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.