Latest / Finding God at Work / 17: Trauma
Transcript
- 0:05(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
- 0:07This is Finding God at Work.
- 0:14Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
- 0:16isn't just a podcast, it's also an online
- 0:18course.
- 0:19Check it out at FindingGodAtWork.org.
- 0:27Our current series is wholehearted, becoming healthier Christians
- 0:32at work.
- 0:33And the structure of this series, in our
- 0:36first episode, I used the example of a
- 0:38Venn diagram.
- 0:39On the one side of the Venn diagram,
- 0:41we have the teaching of Scripture, specifically the
- 0:43teaching of Jesus, his theological anthropology, and the
- 0:47way that the ideas of who the human
- 0:49person is are built out through the rest
- 0:50of Scripture as well, our minds, our hearts,
- 0:53our bodies, our souls, how all of that
- 0:55goes together.
- 0:57And then on the other side of the
- 0:58Venn diagram, we have these various mental health
- 1:00challenges that we're facing in the workplace.
- 1:02And that's the part of the series that
- 1:04we've been working through now, talking about depression,
- 1:06anxiety, addiction and recovery, neurodiversity, and now trauma.
- 1:12And I want to just kind of pause
- 1:14here before digging into trauma to kind of
- 1:17put an asterisk next to this entire episode
- 1:19and this entire section of the Venn diagram.
- 1:22One of the challenges of doing this kind
- 1:24of series where we've got one side that's
- 1:26more rooted in the teaching of Scripture and
- 1:28then another side that's trying to draw on
- 1:30social science is I veer a little bit
- 1:33out of my area of expertise.
- 1:35So I have a seminary degree.
- 1:37I'm definitely not a leading Bible scholar or
- 1:39anything, but I at least have been trained
- 1:41and formed to explicate the Scriptures and try
- 1:44and apply them to life.
- 1:46But when that applying to life is applying
- 1:48to issues of mental health, I do not
- 1:49have a psychology degree.
- 1:51I'm not a trained therapist or a psychologist.
- 1:54And so that's something that gives me pause.
- 1:56At the same time, these are the issues
- 1:59that we work out when we think about
- 2:01our bodies and our minds and our hearts.
- 2:03It's the mental health issues that we're facing
- 2:05that we need a guidance for.
- 2:06And so I think it's important to speak
- 2:08into these issues.
- 2:10So my understanding of how I'm speaking into
- 2:12these things and particularly a really sensitive topic
- 2:15like trauma is that I'm a journalist rather
- 2:18than a scholar.
- 2:20So this is a framework I got from
- 2:22Christian thinker Andy Crouch.
- 2:24He was giving a talk once and he
- 2:26said, scholars take something simple and make it
- 2:30complicated.
- 2:32Journalists take something complicated and make it simple.
- 2:35And as soon as he said those words,
- 2:37I was like, I'm a journalist.
- 2:38That's what I do.
- 2:39I take complicated things.
- 2:40I read what other people who actually know
- 2:42what they're talking about have written.
- 2:43And then I try and make it simple
- 2:45and understandable and communicate it to other human
- 2:47beings.
- 2:47And that's kind of my role as a
- 2:49teacher.
- 2:49And in many ways, that's how I've understood
- 2:51my ministry and my vocation is, hey, I
- 2:53read a lot.
- 2:54I listen to a lot of things.
- 2:55I try and learn from the best that
- 2:56are out there that are way smarter than
- 2:58me.
- 2:58And then I just try and communicate it
- 2:59in a really accessible way to other people.
- 3:02So that's especially true as we talk about
- 3:04trauma.
- 3:05And if anything that I say in this
- 3:06episode really seems to resonate with your own
- 3:09experience, if you're thinking of a particular memory
- 3:12you have that may be painful or you're
- 3:15not even sure what it is, but it
- 3:16just seems like the things we're talking about
- 3:18related to trauma really hit home for you.
- 3:20I would really encourage you to talk to
- 3:22someone where this is their area of expertise.
- 3:26So a therapist, a psychologist, a counselor, even
- 3:29just a pastor who's been well trained for
- 3:31that sort of pastoral counseling.
- 3:33Go talk with somebody who can help you
- 3:36put the puzzle pieces of your life and
- 3:37experience together a little bit.
- 3:40It's going to be a lot richer for
- 3:41you in terms of the healing you can
- 3:43experience than what you'll get out of a
- 3:45podcast episode.
