I Have Freedom from the Worst of All Fears

Among the many things God has done specifically for me because of the Word I have learned, the very first thing He did was to erase all the fear of the future I carried around since I was a teenager. I came to the ministry in 1987 at the age of twenty-five. Prior to that time, the best I knew about my future was that it appeared to be very finite in scope, meaning, and duration. My father was both a scientist and business executive. When I was a teenager, he showed me what he thought was the meaning of my life by breaking down my entire future into numbers. According to him, I was expected to have about forty productive years in the workforce at just over 2,000 working hours per year, and thus I would need so-and-so much money to live comfortably in retirement. That meant I had to have a certain-sized salary in order to save enough money to live out my time. He broke down my life into a series of financial calculations. No more.

From that time on, I found my life consumed with the struggle to accept that forecast. How depressing the outcome of my life seemed to be. I routinely asked myself, “Is that all there is?” “Is that all my life means?” As far as I could know, I was simply marking time. Then, one Friday afternoon, somebody asked if I wanted to go to fellowship that Sunday morning. I can’t recall what was taught during that first time sitting in a ministry fellowship. What I will never forget is the recognition that I had just heard in twenty minutes more truth directly from the Bible than I had heard in the sum of my twenty-five years previously. So, it was easy to say, “Yes!” to the ministry’s Foundational Class. It was there that I was taught John 10:10:

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

That was revolutionary to me. All I had ever had up to that point was the less than abundant life. Right away, all my fears about having no real future were beginning to melt away. Then, I was taught about Romans 10:9 and 10 and the eternal life that was not vague and mysterious. It was presented clearly and plainly, right from the pages of God’s Word. And, I could see that it was so simple to obtain as well. From that time, I never looked back. Where once I thought my dead-end existence would eventually just end in death, I now had life, and eternal life at that. Eventually, the ministry taught me from the pages of God’s Word about the purpose for my life in service to my heavenly Father. Instead of an idle existence, lasting for only a few bleak years, I now have an important and meaningful life with the hope of eternal life that will be just as meaningful. Thanks to this ministry, I have freedom from the worst of all fears. And, I am thankful.

No Fear When Raising My Kids

An incident that stands out for me is my son’s accident. When my kids were younger, before I was introduced to The Way Ministry, I was always anxious about them—walking back and forth to school, at school, at home—you name it. Subsequently, I had many nightmares; one that was reoccurring was so vivid, I would wake up thinking it was true. In the dream, my son was walking home from school and was hit by a car. I saw these kids running across the road to tell me that, and I stopped to tell them how unsafe it was to be running in the middle of the road. They quickly explained that my son was hit by a car and was lying on the side of the road. I always woke up at that point.

Years later, I was attending a fellowship and had taken the Power for Abundant Living (PFAL) class, and I heard Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille talk about the lady who was so worried about her child that she lost him. I determined to be the other mother he talked about who trusted and believed God for her children’s protection, and every time the fear/worry started to creep in, I would speak in tongues and pray with my understanding.

II Timothy 1:7:
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

One afternoon, I got a call from my daughter’s school stating she wasn’t feeling well. They didn’t feel comfortable putting her on the bus, so they asked if I could pick her up. I got in my little car and headed out to pick her up. Well, what do you know? As I was pulling out of the apartment parking lot, about four or five kids were running out into the street, waving me down. I stopped, rolled down my window, and said, “Kids, it is so unsafe to be running out into the street that way; you could get hurt if it was someone else driving faster.” “Sorry ma’am,” they exclaimed, “but didn’t you hear what happened to your son?” I was all ears then. “No, what happened?” I asked. “He got hit by a car; he’s lying on the side of the road,” they said. “A lady stopped and called the police and the ambulance.” “Thank you,” I replied, a lot more calmly than I felt. I turned in the direction of where they pointed and immediately started praying perfectly. As I pulled up, the EMT had him on a stretcher and was preparing to load him into the ambulance. “You must be the mom,” stated the policeman matter-of-factly.

They took him to the hospital, and I followed in my car. In the ER, they quickly rushed him off for an X-ray and CT scan. The doctor called me in a little later and was visibly stunned that my son suffered only bumps and bruises, but not one broken bone. He explained that the police told them that according to the eyewitness, my son was hit and thrown up in the air and landed several feet away, and he had not been in the road when he was hit. The car went onto the sidewalk and hit him.

