Amazed

In this week's episode, Dennis Jernigan shares the story behind his song,  “Amazed” from the recording, Forty Days and Forty Nights - Songs of Contemplation and Intimacy Vol. 1." That mp3 is available at https://www.dennisjernigan.com/store/product.php?c=24&p=2353 The lyrics can be found below.

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You will find the show notes and lyrics below:

Hello and welcome to another episode of The Dennis Jernigan Podcast. I’m your host, Dennis Jernigan, and I am so grateful you have joined me for this week’s podcast. I’ll try to get right to the heart of the matter today. The story behind this song is amazing to me. You’ll find out why shortly. 

We live in a day and age when amazing things are taking place on a daily basis. Everyday citizens, if they have the time and money, can literally fly into outer space. A person’s identity, their image, and their voice and mannerisms can be manipulated in such a way as to make them appear to say and do things they would never do. Even though it gives me chills, this ability of AI, called deep fake, is kind of amazing. And speaking of AI, entire books are being written using artificial intelligence and new uses for AI are seemingly popping up every single day. And I think it is amazing that we live in a world where everyone is connected via the internet and smartphones to such a degree that we can talk with and see anyone we would like to communicate with instantly. The world is indeed amazing.

The word ‘amazing’ literally means ‘causing great surprise or wonder; astonishing; startlingly impressive.’ That is a good thing to experience, yet even good things can be viewed through the filter of the lies of the enemy. Here’s an example of what I mean taken from my now life experiences:

For far too many years I allowed the lies of the enemy to define me and dictate to me what was amazing. I could see the way others treated me as amazing in a very perverted way. What I mean by that is this: I thought that someone mocking me or physically harming me meant that at least someone was acknowledging me, even if they were insulting me and belittling me. I longed to be known and to know others and that expectation of being put down by others at least made me feel acknowledged. That, my friends, is the depth of depravity my mind had fallen to which is, well, astonishingly sad. That all changed the day I was overwhelmed with the Truth that Jesus Christ had died for me. I was instantly set free from my past but had to walk out the wonderful but difficult journey toward wholeness. In fact, I’m still on that journey. I invite you to join me for today’s brief leg of that adventure as I share the story behind my song, “Amazed”.

Way back in 2010, I embarked on an adventure that lasted 40 days but continues to affect my life to this day. From May 3 through June 11 I went on a 40 day fast. I needed to reboot my system because I had just gone through a series of traumatic events that left me gutted. The Lord called me to a fast and led me to meditate daily on Psalm 40 and Isaiah 40. He spoke to my heart and told me He would give me a song each day of the fast and that I was to record it that same day. Since then, I put together 4 ten song volumes where you can find all 40 songs. The first ten songs are on the collection called Forty Days and Forty Nights - Songs of Contemplation and Intimacy Vol. 1.

This week’s episode is the story behind the song “Amazed” which came to me on May 8, 2010 which was day 5 of that fast. When the Lord sent me on this fasting journey, He led me to focus and meditate on Psalm 40 and Isaiah 40 each day. He led me to write a song each day and then record it that very same day. What you are hearing is the original version of each song on the day I actually wrote it.

On day 5, He led me to meditate specifically on Psalm 40:3a which says, “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God…”

As I began to ponder on what this part of the verse