- 3:47And just a heads up, in case this
- 3:48is helpful for you, because we're talking about
- 3:51trauma, we're going to talk about a few
- 3:52different traumatic things in this episode, including experiences
- 3:56of violence, childhood abuse, bullying.
- 3:59So just a heads up that that's going
- 4:01to be some of the ground we're going
- 4:02through during this episode.
- 4:04OK, so with that kind of asterisk qualification,
- 4:07I do want to dig into trauma.
- 4:10Now, trauma is kind of a funny word
- 4:11in our current cultural moment.
- 4:14There was this great piece in the New
- 4:15Yorker back in 2021 by a writer named
- 4:17Katie Waldman, sort of observing the way that
- 4:19different therapeutic or psychological or mental health terms
- 4:23have become part of our everyday parlance.
- 4:26And she's just a very funny writer, too.
- 4:27So this is these are her words from
- 4:29that piece.
- 4:30Around every corner, trauma, like the unwanted prize
- 4:35at the bottom of a cereal box, the
- 4:37trauma of puberty, of difference, of academia, of
- 4:42women's clothing.
- 4:45And then she goes on and talks about
- 4:46how, hey, you know, if you use the
- 4:48word trauma to describe every single aspect of
- 4:51human experience, that might be slightly difficult.
- 4:52It kind of waters down its meaning.
- 4:54It becomes less effective.
- 4:56So one of the questions that's kind of
- 4:58in our cultural milieu right now is, is
- 5:00what counts as trauma?
- 5:01So I want to come back to that
- 5:03and kind of use that as our centerpiece
- 5:05in this episode is what counts as trauma
- 5:07and how can we answer that question in
- 5:10a way that leads us into deeper healing?
- 5:13Okay.
- 5:14But before we can talk about what counts
- 5:15as trauma, we need to talk about what
- 5:17trauma even is.
- 5:19And I want to go to an institution
- 5:21that I respect.
- 5:22This is actually a Canadian institution connected with
- 5:24the University of Toronto, the Center for Addiction
- 5:27and Mental Health, CAMH.
- 5:30This is their shorthand definition of trauma.
- 5:34Trauma is the lasting emotional response that often
- 5:37results from living through a distressing event.
- 5:41Experiencing a traumatic event can harm a person's
- 5:44sense of safety, sense of self, and ability
- 5:47to regulate emotions and navigate relationships.
- 5:51Long after the traumatic event occurs, people with
- 5:54trauma can often feel shame, helplessness, powerlessness, and
- 5:59intense fear.
- 6:02Okay.
- 6:02So just like our definitions from the Mayo
- 6:04Clinic, when we looked at depression and anxiety,
- 6:07I think this is a really helpful just
- 6:08kind of clinical definition of trauma.
- 6:11And I want to focus on just a
- 6:12couple phrases right at the beginning there.
- 6:14Trauma is the lasting emotional response that often
- 6:19results from living through a distressing event.
- 6:23Okay.
- 6:23So there's a traumatizing event.
- 6:25So there's a point-in-time event, a
- 6:27distressing event.
- 6:29But then there's the lasting emotional response to
- 6:34that event.
- 6:35So the term trauma is not being used
- 6:37just to describe the event, the painful or
- 6:40distressing event, but the ongoing, the lasting emotional
- 6:43response to that event.
- 6:46Okay.
- 6:47So bearing that in mind, okay, we got
- 6:48part one, the event, part two, the emotional
- 6:51response.
- 6:52Then part three, as we think about the
- 6:54workplace, how does that emotional response affect you
- 6:57at work?
- 6:58How does it affect your experience of work
- 7:00and your work performance?
- 7:03So as we think of those parts, we
- 7:05can also think about kind of working backwards
- 7:07to a point of, with a professional, a
- 7:10diagnosis, right?
- 7:12Understanding, oh, this is the trauma.
- 7:14This is what happened to me that's affecting
- 7:17me in this way.
- 7:19So you might be noticing, oh, I'm having
- 7:21this experience at work and or I'm having
- 7:24issues with my work performance.
- 7:26That's step three.
- 7:27So let me work backwards.
- 7:28Step two, oh, what is my emotional response
- 7:31that's driving that?
- 7:33Okay.
- 7:33And back to step one, oh, what was
- 7:35the painful or distressing event that I'm having
- 7:37an emotional response to?
- 7:40Now we've got to be careful here because
- 7:41this brings us back to that question, what
- 7:43counts as trauma?
- 7:45And I said diagnosis with a professional, right?
