UNLEASHED POTENTIAL

Danna Shirley

My church entered into a 21-day fast beginning January 8, 2017. Several members were asked to write a devotional on the theme--Unleashed Potential to be read by the congregation throughout the fast. My thoughts focused on my failure in this area during an incident when I was a somewhat baby Christian. God can always teach us something whether during a peak time or a pit experience. Here is what I learned . . .

I was raised in the Methodist Church but don’t remember one thing I might have learned in all those years. I’m not blaming my childhood church for my lack of knowledge for I know everything is in God’s timing and my understanding was unfruitful at that age.

I quit attending church at sixteen and didn’t darken the door again on a regular basis until I was thirty-two. That’s when my husband decided we would attend First Assembly of God Church (Montgomery, AL). It only took three months of very positive and uplifting sermons and being in a worshipful atmosphere for the Holy Spirit to walk us down the aisle to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. A year later I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit at Cedar Lake Christian Assembly (Biloxi, MS) and stayed in that church for three years.

Then God messed with me, as He sometimes does with all of us. He didn’t leave me where I was comfortable and content. I was still a baby Christian when He put me in a Baptist church (Ocean Springs, MS) where my children were attending Christian school. I knew the leaders were apprehensive about my Spirit-filled background but I also knew I was being obedient to serve where God wanted me.

I stayed there a few years, working in the office and attending services. My contentment to be in this church diminished as time went on. I felt like He had put me there for a reason so there is where I had to stay, but I was becoming more and more disillusioned and unhappy. Finally a friend told me, “Just because God has moved you into this church, doesn’t mean He’ll leave you there forever. He gives us seasons in our lives and we have to know when our season is over.” That was my permission from God to move on. My season was over.

Everyone there knew the preacher’s heart just wasn’t in his calling anymore. There were whispers and concerns about this very thing and others were disillusioned as well. After God released me to leave this church, I attended one last time. The evening service, start to finish, was less than an hour. The preacher asked us all to stand in a circle and hold hands as he dismissed us in prayer. Before ending the service, however, he asked if anyone wanted to share, which was something he didn't do on a regular basis. 

This was my first experience of Holy Ghost goose bumps. A wave of heat washed over me and I knew God was prompting me to address the “condition” of this church; the lack of commitment, the gossip, the apathy, etc. but I refused to open my mouth. My thoughts screamed, "They won’t listen to me, they’re Baptist and they are already leery of me.” Some looked around the circle waiting. The preacher asked again. Another wave of heat hit me hard and I begged, “I can’t, Lord, they won’t receive what I have to say.” Of course I didn’t know what I would say but I knew God would give me the words if I would just open my mouth.

I don't know why the preacher again asked for someone to share except that God was waiting on me and giving me my last opportunity to obey him. Another heat wave but I refused. The preacher finally closed the service and it felt like cold water was poured on me, but it wasn’t the cool, refreshing water of God. I was pitiful and ashamed. I knew beyond a doubt I had failed the Lord, and I was most miserable. I went to my car and rested my head on my hands on the steering wheel and cried and cried and cried. I promised if I ever had another chance I would try not to fail Him again. I hope I’ve lived up to that promise…

Shortly after I left the church, the preacher resigned and started working in one of the casinos in Biloxi. I learned later he divorced. The congregation dispersed and the building was sold to another church that was just beginning. 

I don’t know if my silence that night was related to the end of the church but the incident has instilled in me to be more bold and obedient and to Unleash any Potential for ministry that God assigns.