Interview With Chaplain Eunice Johnson

    Our Featured guest for In The Living Room with Pastor Danyelle is the one and only Chaplain Eunice Johnson. Chaplain Johnson, whom I refer to as Mother Johnson, is a graduate of Sabine Valley Business College and has furthered her education at Centenary College, C.H. Mason Bible College, and at Northwestern State University. She also holds a Master of Arts in Psychology and Christian Counseling from Louisiana Baptist University. Chaplain Johnson was certified as a Clinical Chaplain for the state of Louisiana in January 2003, and is the first African American female chaplain at Louisiana State Health Science Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. 
     This wonderful woman of God was the wife of the late Deacon James Johnson Sr., the mother of five children, and now has twelve grandchildren. Her legacy includes Director of the Save the Youth, Inc., chartered member of the 1965 pioneer group who pioneered, administrated, and received a grant in the amount of $40,000, for the first Head Start Program in Caddo Parish, fourteen years of employment at the Social Security Administration as a Service Representative, and so much more.
    I am so honored to introduce to you this dynamic, Spirit filled, ambitious, and tenacious Woman of God and Woman of Purpose.

The Interview

Hello Mother Johnson, I am so happy to have you sharing with us today. You’ve done so many great things here in the city and I would just like to go back to the beginning with the one thing you’ll forever be remembered for here in Shreveport…The Save The Youth Choir.   Why did you leave it and how did that decision affect you and your purpose?

      I was asked to resign, not because of any wrong doing, but my leader wanted me to serve in another area and not be involved with music anymore. Of course, I was heart broken and I didn’t think I could live. Music was my world and it had seemed like my world had come to a complete stop. I know you wouldn’t remember but I’d served in the Music Ministry for over twenty five years, traveling across the United States with bus-loads of children, workshops, musicals, seminars, recordings, State choirs, National choirs, community choirs and now to change my course at the height of my career. You can just imagine how I felt.

What was one of your most memorable moments as a Minister of Music?

     The greatest thrill in my life was when I stood before a one thousand adult voice choir accompanied by an orchestra and directed them under the anointing and power of the Holy Ghost. This choir included only about five minorities and showed me that God can move and use me regardless of the ethnicity of those who would be blessed by my talents. The city buzzed for months about this electrifying celestial event, and it is still one of my most memorable moments.

What were your thoughts? I know I would have been devastated to be in such a place of comfort where I felt I belonged, only to have someone to move me.

     My first thought was, would God want me to not use my talent and gift? After all, He’d given them to me to use for His honor and glory! Nevertheless, this was a test of my obedience. God was moving me from my comfort zone and into my divine purpose. I had a distinct lesson to learn and if I didn’t get it, I am sure that I would have had to take the test again.

Do you believe that God has a way of guiding us to our purpose by allowing us to experience change and unfamiliarity?

     I believe that God closes doors and one by one, He closed some doors in my life. I need you to understand that the more doors He closed, the more focused I became. Not only that, I began to seek God for guidance as I moved into unchartered water. And all of this ushered me into accepting the call on my life, which is the beginning of me walking in my purpose.

What questions should our readers ask God if they are trying to find purpose for their lives?

     I believe they should ask a few questions starting with: Who am I? What’s my purpose? Where am I going? And how am I going to get there? Then they should ask themselves: What are my goals in life? What are my assets? And what is my self-worth? I believe that self evaluation gives you the opportunity to recognize your potential. I also believe that the 21st Century woman must know who she is in God and also what validates and/or substantiates her as a woman. In other words know what supports or qualifies you. You are not a woman just because of your female gender, you’ve got to know what it is that stretches you from just being a female and carries you into the position as God’s Daughters.

Mother this is awesome. I believe that women are finding it so hard to find purpose because we don’t know who we are. We are constantly fighting what the world says we are.

     Today’s woman has been hard press to find a balance between the Biblical views of what it means to be a woman and the secular challenges confronting her. When God created each one of us, He had purpose in mind. You are purposed and you have a purpose! Although, there is a season for your purpose, and if you allow your season to pass, you may not have another opportunity. That’s why I challenge each and every one of you to stir up the gifts in you; stir up the talents in you!
     Daughters, as long as Satan can keep you purposeless, unfocused, side-tracked, or in neutral, then he’s happy because you are defeated as a woman who walks in her purpose. Stop conversing with the gossipers, and get away from the Sap Suckers. These are people that attach themselves to you like a leach and extract all the spiritual energy right out of you with negativity; leaving you busted, disgusted, and in a state where you can’t be trusted.

Mother that was great! If there was one last testimony that you would tell God’s Daughters who will read this feature, what would that be?

     God can do anything but fail. When my husband died, I had no resources. For three years I had to shut down everything to care for him; at the age of forty-eight, with two children yet at home. Then I found myself with no job, no money, and no husband.
     There are so many circumstances and situations that render us or cause us to feel powerless and hopeless. However, we can take courage in the fact that God has all power and is well able to keep us and protect us. Not only that, He is able to keep your mind, heart, and spirits and all you have to do is focus on accomplishing His will and divine purpose for your life. God will also give you the strength to avoid behavior that is spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically destructive to you. All you have to do is trust and depend on God. Little did I know that when God was closing doors earlier in my life, He was positioning and setting me up for the most rewarding career that I could ever have. And what is most exciting is the fact that I know that I am walking in my purpose.

You can email Chaplain Eunice Johnson at [email protected] or to find out more about her ministry visit Word of Deliverance Family Life Church in Shreveport, Louisiana.


 

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