had not been there when she had passed away, wept because people never fully appreciated or valued Stacey's life as much as Matt and his family had, wept because he missed his little sister. I will never forget that day because I realized there was nothing I could do or say to make it better for Matt. But I also realized that the best thing I could do was simply to be there and listen to him.
Matt’s sorrow and grief soon gave way to recollections of the life he had shared with his sister. At a glance, one might think there could only be heartache to share, but Matt told story after story of the great joy Stacey to brought those around her. He mused at how she would be able to walk and talk and enjoy the glorified body God had given her as she entered heaven. He wondered what it would be like to one day see his sister again and to be able to reminisce about all they had experienced together on earth. As the laughter mixed with tears, we made our way back to town, and my friend could now more easily face the reality of planning a memorial service for his precious sister in the peace this brief outpouring of emotion had brought to his heart and to mine.
The Lord gave me these songs for Matt as a memorial to Stacey's life, as a gift to his family, and as a confession of our faith in God and the hope of the eternal life He has promised to those whose faith is in Jesus Christ. The words speak for themselves. Those songs are called Run To Jesus/Over Yonder and the link to hear the song is available below.
Matt’s greatest moments of comfort came as friends and family shared stories of how Stacey had blessed their lives. These poignant stories became more priceless and precious than gold. Hearing these stories replaced Matt’s sorrow with humor and laughter, and the honest confessions of love and admiration bolstered the pride of a big brother who takes up for his little sister. Stacey's death left a tremendous void in this family, but that void was replaced with the legacy of love and strength that only those who have experienced such a blessing as Stacey can even begin to understand. I did not know Stacey well, but I knew her through the heart of her big brother. This song represents the truth we all need and hope every heart longs for. Life is precious. God is good.
When a loved one or when a friend is grieving the loss of someone close, we may feel ill-equipped to help them or ease their pain or sorrow…but we can just be there for them. We can hold them if they need us to. We can just listen. We can wait in silence with them if that’s what they need. Sometimes the greatest comfort comes when a grieving heart knows its sorrow is being heard.
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of today’s blog and to hear the songs, go to https://www.patreon.com/posts/run-to-jesus-97904149
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/09/21/16/35/old-man-2772421_1280.jpg
This week I are going to be sharing the story behind my song, Silver and Gold, from the recording Jernigan Family Christmas. I received this particular song on October 3, 1995.
If you know me, you know I absolutely LOVE Christmas! Always have. I love the decorations! I love the music! I love the gathering of family and friends! But most of all, I love the fact that God gave us the gift of all gifts on that day! I love celebrating the birth of my Savior!
While I love even most of the secular songs of Christmas, they hold little value beyond sentimentality and mere entertainment. They do not hold a Christmas candle to the power of conveying the gift of Jesus Christ to this lost world! While my children were young and still all at home, I tried to create meaningful Christmas songs that would convey this gift to them. One day, while enjoying the trimmings in the house and on the tree, I was transported to a place of seeing them - the decorations - from God’s point of view. Let’s take a quick look at the lyrics and I’ll show you what I mean.
Verse one begins…
Silver and gold hang from the tree
Royal in color, they remind me
Of a King born in a manger
Who hung from a tree
Shining through darkness for me
Why should the world dictate to us the meaning of one of our most holy days? One of the ways I take back such stolen ground is to see what was stolen from God’s point of view…like the colors of silver and gold tinsel on the tree…
Chorus
Silver and gold
They’re the colors of a King
Who left His throne
Gave up everything
The treasure I hold
Is the life He died to bring
Like silver and gold
For the birthday of my King.
Verse two is one of my favorites from the song because it speaks to the saving, cleansing power of the blood of Christ.
Verse Two
Crimson and white light up the tree
A red flowing river, a life-giving stream
Like a snowfall in the winter that leaves this world clean
Making way for new life in the spring
Chorus Two
Crimson and white, they’re the colors of a King
Who pierced through the night
And washed my heart clean
Crimson and white join to color me redeemed
Crimson and white, colors of a heart made clean.
