Danna Shirley
Fountain of
Praise
Gautier, MS
I worked in the office at Vancleave United Methodist Church
during the week but my heart and loyalty was at Fountain of Praise Church, where
I was being spiritually fed. So why did I wake up one Sunday morning totally
confused as to where I would attend church? It was like I had been rowing my
boat toward Fountain of Praise for so long and now I was sitting dead in the
water. All of a sudden I had a vision of my boat changing course and I started
rowing toward Vancleave Methodist. Fountain of Praise was growing faint in the
distance. What was God doing?
Vancleave United Methodist
Vancleave, MS
Now I was in a Methodist Church, a
denomination I hadn’t attended since childhood. The people were great and the
sermons were scriptural but there was no “fire of the Spirit” that I was used
to. I only attended for a short time when my husband was assigned to a position
in Japan and we were to leave in a few months. I wondered why God would move me
out of a church that I loved, with good preaching and wonderful people, just to
move me again a few months later. Why didn’t He just leave me where I was?
Hario Chapel
Japan
I
thought I would be lost in Japan but we had access to the military base so I
made Navy friends and attended the Hario Chapel just fifteen minutes from our
home in Kawatana. I learned quickly that God is not limited by geography or
denomination.
I
soon met a visiting evangelist, LaVonne Hira, who gave me insight as to why God
moved me from one church to another back in MS. She explained that it was
really His mercy that came into play because He knew how difficult it would be
to leave Fountain of Praise to go to Japan but it wasn’t difficult at all to
leave Vancleave Methodist to go to Japan.
We
stayed there five years and then I rowed my boat across the Pacific and back to
MS.
Vancleave Assembly of God
Vancleave, MS
Even
though I had gotten saved in an Assembly of God, I did not immediately
gravitate to the local A/G church. For several weeks I visited in Ocean Springs
and Gautier. Strangely enough, it was a sermon in a Gautier church that sent me
back to Vancleave A/G. When I walked in the middle of the pastor’s sermon, his
message confirmed that I was home. My boat had docked.
Bartlett First Assembly of God
Bartlett, TN
The
death of my husband in 2003 capsized my boat and I found myself in a huge tidal
wave of confusion and uncertainty. I decided no move was the best move and so I
stayed in still waters for eighteen months. Then God uprighted my life and
moved me closer to my daughter and family in Bartlett, TN. I climbed back into
the boat and my rowing commenced. I put into port a few different places until
I docked at Bartlett First A/G. I was home and with a church family again.
I
don’t know how long I will be here for God makes waves and directs our course
but for right now I’m . . . steady as she
goes.
Napa Valley Baptist Church
Napa, CA
Steady as she goes lasted nine whole years
before it took me to Napa, CA in 2013. I moved temporarily to help as caregiver
to my mother, sister, and brother-in-law. I found a nice church just down from
my mother’s house and was warmly welcomed into the fold. I don’t know how long
I will remain in Napa because home is still Memphis and I will return there
eventually. For now I’m happy to just cruise around the wine country.
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