- 7:47Because one of the challenges of the increase
- 7:49of therapeutic language, mental health language, just in
- 7:53our common everyday speech, is people can self
- 7:55-diagnose, right, without a professional being involved, without
- 7:58an expert helping them put the puzzle pieces
- 8:00of their life together.
- 8:02And they can just say, oh, this was
- 8:03a trauma that I experienced and XYZ has
- 8:05happened.
- 8:06And of course, all of us get to
- 8:07tell our own story, right?
- 8:09We're the the narrator when we give our
- 8:11story to someone else, but it can be
- 8:13really helpful to come alongside somebody who's equipped
- 8:16to help you sort out, oh yeah, this
- 8:19part of my story really drove that part
- 8:22of my story.
- 8:24Okay, that being said, not everything that we're
- 8:27experiencing at work and not everything in our
- 8:31work performance is directly related to trauma, right?
- 8:34So we want to be able to trace
- 8:36these patterns where they exist, but we don't
- 8:38want to do the hammer-nail thing where
- 8:39it's like, oh, being trauma-informed is the
- 8:41hammer, therefore every problem in life is somehow
- 8:44the result of trauma.
- 8:45And there can be a little bit of
- 8:46that going on in our cultural moment too.
- 8:49Sometimes stressful things, difficult things at work are
- 8:51just stressful and difficult things at work and
- 8:53they have nothing to do really with your
- 8:54personal childhood experiences or traumatic events you've been
- 8:58through.
- 9:00So for example, a while back I just
- 9:01did an informal unscientific Facebook survey of my
- 9:05friends asking what stresses you out at work
- 9:07most.
- 9:08And here were some of the responses.
- 9:10Leaders making decisions without understanding the operational impact.
- 9:14My own procrastination.
- 9:16Negative co-workers.
- 9:18Management beating around the bush instead of answering
- 9:20tough questions honestly.
- 9:21Unclear expectations.
- 9:23And then this one was my favorite.
- 9:25The only coffee available being a Keurig.
- 9:28Okay, so of these different stressors at work,
- 9:32a lot of these probably don't have anything
- 9:33to do with personal trauma necessarily.
- 9:37Those might be leadership decisions that may be
- 9:39poorly made, unclear expectations, right?
- 9:42What coffee is available.
- 9:44While any of those might be a presenting
- 9:46moment that could connect to an experience of
- 9:49trauma in your past, sometimes you might be
- 9:51stressed out just because it is an objectively
- 9:53stressful situation.
- 9:55One clue though that you might be experiencing
- 9:58something that's related to a trauma is if
- 10:01your emotional response is disproportionate to the presenting
- 10:05issue.
- 10:07So for example, if the only coffee being
- 10:09a Keurig is like a mild annoyance, right?
- 10:13Perhaps that's a normal emotional response.
- 10:15But then you just find yourself like being
- 10:17really anxious about it or maybe getting weepy
- 10:19about it.
- 10:20That's a clue like, oh, okay.
- 10:22That's a disproportionate emotional response to the coffee.
- 10:25What's going on?
- 10:26What's behind that?
- 10:28Okay, so again, part three, experience of work.
- 10:32Only coffee being available is a Keurig.
- 10:33Part two, emotional response.
- 10:36Wow, I think I'm having a disproportionate emotional
- 10:37response.
- 10:38Part one, is this somehow connected with a
- 10:41traumatic event I've experienced?
- 10:43Now that might not be the right explanation,
- 10:45but it's a question that's worth asking.
- 10:46And for us as disciples of Jesus, one
- 10:49of the reasons that it's a question worth
- 10:50asking is that when we welcome God's presence
- 10:53into traumatic memories, that will make us healthier
- 10:57Christians at work.
- 10:59When we welcome God's presence into traumatic memories,
- 11:02that will make us healthier Christians at work.
- 11:04And we can't welcome God's presence into those
- 11:07memories unless we know what they are, unless
- 11:08we've kind of done the work to figure
- 11:10out like, oh yeah, here's an important memory
- 11:12that's shaping my experience at work right now.
- 11:16Now some of this might seem kind of
- 11:17abstract, so I want to give a couple
- 11:19concrete examples of people who have done this
- 11:21kind of work.
- 11:22One of these examples comes from an anonymous
- 11:24Reddit forum, and this one Reddit user was
- 11:27very forthcoming in his response.
- 11:29He says, I was relentlessly bullied by both
- 11:32fellow students and was always singled out by
- 11:35the staff and teachers for defending myself.