I walked away thanking God for leading me to The Way Ministry where I learned to speak in tongues, trust God, and claim His promise to have no fear, and to have taken the PFAL class and for Dr. Wierwille’s life and ministry.

God Wants the Best for Me Always

A great key in life is that God is always good. He wants the best for me, and He wants me to live without fear in the abundant life. These are all keys I learned from The Way Ministry.

Over thirty years ago, I was on our ministry’s outreach program. I enjoyed going to a certain college campus with my witnessing buddy. One day, a man whom I had witnessed to before, the man in charge of the campus lunchroom, approached me and told me he needed to talk to me. He asked me to be in his office the next day at 10:00 a.m. His voice seemed stern, with a sense of importance. That night, I was fearful of what he had to say. In the morning, I was still fearful. Was he going to kick me off the campus? However, just before the meeting, I got this thought: “God is with me; what can this man do to me?” My fear left.

I went to the meeting. All he wanted to do was witness to me. He had a self-help book that he wanted me to read. Had I not stepped out and gone to the meeting, I would have been living in fear. God showed me to keep moving and take action. I never forgot this lesson and benefitted from it in the years to come.

About ten years ago, I was on a job. I was a customer service agent for a flooring company. I was sent on a complaint, so I went to rectify an issue. However, I did not help the situation. After a heated discussion, I was told, “Leave my house now!” I left and told my boss what had happened. The next day, my boss told me to go back and take care of the issue. I reminded him that the man didn’t like me, and I suggested that he send someone else. He said, “No, you go.” I remember being so afraid. This man was big and very bold. When I drove up to the house, I thought, “Wait! God is with me.” I remembered the lesson from years ago. I stood on the doorstep and said, “Let’s do this, You and me, God.” The man opened the door. He said, “I’m so glad it’s you! I’m so sorry! Come in, have you eaten breakfast? Sit down, please.”

I was in shock, but had I let fear control my life, I would not have seen God work in this situation. My thanks to the ministry that teaches us to get rid of the fear in all categories of life by trusting God and believing that He will come through for us in any situation.

Finding Confidence and Fearlessness through God’s Word

From Full of Fear to Full of Believing!

The Word of God that I have learned in The Way Ministry has changed my life. Through the many classes, my Word Over the World Ambassador experiences, and the many opportunities to serve, I have built an “I can do” attitude! I have seen great deliverance over the years because of my faithfulness to control my thinking by believing the Word one day at a time. I have learned to not let the circumstances control my life, and I have learned that God will supply all of my need. I have seen God deliver me from being full of fear to being confident in my daily walk with Him. I have seen that with God all things are possible. The Word of God works when we believe!

The greatest VICTORY over the years has been to go from being full of fear to being full of believing! I am forever grateful for the many vehicles that The Way Ministry makes available so that the rightly divided Word can be learned and applied; all of our classes are designed to provide the maximum amount of learning in a minimum amount of time. I was spiritually thirsty, but I have been filled to overflowing with the Word of God taught by The Way Ministry. I have been able to receive God’s Word, retain God’s Word, and release God’s Word with others, which has contributed to my wholeness. God is able and willing, and with the spirit of God dwelling within me, “I can do”!

I Could Choose What I Would Think About

When I was about ten years old, I started having a hard time going to sleep at night. I would lie awake going over the day and worrying about things….Would I do well on my test tomorrow? Why did my friend say that unkind thing to me? Am I good enough to go to heaven? What is hell like? Will the monster in the closet finally get me tonight? For an hour or two after going to bed, I would ponder questions like these and agonize over what-ifs. I didn’t feel like I had anyone I could go to with my troubles, so I mostly kept them to myself.

Fast-forward ten years to my first encounter with The Way Ministry. The green sign-up card for the Foundational Class had a number of claims that students had reported the class had done for them. One was “overcomes worry and fear.” My fears had intensified and become more complex during those ten years. (What will I do with my life? What if no one ever wants to marry me? What if I get cancer? What if we have a nuclear war?) So overcoming worry and fear was just what I wanted and needed, although it seemed too good to be true.

