Hold On

I know I do this a lot, but I am playing the Parkinson's card today, meaning even though I am struggling with this disease I am making the choice to fix my gaze on Jesus. I am choosing to not live as a victim, but to live as a victor over Parkinson's and it just so happens that the songs and stories behind the songs I share each week have been helping me do that in a brand new way with a brand new perspective. Even during times when I have felt alone in my battle, the truth is God has never let me go. In fact, when I felt like I was holding onto God, the real truth of the matter is that he was holding on to me…and that is absolutely glorious. I actually have moments when I don't even feel or believe I have Parkinson's. There are many reasons for that, which I will not go into right now, but suffice it to say, I am choosing to live my life from my God's point of you.

This week’s song, Hold On, was received on August 3, 1998 as I was preparing for our monthly Night of Praise. The Night of Praise was a monthly gathering I hosted and led for 15 years. Each month, people from every denominational background and every walk of life would assemble for worship and we would exalt Jesus for over three hours at each event.

It was my practice to seek the Lord to see if any if He had any songs of deliverance for me to share with the people of these gatherings. If the Holy Spirit had given me a song for that particular group, I would ask all the people to have a seat. I would ask all those who were dealing with a specific issue to stand while I sang the song over them from God's perspective.

On this particular night, the Lord had given me the song, Hold On. I remember asking if there were any people present that evening who felt they were hanging on to life by a thread…if there were any people there who felt so emotionally broken they found it difficult to even cry out to God…if there were any people present who just needed to feel seen…to know and to be known…any who needed to be held close and to receive the comfort of the Lord’s presence…if there were any weary from the constant barrage of the enemy’s lies and just simply needed a reprieve from spiritual battle.

And then I asked them to do a bold thing. I asked them to stand right where they were and allow me to sing over them. I then encouraged all those around those who had stood to surround them and lay hands on them and pray for them as I sang.

The reason I had them stand is that I believe honesty is the first step towards truth and truth sets us free. That night, over 100 people stood to receive ministry. I encouraged those who stood for ministry to disregard me and to hear their Father God's heart for them. As I began to sing, the sound of weeping began to fill that auditorium. In that moment, God's presence was absolutely tangible.

Let me share some of my favorite passages from God’s Word that give me the understanding that God has a hold on me with a love that will never let me go.

When I remember You on my bed,

I meditate on You in the night watches,

For You have been my help,

And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.

My soul clings to You;

Your right hand takes hold of me.

Psalm 63:6-8 NASB

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

[If] I take up the wings of the dawn,

[If] I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

Even there Your hand will lead me,

And Your right hand will take hold of me...

How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God!

How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.

Psalm 139:7-10, 17-18 NASB

You are my hiding place;

You keep me from trouble;

You surround me with songs of deliverance.

Psalm 32:7 BASV

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers [and sisters,] whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Philippians 4:6-8 NASB

I encourage you to do just that; to think about things that are worthy of praise; to remember you have been given the mind of Christ and can change the way you think about things; and to always see every circumstance of life from the King's point of view. Hold on to the truth and allow the Truth to hold on to you.

Dennis Jernigan

To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching and to hear the song, Hold On, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/hold-on/

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Don't Lose Heart

This week’s teaching is inspired by the song, Don’t Lose Heart. The song was received on July 25, 1990 and was given to me for friends who had lost a child to miscarriage. Both would-be mother and father were physicians and both wanted another child. They had already been blessed some years earlier with a precious daughter but had a deep desire for other children. It was the circumstances surrounding this loss that inspired the song Don’t Lose Heart.

I can’t begin to imagine the heartache and pain of going through a miscarriage as a would-be parent, but Melinda and I have experienced the heartache and pain of watching two of our children and their spouses going through the loss of 3 precious babies to miscarriage. It was a crushing experience because we were so excited and full of expectancy at the thought of being grandparents. Miscarriage is painful for the entire family but especially so for the expectant parents.

Concerning the couple I wrote the song for, as only God can, He was able to take the heartaches and trials and turn them to good for this couple and use it for His own glory. I am happy to report that these friends were able to adopt other children through the years and are now enjoying the benefits of God’s grace through these precious blessings of life. I encourage you to use this song to encourage others no matter what trial they are facing.

Hebrews 12:1-3 NASB 1 Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let's rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let's run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

God’s grace is the same for all – sufficient. Our hope is the fact that we do not go through anything alone. My prayer is that none of you would lose heart or grow weary in your well-doing.

Isaiah 40:31 NASB 31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up [with] wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

Matthew 11:28 NASB 28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 NASB 9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

When I feel like giving up, and there are times when I do feel that way, I have chosen ahead of time that there is only one and one alone that I give up to… And that is Jesus. When I have health issues that caused me to grow weary, I surrender them to Jesus. When I have relational issues that bring me discouragement, I give up to Jesus. We may not have a choice as to our circumstances, but we always have a choice as to how we will respond to them. As a new creation in Christ I always have a choice and I always choose Jesus.