John 3:16-17 tells us why Jesus came to the world…why He is the greatest gift of all time: 16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
Let us take back what the enemy has stolen from the meaning of Christmas…one decoration and one declaration at a time. Let us see Christmas from His point of view this year.
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this blog and the song, Silver and Gold, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/silver-and-gold/
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/08/10/04/59/christmas-2618381_1280.jpg
What is tradition. According to the dictionary, tradition is ‘the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.’ In the Jernigan house we have several traditions that we passed on to our children. Some have continued to carry them on. Some have created their own traditions within their own families.
Traditions are like little anchor points within a family that brings us all together even though we may be spread far and wide. They are talked about with great reverence and deep joy and always carry an air of nostalgia and joy…and tend to stir up a lot of laughter.
One of our earliest traditions revolved around the children not waking Melinda and me up before 8 AM on Christmas morning. With 9 children, this was a practical, logistical tradition, lol! Because this was the house rule, I will never forget the first Christmas morning after initiating the wake-up time. As Melinda and I lay in bed waiting for a knock on our bedroom door, we were startled by the sounds of bells and cuckoos and various electronic noises right outside our door. It was as if we were under some sort of alien invasion!
Not knowing what the heck was going on, we jumped out of bed and opened the door to find the alarm clocks of all our children going off, having been placed in a semicircle forming an alarm clock choir that had been synchronized by the older children. Before we could stop laughing, the children all jumped out of hiding and said, “It’s 8 o’clock! Time to get up! It’s Christmas!” We did that until the last child left home…and now have some of our grandchildren who carry on this tradition. To their parents I say, “You’re welcome!”
Another tradition in the Jernigan home is that I cook each child their own omelet with their choice of ingredients on Christmas morning before we open gifts. I prepare all the ingredients the night before so as to streamline the process. One child takes everyone’s order and I make their omelet to order. We still carry on this tradition to this day. Our grandchildren now look forward to it, but it is my children who still insist we keep doing this…and I am beyond blessed to do so.
To help remind the children that Christmas is meant to be a celebration of the birth of Jesus, we hang a long, crude, nail somewhere in the branches of the Christmas tree. The nail is to help us remember that Jesus was born to die for the sin of mankind and that He is risen, having conquered sin, death, and the grave.
One of our favorite traditions is to sing together as a family. At least it is one of my favorite traditions. When the children ranged in age 11 years of age all the way down to 1 year of age, I wrote a Christmas song for our family called We’re Gonna Decorate the Christmas Tree. It came to me on October 4, 1995. This song was one of our favorites of our family when my children were still young and in the home. Melinda and I worked hard at creating memories for our children through every era of their lives…especially when they were young. As Christmas 1995 approached…yes, I was thinking about Christmas in October…being one of those people who is prone to listening to Christmas music all year ‘round.
My mind began to whirl with the thoughts of my children and the joy they would have by simply decorating the house and tree with us. Little did I know that we would sing this song while decorating the tree from that year on - each and every year - and now to share it with our grandchildren?! My heart can hardly contain such joy. Let’s run through the lyrics and you’ll see what I mean.
Imagine calling the children to one of the most anticipated moments in our family life, the annual decoration of the tree! All I did was write down my own point of view and how I could convey the joy I wanted to fill their hearts.
Verse One
Mama get the popcorn
Children come and string
Daddy start a carol and everybody sing
Jot to the world
Oh, let the praises ring
Singing happy birthday to the King!
Chorus
We’re gonna decorate the Christmas tree
We’re gonna make it bright
We’re gonna make another memory and taste the spice of life
We’re gonna make a little history
Have a lot of fun and be a family
Make a memory and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ
Verse Two
Sister hangs the blue bulb
Brother hangs the red
Baby has a yellow bow stuck to his head
Angels and soldiers elephants and cows
Singing to the music from the boughs
Verse Three
Oh, daddy’s kissing mama ‘neath the mistletoe
All the children watching and laughing at the show
Joy fills the heart as apple cider flows
Everyone agrees – we hope it snows!