As I sat in that Foundational Class and heard the Word, I believed maybe, just maybe, it was true. I learned that God didn’t want me to be fearful, but He gave me power, love, and a sound mind. I learned that I could take my troubles to my heavenly Father and He would take care of everything. And I learned that I didn’t have to follow my emotions and feelings, but instead I could choose what I would think about. That last one especially was a completely new concept to me. I found a confidence and fearlessness that I had never experienced before, and it was exhilarating!

Years later I went through a difficult transition in my life. Again I was experiencing sleepless nights and troublesome thoughts revolving in my mind. I knew the thoughts were contrary to the Word, but how to turn them off? My solution was to choose a verse and keep repeating it until I went to sleep. If I woke in the middle of the night and my mind started down a negative path, I would start reciting Isaiah 26:3: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” I would say it over and over until God’s Word derailed the negative thoughts, because I can only hold one thought at a time. I did that for many months, and it worked every night I needed to use it.

The Way Ministry has taught me so many things these forty-plus years, and everything I’ve applied with faithfulness and believing has worked. The Word just works. I thank God that He called me to this ministry so I could learn His Word.

Living Fearlessly

A Total Lack of Fear as I Go through My Life

It is difficult to put into words what this ministry has done for me, as I know that everything good in my life is a direct result of my walk with God and the truth I have learned in The Way. Something that I know separates me from my friends is my total lack of fear as I go through my life day-to-day. Being raised in the Word has done that for me. I remember as a young child playing with my parents and how they would teach us the Word in every way they could. They would say, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” And we would joyfully yell back, “No one! No one! No one!” I have carried that kind of enthusiastic joy for the Word throughout my whole life. It was ingrained in me at such a young age to do the Word, and I am endlessly thankful for it. I could go on and on about how the ministry has impacted my life, but it all comes back to the truth of the Word that I know.

Strengthened and No Longer Challenged

In the forty-one years since I took the Power for Abundant Living class, I have learned many things from God’s Word that have helped me overcome fear in many areas of my life. I would say that the number one thing that this ministry has taught me from God’s Word is how to overcome fear.

One incident that comes to mind is when I was twenty-four and living in another country. I was walking from the bus stop to my home. I was alone and it was nighttime and the street was dark. A car zoomed by me, and a young man yelled out the window at me. The first thought that came to my mind was, “I am safe because my God is protecting me and will take care of me.” My heart was at peace, and I knew I could go anywhere that I needed to because I remembered God’s Word in II Timothy 1:7:

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

With the knowledge of God’s Word comes the truth, and once I know what the truth is in a specific area of life, I can then experience peace. Not only have I had all my questions answered about those areas that troubled me and received deliverance, but I also feel strengthened and no longer feel challenged by them.

The reason I have stayed with this ministry for this long is because I get answers from God’s Word via the ministry’s thorough teachings, Sunday Teaching Service CDs and DVDs, and The Way Magazine. The Word of God is the priority, and the integrity of the Word is of utmost importance for The Way Ministry. As I get older, I notice that because of the Word that I have been taught, I don’t have the emotional baggage nor the scars that other people carry with them because they do not know the truth of the Word.

I am very thankful for this ministry because it taught me the Word of God in a way that made sense and showed me how to practically apply it in my life. Because of this, I have lived a fulfilling and peaceful life. Life still has its challenges, of course, but when the challenges do come, I know from God’s Word that I do have the victory and have the ability to overcome.

Free from the Prison of Religious Bondage

One evening I was standing in my college dorm room, having made the decision not to attend the church service of the denomination I’d been raised in; yet, I was still nervous and afraid. I’d been taught for many years that not going to church was a sin and that should I die before confessing my sin, I could end up spending eternity in a place I had no desire to be. I was taking a huge risk, but I had begun attending a fellowship where I was learning about the Bible and that the Word of God is the will of God. This was the truth I’d been longing to know.

I was the kid in religion class who always raised my hand to ask questions about God and about life. The answer I heard most often was, “You’ll just have to take it on faith.” When I left home, I was faithful to attend church—not because I found answers there, but because I feared what would happen if I didn’t. That evening in that room, I was not sure what would happen to me. Perhaps I would be struck by lightning or end up with some malady as a result of not attending church. Talk about religious bondage! I was in it—deep. But the time came when I should have been in church, and I was OK. I did not die or become ill. In fact, I felt as if a great weight had been lifted from my life.

