Prayer at Work - Barbara Myrick

You might feel out of place, praying at work or offering to pray for someone you work with. But guest Barbara Myrick credits prayer at work with stronger relationships and even better work results. Barbara Myrick is the president of B&M Construction Inc. Barbara has grown the company to become one of the most respected construction companies in Colorado. She's obtained many awards in her industry, with the most recent being that 2020 enterprising Woman of the Year 2018 Southern Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce Minority Business of the Year and the 2018 Women's Veterans Business Enterprise of the Year given by JPMorgan Chase & Co and the National Veteran Owned Business Association. Barbara believes in people and community and in remembering that every individual has a contribution to offer. And she talks to us about the power of prayer at work.

Scripture References

• Psalm 23

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Transcript

Leah Archibald: Making It Work is brought to you by The Max De Pree Center for Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary and the Theology of Work Project.

Mark Roberts: Welcome to Making it Work.

LA: Through conversation, scripture and stories, we invite God into work’s biggest challenges... so that you can live out your purpose in the workplace.

MR: I’m Mark Roberts.

LA: And I’m Leah Archibald. And this is Making It Work.

Leah Archibald: Making It Work is brought to you by The Max De Pree Center for Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary and the Theology of Work Project.

Mark Roberts: Welcome to Making it Work.

LA: Through conversation, scripture and stories, we invite God into work’s biggest challenges... so that you can live out your purpose in the workplace.

MR: I’m Mark Roberts.

LA: And I’m Leah Archibald. And this is Making It Work.

You might feel out of place, praying at work or offering to pray for someone you work with. But some Christians, including our guest today, Barbara Myrick, credit prayer at work with stronger relationships and even better business results. Barbara Myrick is the president of B&M Construction Inc. Barbara has grown the company to become one of the most respected construction companies in Colorado. She's obtained many awards in her industry, with the most recent being that 2020 enterprising Woman of the Year 2018 Southern Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce Minority Business of the Year and the 2018 Women's Veterans Business Enterprise of the Year given by JPMorgan Chase & Co and the National Veteran Owned Business Association. Barbara believes in people and community and in remembering that every individual has a contribution to offer. And she's here today to talk to us about the power of prayer at work. Barbara, welcome to the Making It Work podcast.

Barbara Myrick: Well, good morning and good afternoon wherever we are located. What an opportunity just to get together and have a conversation about prayer in the workplace. And it is such a part of me, and not just at work, but everywhere I go.

LA: Well, could you start off by giving us an image of what prayer has done in you, for you and for your workplace?

BM: So prayer just impacted me from a child. My grandmother was a prayer warrior. She just her... She walked out her faith in front of me. She was a widow, a young widow with five kids that she had to raise. Back in the 30s. And I watched her just take God's word and raise five children single in that day and what they became as an individual. But she took me to church. She talked about God, the importance of prayer and the importance of faith, the importance of forgiveness, the importance of love. And so she really set that foundation for me. I really didn't know when I started praying. And then one God... One day God showed me as I was having a meltdown about life. Yeah well I think I was in probably about 35, 40. And I'm standing in the kitchen and having a meltdown about life. And and I said to God, where are you? And he took me back to when I was a child of how he just walked me all of that time through life in the struggles that he knew I would face in life.

BM: And so when he brought that remembrance back to me, I just said, Oh my gosh, you've been with me all the time. He said, You've been praying for a long time. A long time.

And then I joined a church out here in Colorado, and I sat in the back because I went to many churches. And this time I just the last church I was in, I was angry. I was sitting in the pew angry.. And and so one day he said, it's time for you to leave this church. And I was just like, Oh, but, you know, he said, I need you to have a relationship with me, not religion. And so he took me to another church and I sat in the back of the church. I'm sitting in the back of the church because, you know, I didn't want to get back involved in the church.

And this woman comes up to me and she says, you know, we're looking for members of the prayer team. Would you like to be on the prayer team? And I'm like prayer team? And I said, I'll pray about it.

LA: Good answer.

BM: I know. Good answer. Right. So a couple of weeks later, she came to me and she said, Have you made a decision? And I said, I have to confess, I haven't prayed about it. I said this is new to me, praying for other people. And she said, but I think you already do it. And I just said, oh, okay. So one morning I was driving up the road. It was about 4:30 in the morning. I had to be at Denver at six and my phone just kept ringing. I had a proposal writer. Someone in her family was placed on life support. And I had a sister calling me crying about something. Then finally, on the third call, I finally said to God, if this means the phone not ringing the rest of the day, I will do what you've called me to do. And if you've call me to pray, then that's what I'm gonna do. But please can I get to my meeting? And the phone stopped ringing [laughter] so I went to this woman and I just said, that's my calling. And I'll just pray. And I'll join the prayer team.

