“It’s a God thing. I am extremely humbled because, everything I do is a reflection of Him, his grace, his love, his mercy, so this is just a reflection of what I hope to reflect to the community.” Pastor Jearlyn Dennie said when asked how she felt being nominated as the Positive Person of the Month. Jearlyn Dennie is a local pastor, ministry leader and community advocate. Her ministry, Jearlyn Ministries is currently celebrating it’s 10 year anniversary this year.
“There was never a time when being positive was a struggle; I have a thing, God’s will, nothing more nothing less nothing else, and when you stayed focused on that, even when things can thrush you in times of where you don’t want to be positive, you just remember that it’s His will, nothing more nothing less nothing else.” Jearlyn said when asked if there were ever times she struggled to be the positive person so many know her to be.
Jearlyn talked about how for her, everything points to Jesus Christ. “He never fails, you’re never alone, even in times when you think you’re along. I remember times in my life when things were really bad and I could have been negative. I think about how when Jesus was on the cross he knew every illness, sickness, disease, every problem, everything was upon him, everything. So when in times when I feel like my lowest, I know that he understands and He is there.”
“Nothing is ever going to be perfect, no one is ever going to be perfect, but how I look at a situation determines the outcome,” said Jearlyn. Jearlyn talked about how for her everything is about God, her life revolves around Him, there is no other secret to her positivity according to Jearlyn. “Words matter, I learned that a long time. There is death and life in the power of the tongue, what you say matters, so I always try to watch what I say. I speak solutions, I pray solutions.”
Now, Jearlyn also talked about the tragedies that she has faced, including the loss of her daughter last year. She talked about how it was after she lost her daughter, that was when she realized that she had grown in her faith to where she trusted God. “I wanted to die forty five minutes after learning this. It wasn’t the losing her that bothered me, it was peoples words towards me, that affected me the most, the ‘I’m sorry’s’. I put a post out immediately saying ‘Don’t say you’re sorry because I am not sorry, tell me you’re praying for me or you love me.’ I would sit there are read the ‘I love you’s’ and the ‘I’m praying for you’s’, and it would lifted my spirits. Words matter.”
“So many people are hurting, so many people that are looking for answers, so I choose the community because Christ chose them. Being his hands and feet and being positive, that is why I choose the community and I choose to be positive.” Jearlyn talked about different times that she dealt with situations in the community, like the Bunnell Elementary School incident, or when she has gone out and put on the mantle of homelessness to raise awareness. In both instances she faced negative situations and emotions and chose to change them to positive ones with her actions and her words.
“I consider myself a living testimony, I am an example of God’s graces, mercy and His love. I would hope that when people see me, they would see all of me, the good the bad and the ugly, not just always the positive. Then they would go, ‘that can only be because of God’. I would hope that my life inspires them, that my walk inspires them, even the bumps in the road. That they can see they don’t have to be perfect, they can be less than perfect but there is grace, there is mercy and there is love.”