Since that night that took place several decades ago, I have never stopped fellowshipping with The Way Ministry because it teaches truth. Because of the Word of God I have learned in The Way Ministry, I am free from the prison of religious bondage, I am free to live with joy and peace, I am free to claim the promises of God, and I am free to walk in the accomplishments of my lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

God’s Word Applied Brings Victory Always!

There I was, twenty-two years old, freshly graduated from college, and very far away from home, family, and friends. In the car with me were four young men, all talking at once in a language, which, of course, I neither spoke nor understood. Thoughts ran through my mind at breakneck speed: “What should I do?” “What were they going to do?” “How in the world did I get in this situation anyway?” “Where was the other believer I had come there with?”

Just a few months before this, I had taken a class on the Bible offered by The Way Ministry. In the very first session, the teacher grabbed my attention with “FEAR…is SAND…in the MACHINERY of LIFE!” In spite of being fatigued, I had sat up straight and listened attentively as I was taught how to deal with and eliminate fear. It seemed to me that fear had followed me all my life, and I knew I needed deliverance. Once I learned that there were specific promises in God’s Word that could help me get rid of fear, I began to claim the freedom that God makes available to those who believe.

So, there I was, in a car with a bunch of total strangers in a packed parking lot, and I was definitely tempted to be afraid! BUT instead of cowering in fear, I began to speak in tongues silently to my God, and then I remembered a verse from the Bible: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7). Over and over I repeated that verse to myself. After a few minutes, I turned around to the men in the car with me. “Do you believe in God?” I had to practically shout over the noise of their talking! “I’m here to teach people about God.” Suddenly, all of the men stopped talking. Again I asked, “Do you believe in God?” Total silence. Then, as if in a rehearsed scenario, they opened the car doors, jumped out, and walked quickly away, disappearing into the crowd of cars and people, leaving me sitting there alone.

Well, I knew that God had intervened for me in a big way that evening. What I learned in the Foundational Class offered by The Way Ministry helped me overcome the fear of what any man could do to harm me. God’s Word applied brings victory always!

Enjoying a “Fear Not” Lifestyle

Months of training as a letter carrier for the postal service had instilled in me more than a healthy respect for dogs along my route. All the stories of carriers being mauled caused me fear about becoming a statistic. Dogs are protective by nature, and we were taught that our uniforms increased their defensiveness. I was equipped with pepper spray and a fluorescent warning card for each dog on the route to alert me to its presence.

One day as I approached the driveway to a house with a handful of mail, a pit bull rounded a parked vehicle. In my mind’s eye, I saw myself being chewed up and spit out by this ferocious animal. With no time to grab my pepper spray, I screamed, threw the mail in my hands at the dog, turned, and ran back to my vehicle. I was so shaken that when I locked my keys in the vehicle at the next stop, I knew I needed to ask for a replacement carrier to finish my deliveries that day.

Some months later I was invited to a home fellowship, and when I was told of a class to help me understand the Bible and how to apply it in my life, I eagerly signed up. At that time the class was called PFAL (Power for Abundant Living). What I learned in that class changed my life and thinking. I discovered I had allowed fear to control many aspects of life, including my work and how I was raising my child.

Shortly after taking the class, while on the job, I saw a female pit bull running towards me from the other end of the block. I knew she had recently had pups and was therefore especially protective. I had plenty of time to run away, but I had recently learned of the power that I had in Christ as a born-again believer. Instead of running away from the dog, I ran toward the dog, commanding it to “Go home.” She stopped in the road, looked at me with her head cocked to one side as though perplexed, then turned and ran home. I followed and shut the gate behind her.

We learn from studying the Word of God that situations will arise, and we will be tempted to freeze in fear. But we do not need to allow circumstances to control our actions because we believe God.

Proverbs 3:25,26:
Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

I am continuing to enjoy a “Fear not” lifestyle for thirty years by God’s grace and mercy.