Dennis Jernigan

To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching and to listen to the song, Don’t Lose Heart, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/dont-lose-heart/

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The Point of Grace

This week’s study is inspired by the song, The Point of Grace. It came to me on March 17, 1997 for the contemporary Christian women’s quartet, called Point of Grace. Since a couple of the girls were from Oklahoma, we were already familiar with one another's ministries and, coincidentally, had both signed recording deals with Word Music, I believe, in 1993 or 1994. All I know is Melinda and I were invited to the Word Music Christmas dinner in Nashville in December for new artists signed to Word in the early 90s and I recall thinking how cool it was to have two ministries from Oklahoma signed to the same record company.

Of course, Point of Grace made a huge impact on Christian radio and were touring quite a bit in the following years. In the spring of 1997, Heather (soprano of the group), had their manager call and ask if I would be willing to come to their concert at the state fairgrounds arena in Oklahoma City and lead the girls in a pre-concert devotion. Of course, I quickly agreed to do that and immediately began seeking the Lord as to what He would have me share with the girls.

What I heard in my spirit was simply to sing over the girls. Personally, I knew that, based on my own experience with ministering to people in a concert setting and listening afterwards to the stories and burdens shared with me by those in attendance, that after a while, those burdens can become weights upon the shoulders of those who minister.

There were over 10,000 people in attendance that night, but my family and I had gotten there early enough to meet with the girls and their band to share with them what God had put on my heart. The first thing I did was to remind them that God was their hiding place and that he would surround them with songs of deliverance, reminding them that God rejoiced over them with singing…and that he had given me a song from his point of view to sing over them. I told them I felt they needed to let go of the burdens of those they were singing to and give those burdens to God.

Since they did not have a piano in the green room where we were meeting, I had brought my guitar in order to convey this song to them. At first I felt completely intimidated because the guys that played guitar in their band were world-class musicians and I was a piano guy pretending to play the guitar.

What struck me right away was that God could use even a remedial level guitar player to convey His heart because it was evident that what I was singing had struck a nerve; maybe a better way to say it would be to say that God had touched their hearts. How could I tell? All four of the girls had tears streaming down their faces and seeing that gave me a sense that God was enveloping them with a massive dose of his love for them. When I had finished singing this song over them, there was a brief moment of silence as we all experienced the awe and wonder of God's mighty presence with us and amongst us.

Of course, the girls were genuinely grateful while at the same time, jokingly saying to me, “Thanks a lot, Dennis! Now we have to redo our make up!” I felt very blessed to have been asked to do that for them and I suspect they began using waterproof mascara after that night. Just sayin’.

So just what does the phrase point of grace mean? What is the point of grace? The best way to explain it is to share just a few of the lyrics with you before I let you hear the song. I believe you will be able to identify with these words. This is verse one and part of the chorus:

When the fire of life leaves you so dry

That your eyes have no tears left to cry

When heartache leaves you wondering why

Or wondering how you will survive

And when you’ve grown too tired to run the race

But find your strength is gone without a trace

When you’ve reached that lonely desperate place

You have reached the point of grace

Chorus

And I will meet you there where your striving ends

I will hold you there in My embrace

And you will find the place where true joy begins

When you’ve reached the point of grace

The point of grace is the place where I come to understand that I cannot live this life or deal with it circumstances on my own; the place where we have fallen so far we feel we cannot be reached; the place where we let go of our burdens and take God's hand in our own hands. The point of grace is the collision of my realization that I need help with the massive love of God.

We all need more grace. Grace is simply God’s power meeting us in our weakness and infusing us with all that He is. I encourage you to receive His grace for whatever circumstances you face.

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 NASB

It's OK to admit we need Jesus. In fact, my personal belief is that Jesus is the answer to every question of life. I just need to learn how to see life; see the world from his point of view because it is there I will find the point of grace. This has become very personal to me in a way I never expected. Each and every day I wake up and remember I am dealing with Parkinson's, I immediately begin thanking God for another day of life and, at the same time, asking God for grace to get me through another day. His grace truly is sufficient. It’s enough to get me through.

Dennis Jernigan

To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching and to hear the song, just use the following link. As you listen, all I ask is that you disregard me and hear your Father’s heart singing over you: https://www.patreon.com/posts/point-of-grace-104164421

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Child, Come Forth

In this week’s teaching I share how the Lord used the story of Lazarus to lead me to shed the grave-clothes - the lies of the enemy that bound me in sin - and learn to walk in freedom. As a bonus, I share the recording of the actual moment I was set free.

Blessings,

Dennis

Listen to the teaching at https://www.patreon.com/posts/child-come-forth-103737934

Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2019/01/11/10/09/boy-3926785_1280.jpg

Trust Me...I Know

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/

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Time For a Change

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

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The Measure of a Man

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

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Let Me Love You

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

I Wanted You

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

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Time To Move On

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

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God Is Good

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

Friendship and Covenant

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

The Joy of Love

“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

The Pain of Love

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

Time Will Tell

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

Rest In Me

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

When A Friend Grieves

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

Silver and Gold

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

Tradition

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

Help Me to Remember

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