LA: Sounds like you developed a really robust, personal relationship with God through your prayer. How did you bring that relationship to God, through prayer, into your workplace?

BM: So I had... To me, I had no choice because I was dealing with so much, so many adversaries and I think people don't pay attention to. And now it's spiritual warfare. I've learned it's just spiritual warfare. I would walk into the building and it was just chaos every day, every day I came in and I'm just like, it's not supposed to be this way. Lord, you just said, you was gonna do this and this and this. And we were going to grow and it was gonna be a blessing to community and people. And he said yeah, but you forgot that you have to pray every day, your morning, you get up and thank me for what you know at home and stuff like that. But when you walk in this place, you still have to pray about the things that's gonna happen today.

Because I already know what's gonna happen. You don't. And so at that point I said to him, so people won't receive it. He said, I didn't tell you to preach to them. I just told you to pray over this place. You might think you plant the seeds. I'm the one that grows them. So he had said to me, I need you to get out of the way and I just need you to be obedient to what I would have you to do, not what you think you're supposed to do. And so at that point I would come in and I would just pray. I would pray. And then I would think, okay, I need to pray where people can see me. He said, no, you can pray with your door closed and ask for every room to be blessed. And every stud to be blessed, he said, but I need you to pray. So my covering... So I can dwell within this place. And after that he said. You need to not be ashamed of your faith. They already know there's something different about you because they'll sit at the table and potty mouths and you'll just look at them and you don't judge 'em you just look at them. And so they know that there's something different about you. And so you need to share who I am to you, whether they have a relationship with me or not, you need to be that light.

LA: Mark, you know, this relationship with prayer at work actually sounds like it takes a lot of the weight off of the necessity to pray for people at work. Cause I know many listeners that we talk to just feel this heaviness of oh, do I have to do it all in one shot, like prayer and evangelizing and closing the deal. Mark, I know you've talked to many Christians in the workplace about how they integrate their faith at work or whether they do it at all. Do you think this is a common fear among Christians? That the fear of I have to pray in front of everybody and I have to get everything right.

MR: Well it's interesting, I sort of have a twofold answer and it comes largely from my pastoral experience. I must admit when I started, started pastoring at church when I was a senior pastor, I didn't really think much about people praying at work. I think I was pretty much thinking there sort of work over here and faith over here. And so I was in that kind of place. And I remember meeting with a guy major executive, literally the guy who's running Lexus in the United States. And I just casually asked him does your faith make any difference to your work expecting him basically to say, well, I try to be a good person. He said, oh yeah, I pray for my work every day. I said, you do, what do you pray?

And he had this whole litany. Well, at first I start praying for my staff and then our suppliers and our vendors and our, and he went on and on and on. I said, you pray for all those people every day? Oh yeah. This is a secular major auto company. And I must admit that I was shocked. And then I admit, I was shocked at my own shocked-ness. Like of course a brother should [laughter] be praying about all this stuff in his life, but it's just, it never dawned on me. So partly I learned from not only him, but others, actually, a lot of other people do pray at work in ways that I never expected. But then there's a whole bunch of other people who pretty much feel guilty and confused, right. They say I know I should pray at work. I dunno what to do. That seems weird or I don't have a pattern or and so I think partly what we're talking about here in Barbara, your modeling is just gonna be so important for people who say, I really want to do this. I just don't know. I kind of don’t know what to do, don't know how to get started.

LA: Barbara, why don't you answer that? How do you get started praying for your work.

BM: You know God says first we are to seek the kingdom of heaven. And so I seek Him for wisdom and understanding. We always ask about wisdom and understanding, but He's given us power. He's our counselor. We should have reverence to Him. It's so much that I had to identify and say, God, you want me to do this? I need you to help me do this and show me how to do this. And sometime it means you going in early in the morning and walking through the building and praying over each file that may be sitting on someone's desk, that they're overwhelmed and just God help them not be overwhelmed with what they have to do right now. Can you open their eyes so it could be easier.

