A conversation with her father convinced Dianne Miller to turn her dream of a unique ministry into a reality.
After videotaping the conservation with her then 96-year-old father in 2019, Miller put plans in motion in 2020 to found Jewels of Remembrance, a nonprofit ministry that provides complimentary videos or "a legacy of life" for terminally ill clients to leave with their families.
"It is a gift," said Miller, a Baton Rouge chaplain and bereavement coordinator at Life Source Hospice. "With videotaping my dad, I said I really need to do this. He was an awesome lay minister and just an incredible role model in my life. That's kind of the way this got started. … It was just a dream of mine. I didn't realize how much of a dream until it unfolded."
Miller, a member of Parkview Baptist Church, said her father was suffering from atrial fibrillation, or abnormal heartbeat, and other health issues at the time of the taping. He died at the age of 100.
"I said, 'Dad, I just want to videotape your life story. I just to hear your life story,'" she said.
Miller said it was the inspiration of her father and his role as a lay pastor that helped lead her into a life and career of chaplaincy, grief support and women's ministry. Saved and baptized at age 9, Miller would accompany her father on of his nursing home visits.
"I wanted him to tell me about Christian experience," she said.
Miller said she was enlightened by the candid conversation with her father.
"Our families think they know all about us," she said. "I was just blown away because I heard some things I did not know about his life. It was an incredible life."
Miller enjoys seeing families have similar experiences with their loved ones.
"You hear some really remarkable things. You really do," she said. "I hope I could do this until I'm 100. It's such an incredible experience because I see the joy that it brought to the families. I feel so blessed to be able to do this."
Preparation includes requesting written permission and at least two prior visits before the final taping. She starts with basic questions such as where they grew up, their family life and perhaps about their spiritual life.
"Because it's a ministry, I always want to hear the back story, if they're a Christian or not," she said. "If I see that they aren't connected spiritually to a church, we talk about life lessons. … They'll say I know God. I know who he is. I go with whatever they tell me. I don't belittle or put down or do any of that, because I want to hear their story. Whatever their story is, I want to hear it."
The session may not always be a prayer meeting, but Miller tries to include prayer.
"That's very important to let them know that I am praying for them through this because they are going through something," Miller said. "We have to remember they are hurting."
Miller prefers to conclude the video with a personal touch.
"I tell them what a blessing it is to be with them. Then, I hold their hands," said Miller, who graduated from of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and received chaplaincy training at Touro in New Orleans.
The name for the ministry Jewels of Remembrance is inspired by Malachi 3:16-18, which reads in part: "A book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels."
"If we are Christ, we are his jewels," Miller said. "That is such a comfort, and I share that with people when I talk about him."
It's Christ that gives her the strength to do the ministry work, Miller said, citing her life verse from Philippians 4:13.
"I can do nothing, nothing without Christ who strengthens me," she said. "This is a truth verse for me because we all go through many, many phases in our lives; we really do. But we come out stronger when we have that life verse, that one verse we can hang onto."
Miller facilitates various Alzheimer's and grief support in the Baton Rouge area as well as Parkview Baptist Church, 11795 Jefferson Highway.
For more on Jewels of Remembrance or other information, call (225) 636-2571 or visit jor-inc.com.