- 11:38How this applies to my now 34-year
- 11:40-old is I'm constantly worried about being fired
- 11:43at my job.
- 11:44It's a tough thing to get over.
- 11:46I'm worried about how my co-workers see
- 11:48me and I'm scared to death to ever
- 11:50take time off or make any sort of
- 11:52mistake that might paint me in a bad
- 11:54light.
- 11:56Okay, so you see how this worker has
- 11:58incredible self-awareness about how their story and
- 12:02their experiences are affecting their work performance in
- 12:06the moment.
- 12:07So again, part three, work experience, work performance.
- 12:11They are scared to death to take time
- 12:14off, okay?
- 12:15And that's going to affect your work performance.
- 12:16If you never take PTO, you're going to
- 12:17burn out.
- 12:18They say they're constantly worried about being fired,
- 12:21so they're kind of high alert, fight-or
- 12:24-flight response, always engaged, oh what's going to
- 12:27happen?
- 12:28Okay, and that doesn't make work a place
- 12:30where you can feel healthy, where you can
- 12:32do your work with calm focus, because you're
- 12:34always getting stressed unnecessarily.
- 12:38Then they're like, okay, what's the emotional response
- 12:40there?
- 12:42Okay, this is an emotional response where I'm
- 12:44worried about how people see me.
- 12:46I'm worried about how my boss is going
- 12:48to respond to me.
- 12:49I'm worried about how any sort of mistake
- 12:52might paint me in a bad light.
- 12:54Then back to step one, this is about
- 12:57how I was bullied when I was a
- 12:58kid.
- 13:00I was relentlessly bullied by both fellow students
- 13:02and was always singled out by the staff
- 13:04and teachers for defending myself.
- 13:07So this person has done a good job.
- 13:09Again, I don't know if this person did
- 13:11this work with a counselor or with a
- 13:12pastor or just in their own reflection, but
- 13:15as best we can tell, they've really done
- 13:17that work to trace back, okay, here's what
- 13:19I'm experiencing at work, here's where that's coming
- 13:21from in my story.
- 13:25And again, this is different for different people.
- 13:27So you might have a boss at work
- 13:30that actually is just a jerk boss that
- 13:32fires people randomly for no good reason.
- 13:34If you're on edge around that boss, that
- 13:37may not be a clue that you're having
- 13:38a trauma response, it's just a clue that
- 13:39your boss is a jerk, right?
- 13:41But if your boss is actually a kind
- 13:43and fair person and you're still constantly afraid
- 13:45of getting fired, that may be one of
- 13:47those clues like, hey, something else might be
- 13:49going on in my story here, maybe something
- 13:51that's worth paying attention to.
- 13:53So you could just take a moment now
- 13:54even and ask, okay, where do I feel
- 13:56on edge at work?
- 13:58Is there anywhere where I feel on edge
- 14:00in a way that's kind of disproportionate to
- 14:03the presenting issue?
- 14:05What might that mean about my story?
- 14:08And again, if this is a non-starter
- 14:09for you, if you don't feel like that
- 14:10resonates with you at all, don't worry about
- 14:12it, right?
- 14:12All of us are different, not all of
- 14:14us are carrying capital T traumas with us
- 14:17into the workplace every day, but if we
- 14:18are, we want to do the digging work
- 14:21to find out what's there for us so
- 14:24that we can welcome the healing of God.
- 14:26So I want to end just by sharing
- 14:27one personal story of this for me and
- 14:30then also looking at Psalm 23 and how
- 14:32we welcome God's presence into the dark places
- 14:35in our stories.
- 14:36So for me, kind of similar, it's a
- 14:38bullying story.
- 14:39I was not usually physically bullied as a
- 14:43child, but in like third, fourth, fifth, sixth
- 14:45grade, there was a lot of just like
- 14:47locker room trash talk, mean-spirited comments, occasional
- 14:51physical stuff like, you know, the towel snapping,
- 14:53right?
- 14:54But not in like the like camaraderie guys
- 14:56just beating up on each other in a
- 14:58friendly way, but in a mean way towards
- 15:01me.
- 15:01And some of that was like, I wasn't
- 15:02very athletic.
- 15:03I wasn't very good at sports.
- 15:05I didn't really understand sports culture.
- 15:07I remember in fourth grade, a kind of
- 15:08pastime of my male classmates was asking Chris,
- 15:13oh, do you know who blank is like,
- 15:15do you know who Kobe Bryant is?
- 15:17And then I would just be like, no.