CHORUS
Bridge
Joy to the world! The Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing…
Oh we’re gonna make a little history
Have a lot of fun and be a family
Make a memory and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ
Even as I read those lyrics now, I am transported back to a time when I can still see the sheer simple joy on the faces of my children as we created those memories together. Soon after I received the song, we recorded it with the children. My eldest at the time was 11 years of age. He is now 39! I’ll add a link at the end of this blog so you can hear it. And just in case you’re wondering: Yes. We still sing this song together each year on Christmas morning.
Matthew 1:23 NASB 23 "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US.”
God is with us through each and every phase of our lives. Let us be mindful of that when creating traditions and memories for our children and grandchildren for generations to come. We decorate the tree each year in our home to commemorate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on a tree reminding ourselves of His great love for us. If you haven’t already done so, plan on teaching this song to your children and grandchildren as you play it for them while you decorate your Christmas tree this year. The Jernigans wish you and yours the most merry and joyous of Christmas celebrations this year. Now go and create some memories and traditions of your own!
Dennis Jernigan
To hear the song, We’re Gonna Decorate the Christmas Tree, go to https://www.patreon.com/posts/were-gonna-tree-94078162
In the second week of December of 1997, a little six year old boy named Jordan was taken from my brother’s wife’s family in an automobile accident. His favorite song was “You Are My All In All”…and I was asked to sing several songs for his funeral. Even though I could not begin to imagine the pain Curtis and Tracy (Jordan’s Dad and Mom) or Bethany (Jordan’s 8 year old sister) must have been feeling, I asked the Lord to let me feel what they were feeling…and to let me feel what they must have felt at the loss of their only son…and to ultimately let me feel what Father God felt at the loss of his only Son, Jesus. The Lord gave me this song on December 11, 1997 - the day after Jordan died. The funeral was bittersweet. Jordan knew Jesus and was a worshiper. The family rejoiced that he was with the Lord…yet grieved tremendously that he was no longer with them on this earth.
This song - Help Me To Remember - was used to unleash a floodgate of grief yet serves as a reminder to Curtis and Tracy that Jordan’s life was not in vain. They were able to experience the joy of his presence for a while in this life…and now Jordan’s song will be used to remind us of how precious our children are…and how quickly they grow and leave us.
6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight-- 8 but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 NASB
Now that I am personally facing the ongoing progression of Parkinson's in my own life, this song, as you might imagine, has taken on an even deeper meaning for me in my personal walk with Jesus. Doctors tell me that within the next 10 to 20 years, my memory will begin to fade and I could possibly be faced with Alzheimer's or dementia - but I don't necessarily buy into that.
Why is that? Part of the reason is that when I was born again I was given the mind of Christ, so regardless of what state my physical brain may one day find itself in, I will still have the mind of Christ. And to top it all off, my mind is so chock full of amazingly wonderful, magnificent, joyful memories of time spent with my wife, with my children, with my grand children, and with my friends that even Parkinson's cannot begin to erase them from my memory.
And besides. I will have plenty of grandchildren who can re-tell me the stories that I have told them and that I have experienced with them along with the memories made with my own children and with my wife. That's a treasure trove that, even from the vantage point of one suffering with Parkinson's, cannot begin to touch. I will just get to relive those memories again and again and again until I meet Jesus face-to-face..
On top of that, I have no reason to fear because I am absolutely never alone and because I know the one who walks through this illness with me loves me so massively and so outrageously and so lavishly that I trust Him to give me the grace I need to endure whatever comes my way. God is right here with me. Even in those middle-of-nowhere moments life so often throws my way these days. He is so good to me and so faithful to surround me with songs of deliverance. He is God and I am not. He loves me and I love Him. He’s got this…
I realize we do not live our lives in the past, but according to God's Word, it is a good thing to remember all that he has done for us and I believe that includes the joyful memories we have created along the journey of our lives…and even the sorrowful memories He gotten us through. Here are just a few examples from his Word that call us to remembrance of all he has done for us. Regardless of how long or how short our lifespan may be, each life is precious to our father. Never forget that. Here are a few passages from the word of God that indicate to us how much God values the memories we make with him.
When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches…
Psalm 63:6 NASB
I will remember my song in the night;
I will meditate with my heart,
And my spirit ponders…
Psalm 77:6 NASB
I shall remember the deeds of the LORD;
I will certainly remember Your wonders of old.
