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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Does Prayer Work At Work?

Do you forget to pray at work?  I have to admit, I often doubt that God cares about conference calls and billable hours.  Sometimes, I think prayer doesn’t even matter in the office.  Right?

Wrong.

Ok, I’ll have to admit. I usually pray at work when I am really desperate.  Like when someone is driving me crazy and I think I’m going to jump off a cliff.  Like when I know I can’t meet a deadline unless time freezes.  Like when my skirt rips on the way to court. 

Can anyone relate?

A couple of years ago, I decided to ask God. Do you really care about this situation at the office, God, because I don’t feel like you do?  And I don’t see a way around it.  But I’m going to trust and pray.  By the way, I’m only giving you 30 days.  I can’t take it any longer than that!

Here’s what happened.  I committed not to complain and instead PRAY for 30 days about a difficult situation at work.

At first, I wasn’t sure I could do it.  I love to complain.  I love to be the martyr.  And if I prayed about it, maybe God would ask me to change.  I wasn’t sure I could live with that.

But when you’re really desperate, you sometimes get over yourself.

The result? 

In less than 30 days, I received an unexpected, unsolicited apology note from a colleague who had really hurt me.  God provided something I would have never asked for or even imagined.  God blew me away.  And I was just asking him to help me survive.

God, why don’t I ask you to intervene at work more often?

Are you struggling at work?  Try the 30-day prayer challenge.  And PLEASE let me know what happens, ok?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great story. Unfortunately, prayer is usually a last resort - and sometimes with me, I just forget. I keep a laminated prayer card on my desk so that it helps remind me to use it from time to time, to stop and say the prayer.

The other day I stopped and wrote out my pleas to God in my computer for about ten minutes. That sometimes feels more tangible to me.

Either way, YES, God cares about our work and He is ready to hear and answer our prayers about our work.

Wendy Paine Miller said...

Okay, it couldn't be any more clear. Got a weird email this morning (not a work deal, but a family deal) and it's been bothering my all morning. I heard the reminder in my Spirit to pray...but this is making it glaringly obvious.

Time to go be obedient.

Stacy said...

This was a really good post Susan. I struggle at work also and praying is the last thing on my mind. I am much more apt to complain and play the martyr as well. 30 days of praying about it instead is a good idea. I'll have to think about that.

David Rupert said...

I do pray at work. When I push the elevator button it's my signal to go to God.

And it works

Anonymous said...

Susan - you have hit on something really important. I had a season not too long ago where I felt things at work were going horribly wrong. Since there was nothing else I could do, I decided to pray. I don't know that He changed anything, except me, reminding me that He IS there with me at work, and He does care about what goes on there.

Glynn said...

I pray all the time at work. Prayer, for me, is this ongoing conversation. And at work, I have a lot of things to pray about.

Shauna Renee' said...

I can so relate to this. Thank you for sharing and for giving a voice to a yearning that has always been on my heart.

Carolyn Evaine Counterman said...

Pray works. And I pray at work. Unfortunately, I don't pray about what is going on at work enough. I will see if I can get the 30 day thing going!

Alison said...

I do pray at work... not as often as I should, but I do. It's often the only way to stay sane in a mad environment.

Thanks you for the prod to do it more often!

a joyful noise said...

Pray about anything and everything. Thank you for this wonderful reminder to pray at work (or where difficult circumstances face us not at work.)