- 15:19And then they'd all laugh like Chris doesn't
- 15:21even know who Kobe Bryant is.
- 15:22Oh my gosh.
- 15:23And it's just like, I just like my
- 15:25ignorance became this point of ridicule and exclusion
- 15:28from the kind of male athletic culture.
- 15:31And that was reinforced in this locker room,
- 15:33trash talk, bullying, mean-spirited comments.
- 15:36Way, way, way less serious than than the
- 15:40bullying that many people have experienced, which can
- 15:41be much more physically aggressive, much more violent.
- 15:44But this still really affected me.
- 15:46And this is something that I often didn't
- 15:49pay attention to at the time.
- 15:50I just kind of brushed it off.
- 15:51I remember I had a friend at the
- 15:52time, Matt, who said like, Chris, how do
- 15:54you even deal with all this?
- 15:55And I was just like, I don't know.
- 15:57Just ignore it.
- 15:58You know, that was that was my strategy
- 16:00was to just ignore it, to say it
- 16:02doesn't matter.
- 16:03But as I got older, I noticed that
- 16:05this really affected me sometimes in my work.
- 16:08So even just as recently as a couple
- 16:09years ago, I was doing a fundraising meeting
- 16:13and I had scheduled it.
- 16:14It was somebody that knew my family that
- 16:16I hadn't met in person before.
- 16:17And it was a young man around my
- 16:18age.
- 16:19So I hadn't met him, walk into the
- 16:21restaurant or the coffee shop to sit down
- 16:23with him.
- 16:24And he just immediately strikes me as like,
- 16:26oh, this is like a cool athletic guy.
- 16:29And then as I started talking with him,
- 16:30I found out, indeed, he is a cool
- 16:31athletic guy.
- 16:32Like he's telling me about how he does
- 16:33jiu-jitsu in his spare time and the
- 16:35stuff he's doing.
- 16:36And he just has that bearing of like
- 16:37someone who's very comfortable in his own body.
- 16:40And I just botched the fundraising presentation.
- 16:44I kind of get through the content, but
- 16:45I just feel really awkward.
- 16:46I feel unsettled.
- 16:47I feel like I'm trying too hard to
- 16:49impress him.
- 16:50I feel awkward about the clothes that I
- 16:52chose to wear.
- 16:54I was reviewing that after the meeting was
- 16:55mercifully over.
- 16:57And I was just like, what was that?
- 16:58And I'm like, oh, oh, okay.
- 17:01Work performance issue, botching the fundraising presentation.
- 17:05You know, step three, back to step two,
- 17:07emotional response, feeling like I really needed to
- 17:10impress this person and how I didn't have
- 17:12what it would take to impress this person.
- 17:15Back to step one.
- 17:16Oh, remember how I always felt excluded by
- 17:20male athletic culture and guys who felt super
- 17:22confident about athleticism?
- 17:24This was not a commentary on this particular
- 17:26young man's character in any way.
- 17:29This was just about me and my experience
- 17:30and the fact that his athletic demeanor suddenly
- 17:33kind of put me back in that locker
- 17:35room in elementary school or middle school.
- 17:39That was really hard for me, but I'm
- 17:42glad that I was able to do the
- 17:43work in that moment and then also able
- 17:45to talk to a counselor about it later
- 17:46on, which was great.
- 17:48And also to go and get prayer.
- 17:49But before we get to that, I want
- 17:51to look at Psalm 23 just briefly.
- 17:54So this is a really familiar passage.
- 17:57The Lord is my shepherd.
- 17:59I shall not want.
- 18:01He makes me lie down and green pastures
- 18:03and leave me beside still waters.
- 18:05He restores my soul.
- 18:07He leads me in paths of righteousness for
- 18:09his name's sake.
- 18:11Even though I walk through the valley of
- 18:13the shadow of death, I will not fear
- 18:16for you are with me.
- 18:19Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
- 18:23You lay a table before me in the
- 18:24presence of my enemies.
- 18:26You anoint my head with oil.
- 18:29My cup overflows.
- 18:31Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all
- 18:34the days of my life.
- 18:35And I will dwell in the house of
- 18:37the Lord forever.
- 18:40So the beginning of this Psalm makes it
- 18:42clear that God intends our good.
- 18:44He leads us beside still waters.
- 18:47He gives us those green pastures.
- 18:49He restores our soul.
- 18:51But life is full of things that don't
- 18:53feel like green pastures and quiet waters, right?
- 18:55Life is full of traumatic experiences.