Psalm 77:11 NASB
Remember His wonders which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments spoken by His mouth…
Psalm 105:5 NASB
Remember my misery and my homelessness, the wormwood and bitterness.
My soul certainly remembers,
And is bent over within me.
I recall this to my mind,
Therefore I wait.
The LORD'S acts of mercy indeed do not end,
For His compassions do not fail.
[They] are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:19-23 NASB
I encourage you to be intentional in creating memory-making opportunities with your family this year…and I encourage you to ask the Lord to help you remember the episodes of goodness and the expressions of his love you have experienced even through the sorrowful times of life. It's OK to glance back and see life from God's point of you. Even the hard times. What is most important is that we keep our eyes always fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching and to hear the song, Help Me To Remember, go to https://www.patreon.com/posts/help-me-to-93619403
Photo courtesy of https://pixabay.com/static/frontend/3c346409d336d5f09a7f.svg
Just before 5:50 p.m. on July 15th, 1994, our twin sons were born 9 weeks early. Asa (Healer) Robert (Bright In Counsel) was born weighing 2 pounds and 7 ounces and his length was 14 inches - long and skinny! About eight minutes later, his brother, Ezra (Seeker of Truth) Thomas (Twin or Double Blessing) was born weighing 3 pounds and 10 ounces and was 17 inches long.
I followed Ezra up to join his brother in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where our neonatal specialist assured me they were both doing well…so I announced this news to the small entourage of friends and family who had gathered in the waiting room to pray for Melinda and the boys during the birth. I thanked them and sent them on their way since Melinda was not able to have visitors and that the boys could not have visitors since they were in the NICU.
After a few hours, Melinda did not seem to be herself. I knew something wasn’t right when a nurse asked Melinda if she wanted to see the babies and she said, “No. I don’t feel well. I just need to rest.” This was the opposite reaction I had expected and I expressed that concern to the doctor and, after a brief examination of Melinda’s abdomen, she, too, became concerned and ordered an ultrasound. After a second ultrasound, the doctor concluded that Melinda’s liver had begun to hemorrhage.
I asked the doctor about surgery to stop the internal bleeding. She spoke very matter-of-factly to Melinda and me that surgery would not be an option. She then said, “If you are praying people, I suggest you pray. Your wife will probably not live through the night. I would encourage you to call her parents and get them here ASAP if they want to say goodbye.”
At those words, she instructed the attending nurses to swaddle Melinda’s swollen body as tightly as possible to try and minimize the internal bleed and then she turned and walked out of the room.
I simply sat there in the darkened room and cried. I had been all ‘prayed out’ over the babies and now this! It was like seeing my wife headed for a water fall and there was nothing I could do about it!
As I sobbed, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “It will be alright, son. I save your tears when you cry.” I felt so weak at those words. I considered myself a warrior for God’s kingdom and all I could do was cry…and the Lord would save my tears? “I thought to myself ‘what good will that do?’ This only made me cry more. After a few minutes of sobbing, Melinda asked me to leave the room to cry!
During my absence, Melinda told the Lord she was ready to be in His presence. But you know what He said to her? “No, Melinda. I will come and be in your presence.” This statement was to carry her through her whole ordeal. She told me afterwards that she could actually smell the presence of the Lord in the room with her. The most beautiful fragrance she had ever smelled. Melinda truly knows the cost of laying down one’s life to give life to another…and then some!
So, I went to the nurse’s station and called her Mom and told her of the situation as two liver specialists right next to the phone pored over medical manuals in a frantic search for a way to stop the bleeding. After this conversation with Melinda’s mom, a nurse pulled me aside and told me she had been called in to work that evening and told me when she gets called in for extra shifts, she knows the Lord has something special for her to do. Upon seeing me, she now knew why she had been called in. She was there to minister to Melinda and me and that she had a word from the Lord for us!