God Will Make a Way

I was nineteen years old, and I found myself with one very pressing need in my life. Worry and fear had taken control, causing me to lose jobs, to lose friends, and even a fiancé. I knew I needed answers. I remember asking God to literally show me the way out. Not long after, I was sitting in the home of four wonderful people and listening to God’s Word. They pulled out a Foundational Class registration card and handed it to me. One line jumped off that card, which was “Overcomes worry and fear.”

One truth in the ministry’s Foundational Class that brought me deliverance was the teaching on the law of believing. No one had ever taught me that I had the ability to control my thinking—that was a revolutionary concept to me. I learned that God’s Word contains promises that I can claim—over nine hundred of them. I was also introduced to a powerful book—The Bible Tells Me So. The first five chapters of this book showed me how I could take control of my thinking and believe the positive truths of God’s Word. I read this book over and over. One particular chapter called “The Synchronized Life” has a scripture that continues to live for me today, which is Psalms 18:33: “He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places.” The Word says that God makes my feet like hinds’ feet, meaning, He makes it so that I may learn to walk by the Word so that my hind feet—my thoughts and actions—track with my front feet (representing the Word). So, where the Word tells me to set my feet, or my thoughts, that is where I place them. I learned that I could trust God’s direction because He is all-knowing.

Most of my worry at that time in my life stemmed from fear of the future or the unknown. But now I knew that I had a personal guide in life that would go ahead of me on the trail and make my way perfect.

In 2010, I again experienced this truth. My family and I were living in Canada in a location that we had just moved to only eight months previously, and we received a phone call asking if we would consider moving to another city because there was a great need for leadership there. My response was, “Can I take a few days and get back to you?” This would be a big, sudden move. I knew that I would need to find work in the new city. Most of the time in a move like this, people would get housing, a new job, and a school for their kids beforehand. But one thing that I had learned by this point is that if something is God’s will, then He will make a way, and all I need to do is trust Him and follow Him up the proverbial mountain because He will go ahead of me.

I remember hearing from all sorts of people, “There are no jobs there!” “You better prepare to submit thousands of resumes!” “Don’t you know that all the good jobs are leaving?” But I had no worry over the future because I knew I just needed to make my thoughts track with God’s perfect promises. Despite all the negative voices, I only had to submit one resume to a company that did not exist until we moved to our new city. I was the first applicant and first hire. Eight years later I am a director on the board of this company and vice president of Business Development.

The Word of God I learned in The Way Ministry continues to work for me and inspires me to reach new heights. As one version of the Bible reads in II Samuel 22:33 and 34:

God is my strong fortress. He clears the path I need to take.
He makes my feet as steady as those of a deer. Even on steep mountains he keeps me from falling.

No Fear

I grew up in a Christian home being taught to love God and keep Him at the center of my life. However, it wasn’t until I got involved with The Way International that I learned God had exceeding great and precious promises that I could claim and that He was trustworthy and true to His Word. It was here that I learned I could live with no fear because my loving heavenly Father would protect me and my family and meet our every need.

These truths had extra meaning to me after the atrocities of September 11, 2001. As my husband and I watched the Twin Towers go down, we knew this would be a defining time. That evening we went out in our neighborhood, knocking on doors to bring comfort and dispel fear through the accuracy of God’s Word. This ministry taught us that when the adversary strikes, rather than cowering in fear, we boldly speak the Word.

At the time, both our sons were serving together in the Army Reserves. Within three weeks, they were both activated and were preparing to be sent to Afghanistan, which was a war zone. As Advanced Class graduates, true to their upbringing, our sons looked at the situation spiritually and went with no fear—ready, willing, and able to defend our country’s freedom. They believed to be able to serve together (the two-by-two principle), and they kept each other on track spiritually. They were able to witness to their buddies, and one took The Way of Abundance and Power series when their tour was up. God mightily protected them and their unit as only He can do!

As a mother, I am so very thankful for the Word I was taught, including the power of the renewed mind, the importance of leading my thoughts captive, and most importantly that I could ABSOLUTELY trust my heavenly Father to protect my sons. He would keep them out of harm’s way as they diligently handled their responsibility of protecting our troops from any biological attack. I can honestly say that I had no doubt, worry, or fear for them. That, in and of itself, opened many doors for me to share God’s Word with others.