- 18:58Life is full of the valley of the
- 19:00shadow of death.
- 19:01Life is full of enemies, the presence of
- 19:03our enemies.
- 19:04But what is God's response to that?
- 19:07God's response is to be with us in
- 19:10those dark places.
- 19:13Even though I walk through the valley of
- 19:14the shadow of death, I will not fear
- 19:16for you are with me.
- 19:20You lay a table before me in the
- 19:22presence of my enemies.
- 19:24And where the Psalm ends is dwelling in
- 19:26the house of the Lord forever.
- 19:28That we know that God is with us.
- 19:32That's how God does his work of healing
- 19:34in our hearts.
- 19:35It's not by removing traumatic experiences.
- 19:38It's not by protecting us from anything that
- 19:40might be painful in our lives.
- 19:41It's by being with us in the middle
- 19:44of that pain.
- 19:47And that's what I was able to experience
- 19:49through the healing ministry of counseling and prayer
- 19:51at my church.
- 19:52Just want to share that briefly.
- 19:54So it wasn't specifically to do with that
- 19:56fundraising meeting, but it was similarly, I had
- 19:59just remembered a time in second grade when
- 20:02I wasn't just picked last or next to
- 20:05last for soccer at recess, which often happened.
- 20:08But I was just not picked at all.
- 20:10Like the teams were odd.
- 20:12So they just like started playing without me.
- 20:13And I was just like sitting on a
- 20:14rock by the side of the soccer field
- 20:16and just like distressed.
- 20:19And I took that moment to prayer at
- 20:22church with a friend of mine at church.
- 20:23I just like, hey, this came up.
- 20:25I talked to my counselor about it seems
- 20:26significant.
- 20:27And that friend kind of guided me through,
- 20:31where is Jesus for you in this memory?
- 20:36And I was back in that memory and
- 20:37I just experienced Jesus being right there and
- 20:40Jesus picking me for the team and Jesus
- 20:43saying, I want you on my team.
- 20:47And it was that simple.
- 20:49That was a moment of healing for me.
- 20:52So coming back to our question of what
- 20:53counts as trauma, I don't know that not
- 20:57getting picked for the soccer team is a
- 20:58capital T trauma.
- 20:59It doesn't hold a candle to what many
- 21:01people have experienced.
- 21:03But for me, it was still a memory,
- 21:06a painful memory that affected me.
- 21:09And it was worth bringing to God in
- 21:11prayer and it became an occasion for healing.
- 21:14So maybe it's not so significant what counts
- 21:17as trauma, as if you're noticing something at
- 21:20work that might be connected to something in
- 21:23your story, finding out what that moment is,
- 21:27and then bringing it to God and letting
- 21:30God be present to you in that moment.
- 21:32It's probably worth the effort.
- 21:34It's probably worth the effort to talk through
- 21:36it with a counselor or a friend or
- 21:38a pastor to get prayer and to see
- 21:41how God is with you in that moment.
- 21:46It's hard to say exactly how this circles
- 21:49back to my work performance.
- 21:51Maybe next time I do a fundraising meeting
- 21:53with a suave, confident, athletic gentleman around my
- 21:57age, I'll be a little bit more secure
- 21:58and feel less awkward and just be able
- 22:01to rest in the love of God for
- 22:02me who picked me for the team as
- 22:04I talk with that other man.
- 22:07But whatever it is, I'm confident that that
- 22:10little simple healing experience is going to make
- 22:12me just that little bit more of a
- 22:14healthier Christian at work.
- 22:17And that's good news for me and for
- 22:18everybody else too.
- 22:22Lord Jesus, thank you for being with us
- 22:25even in the valley of the shadow of
- 22:26death.
- 22:27Give us wisdom and discernment to know which
- 22:31challenges we're facing at work might be colored
- 22:34or shaped or framed by traumatic experiences in
- 22:39our past.
- 22:40Give us courage to pursue that question when
- 22:42it's fruitful to do so and help us
- 22:45to welcome your presence into those memories.
- 22:49Jesus, do your work in us as we
- 22:51do our work with you.
- 22:58Thanks for listening.
- 22:59Finding God at Work is a production of
- 23:01Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois
- 23:03dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
- 23:06life.
- 23:07You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
- 23:09listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
- 23:11of teaching on faith and work every Tuesday
- 23:13and Thursday.
- 23:14To get resources to go deeper with each
- 23:16podcast series, read our blog, and get info
- 23:19about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
- 23:21go to our website, missioncentral.church.