At first I was a bit leery, but as she shared the word, my broken heart began to settle down. She assured me others were praying and that others were taking up the fight in my weakness...and then she shared that she had a specific word for me that only I would understand. She said, “This may not make much sense to you right now, but God wants you to know that He saves every tear when you cry and that He heard them as the prayer of your heart!” I was in shock that she used the exact wording I had heard the Holy Spirit speak to me only a few minutes earlier. “I save your tears when you cry.” That simple testament to God’s presence and love gave me grace to get through the rest of that night.
By the following morning, Melinda had lost so much blood internally that they had to give her two units of blood! Melinda said she could feel the life flowing back into her body as the new blood was put into her veins. Our doctor’s hope (and that of the specialists called in on our case) was that the blood that she had lost would put enough pressure on her liver to stop the bleeding. With the additional blood and the pressure put on her liver, the bleeding stopped. I believe the doctors were simply agents of the wisdom of Almighty God and I am so grateful for all they did to bring healing to my wife…but the way God showed up and spoke through the Holy Spirit to Melinda and me…and that nurse who just ‘happened' to be called in that night still takes my breath away.
A week later, on July 22, 1994, while reflecting on the helplessness I felt when Melinda had been near death…and how the Lord used my tears as a prayer language even when I didn’t have a clue…and that the reality of Him saving our tears when we cry is found in Psalm 56, the song, You Save Every Tear When I Cry, was born.
Psalm 56:8-11 NASB
8 You have taken account of my miseries;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
[Are they] not in Your book?
9 Then my enemies will turn back on the day when I call;
This I know, that God is for me.
10 In God, [whose] word I praise,
In the LORD, [whose] word I praise,
11 In God I have put my trust,
I shall not be afraid.
What can mankind do to me?
What I discovered as I began to think on Psalm 56 was that even when we run out of words and have only tears left to cry, He will use those tears as weapons of spiritual warfare and turn back the enemy who assails us. If you ever have moments in your life when tears seem the only thing you can produce when trying to pray, remember to allow Father God to save those tears and use them against the lies of the enemy. He wastes nothing. Not even our tears.
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching and to hear the song, You Save Every Tear When I Cry, go to https://www.patreon.com/posts/you-save-evry-i-92811322
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/06/18/19/45/man-1465525_1280.jpg
Recently, I made an appointment with a counselor, feeling I needed to get a mental tune-up regarding my approach to dealing with Parkinson’s. That session took place yesterday. It was a wonderful time of being encouraged. Over the course of that hour, I came to a place of peace when it dawned on me that I was actually thinking right thoughts. I won’t bore you with what those thoughts were except to repeat what my counselor said to me. “You’re way too hard on yourself. You have blessed so many others. Don’t keep yourself from receiving blessings in return. Enjoy your life.”
As he spoke those words to me, I remembered that just before being called back to the counselor’s office, I had received a message on my phone that read, “Forty-two. He ain’t through with you yet!” My first thoughts were, “My birthday isn’t until February…and I’m a little bit older than 42!” And then it hit me. Yesterday’s date was November 7, 2023…42 years since I was born again and given a brand new identity in Christ. Like a warm wave of love, my body and my mind were flooded with what felt like a lifetime’s worth of affirmation and blessing and a very deep sense of gratitude…and joy.
Forty-two years ago, on November 7, 1981, I attended a concert by the band 2nd Chapter of Acts and my life was forever altered. I usually set aside that day and spend a lot of time in retrospection and celebration. What I realized is that I had allowed Parkinson’s to take up so much of my attention that I had forgotten the most profound, momentous, monumental day of my life. When my counselor had admonished me to be a good receiver of blessings, I realized that this was a very timely kiss from heaven…and I received the blessing.
As soon as I got out of the counseling session, I messaged the person who had messaged me with, “Thank you for remembering…”
Her response? “Always! Jesus worked through you to change my life forever!”
I said, “That makes me happy.”
Continuing, she said, “and millions of us are leading others to freedom because of you!”
I was stunned. In that moment all I could feel was love and gratitude. To think that what God had done for me somehow affected the lives of countless others was both humbling and breath-taking. I had forgotten my own anniversary, but God sent an unexpected message by way of an unexpected messenger to gently remind me…He remembered.
