I talked with Dennis on Friday and thought you might like to hear our conversation. So I pressed "record" and posted it on YouTube. You can listen here:

Watch Dennis Jernigan and Eric Elder on YouTube

I hope you’ll take some time to listen to his encouraging words, whatever you’re facing.

Dennis has written some of my favorite worship songs, like "You Are My All in All," "I Belong to Jesus," and "Thank You."

He’s also faced some of the same struggles I’ve faced, like dealing with unhealthy attractions, which we also talk about in our conversation.

Here are some highlights:

"When I made the first public announcement of my diagnosis, I had droves of people giving me cures and all kinds of stuff. I was at a huge church and someone came up to me afterwards and said to me, ‘We just experienced this with our parents, and what you’re about to go through is absolutely horrible.’ What do you say in that moment? ‘Thank you for scaring the cr*p out of me!’

"But it was in that moment I decided nobody gets to dictate to me how I feel. Every feeling I have is attached to a thought I think. So I put off stinking thinking and put on right thinking, even about Parkinson’s. Until God heals me one way or the other, I’m going to keep my eyes fixed on Him.

"My personal rule is: Dennis Jernigan does not get to call himself something other than what his father God calls him, so that protects my mind and heart as much as anything these days. My father defines me, not Parkinson’s, not another person."

Dennis applies this rule to things that have tempted him, too, saying his temptations don’t define him. God does. When I asked about some of his best tips for dealing with unhealthy attractions, he said:

"I set myself up for success, not for failure, so I surround myself with people who are not going to be Yes-men or Yes-women. They’re going to tell me the truth.

"Melinda (his wife) is the main truth speaker in my life. When I’m going to be with anyone, she knows exactly who I’m going to be with, where I’m going to be, and what we’re going to be doing. It’s a safety net. It’s not that she’s the guardian of my mind, but she is, in a sense, part of the team, the biggest part of the team, aside from the Lord.

"So I set myself up to succeed, and I don’t put myself in positions to be confronted even with the temptation. Temptation doesn’t define anyone, so that helps me as much as anything, realizing Jesus was tempted in every manner, just as we are, yet was without sin.

"Temptation is a a clue from the Holy Spirit saying, basically, ‘Why is the enemy after you in this area? God must have something for you.’ So rather than turning to the temptation, I turn to Father and say, ‘Father, what is it You’re trying to say to me?’ And it protects my heart and my mind."

Dennis also says his family created a "Truth Jar" for him, a jar with slips of paper on which his family has written various truths he can pull out and read whenever he needs them. He said:

"My kids all wrote out verses of Scripture for me or jokes that brought joy or a memory of some kind that spoke truth to my mind. And anytime I feel attacked by the enemy, I go to the truth jar. I pull out a slip, and it’s always just like the perfect thing I needed to hear. I put that on (the truth) in place of whatever fear or whatever lie I was being told."

If you need some encouragement today or know someone who does, I hope you’ll watch and share our conversation.

I love Dennis, and I love all the things I’ve learned from him and received from him. I’m glad to share some of those things with you!

Again, here’s the link to watch our conversation:

Watch Dennis Jernigan and Eric Elder on YouTube

And here are the links to some of the things we talk about: his new book, Parkinson’s & Recreation, his new album, Might As Well Be Happy, and a beautiful documentary of how God pulled him out of despair, Sing Over Me.