I then listened to 2nd Chapter of Acts music the 50 minutes it took me to get home from my session…and I may have listened to ‘Mansion Builder’ more than once! God is so good…
Dennis Jernigan
To watch the full-length documentary film of my life, Sing Over Me, go to https://youtu.be/rAYkFQ4iHZ8?si=yJ2eQ5nLyVdRyVNP
Would you consider becoming a part of my team and help me continue to create books, podcasts, and music to assist others in finding their true identities in Christ? Go to https://youtu.be/qE6ZflV46p0?si=fAnQkhP0vqYz4pA8
In early 1989, my pastor in those days, Jerry Wells, received a ‘new’ vision from the Lord concerning the direction our corporate body was to focus on for the coming year and beyond. Concerned by the lack of salvations and the apathy concerning evangelism on the part of believers, the Lord began to direct him to be creative in reaching out to the lost.
It was quite normal for me and pastor Jerry to meditate on the same passage of scripture or the same vision each week. During my meditation, the Lord would often give me a song…and that song became There Is A Place That Calls You Home. This song came as I asked God to change my heart – to help me begin thinking like a lost person in order to know their needs. This song is more than a cry to the lost to receive Jesus…it is an encouragement to the believer to remember their own condition before they knew Jesus – as well as an encouragement to love the lost. Jesus does not desire for ANY to perish…neither should we!
2 Peter 3:9 NASB says 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
Jesus tells us exactly why He came to earth in the first place in Luke 19:10 NASB20. He says, 10 "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” In case you were wondering what that means for us as Christ followers and as new creations, we have but to look to Matthew 28 verses 19 through 20 which says, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
That simply means we are to be about the business of walking relationally with people who do not know Jesus in a personal way. It's as simple as investing our time and resources and our kindness into the lives of those we are in relationship with. When we've made those kinds of investments in the banks of another person's heart and soul, there comes a point when it's absolutely natural to make a withdrawal on that account. What that withdrawal looks like is introducing those people you were walking relationally with to the one who set you free. It is as natural as inviting someone into your forever home. I love to tell people about the place and the Savior that called me to my eternal home. Let's not shy away from inviting the lost, the lonely, and the hurting into relationship with Jesus Christ on a personal level.
I love this song, There Is A Place That Calls You Home, because it stirs up so many special memories of how Jesus first consumed me with His presence and with His redeeming love. I still sing it in times of worship quite often because it really encourages my soul to keep on reaching out to others to introduce them to the One Who saved my soul and brought restoration to my heart and life. My prayer is that it would do the same for you.
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/there-is-a-place-that-calls-you-home/
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2021/11/22/20/48/outdoors-6817409_1280.jpg
Who are you according to God’s Word? When we come to understand we are who our Father says we are, joy begins to rule our lives…in spite of our circumstances! Read the following passage of Scripture to get a few clues concerning who He says you are:
1Peter 2:9-10 NASB
9 But you are A CHOSEN PEOPLE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR [GOD'S] OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.
Something I believe is that, if God is my Father, then His spiritual DNA runs through my spiritual veins. That means that all that Christ has revealed Himself to be…is who I really am in my spirit…who He is making me to be!
He has crowned us with His glory! He has made us His own! He has made us a royal priesthood! He has given us a way, by His own sacrifice and blood, to know Him in the most intimate of ways! How can we not worship Him with all of our might! Thank You, Jesus, for revealing Yourself to me daily. Help me to see all that you are trying to show me about Yourself and all you are trying to show me about me! I love you!
Revelation 1:5-8 NASB
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood-- 6 and He made us [into] a kingdom, priests to His God and Father--to Him [be] the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. 8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Let’s purpose to do this in the coming days. Regardless of our circumstances, let’s be daily intentional in acknowledging Who God is in our lives and let’s not call ourselves something our Father does not call us. He is Almighty God and we are His sons and daughters. Let’s crown Him with majesty in our thought lives and in our attitudes and actions. Let’s believe His Word and let’s receive the joy that follows!
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching, along with a song reinforcing this truth, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/you-are-crowned-in-majesty/
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/06/13/13/06/girl-2398821_1280.jpg