And he would just say to me, I just need you to be a servant. You might just, they come in late frustrated, you bring them a bottle of water or a coffee, and just his presence is already there. And you're just standing there having a... I'm standing there having a conversation with them, and I'm touching things along the way and asking God to help them with that. But he's taught me to just come in early, even maybe on the weekends, He'll wake me up and say, "I need you to go and pray." And I'm saying, "God it's Saturday morning." And He say, no, I need you to go because I've learned too that... Like, he already knows what we're gonna deal with in the next week. We shouldn't put that on the back burner. Just, I just learned to get up and go pray.

He's just taught me to trust in Him. And I've just seen so much happen within the walls. And I've seen so many people's lives change because of it.

LA: So this type of prayer, what you mentioned, Mark, and what Barbara just described, I might describe it as like incognito prayer. I'm wondering Barbara, how do you get transition from incognito prayer to a time where actually asking an employee or a coworker, if you could pray for them, like bringing that prayer out into the open. How did you do that?

BM: So I used to ask honestly, at first and then people would get offended. And so God has said to me, it's not the time. And I said, "Okay." So he said, my timing is perfect. So I wind up going to an event. And there was an organization there that they, have chaplains that come to your company and they don't come to, to preach God's word. They just really come to help minister because I had become so overwhelmed 'cause I wanted to pray for every employee. And so I brought this organization in and God's timing was perfect because they came in, not with the mindset of we're gonna pray with you, we're gonna preach to you. They came in and built relationships with the employees, and during those relationships, the employees started sharing and the employees started asking for prayer. And when those individuals weren't around and they needed prayer or something like tragic happened that they lost a parent while they were at work and they would be upset and I would walk up and they'd just look and I'd just say, "Can I pray with you? Can I just pray that God would give you peace during this, your season that He's gonna walk beside you and...

And with that, since then I found out like, some of them have given their life to the Lord. And I'm just like, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh." But I had to take a different approach because I didn't want people to get offended. And just a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to one of my employees, honestly it just blew my mind. I just had to sit and we were on Teams. And I said to him, "You look tired." Now, I was fasting at that time and I said, "You look tired." And he said, "I don't want you to think that I'm weird but I've been fasting." And I just started crying and I said, "What are you fasting for?" And he said, "Purpose, I need to figure out what my purpose is. What I'm I supposed to be doing in this world? What, God?" And I said, "God, did you just say, God," I mean, I'm just like, "Oh, my God." I just started crying. And I just said to him, "God's gonna bless you beyond your imagination for your sacrifice." And he just looked at me. And he just said, "I've never done it before, but... " And it's because this organization is involved in his life. And he has older men that know and have experienced God's love that is sharing all of that with him. And he just says, "I wanted to know what that felt like. I wanted to have a piece of that.”

LA: I love the story of bringing someone else in to kind of build this bridge, because then it's not all on you, as a leader of the organization, which Mark, I can imagine that would be a big burden, you've been a senior pastor, I'm sure that's a huge burden, feeling like you're the one responsible for initiating prayer with every individual in your organization.

MR: True. And so it really helps to have others with you. I'm struck Barbara by a couple things. I think you've given us... From your example, two really practical things to do and one is go to the place where it happens and pray. I know so many people who do what you do. And one could say, "Wait a minute, God's everywhere, can you just sit home and pray, do you have to go the office?" And of course, you don't have to, but I think what you've experienced and so many others have, is there is something about being in that place, where the people are sitting, where they're doing their work, that energizes our prayers, and helps us to pray. And that's one thing, if someone’s saying, I don't know where to get started. Get in to your office a little early, you don't wanna be doing this when everybody's around.

Second thing, you said, it's about relationships with people, out of which then prayer can happen. So it's not just walking up to the strangers at work and saying, "How can I pray for you?" It's getting to know them, and their needs and their concerns. And then, prayer can feel like a normal way of caring for a person. And I work most of my life in Christian organizations where it wouldn't be that odd to offer to pray for people. But I think, of other situations, the gym I used to work out in where most of the guys weren't Christian. And then I get to know them and knowing, how you doing, and in time, guys would share stuff. I remember, one guy speaking, "My mom's pretty sick and really worried about her." And he and I had really never talked about faith before but I said I pray for folk could I... Are you okay if next week I pray for you and your mom and he was totally into that. I think if he hadn't have the relationship, it wouldn't have worked. So sometimes it really helps to be in the place, Barbara, you modelled that, always it helps to get to know the people, so you can pray for them in the context relationship. I think you've given us some great steps forward.

LA: What I'm also hearing, Barbara, is that you didn't jump into this relationship where you just said you were on Teams with your coworker and you immediately started praying for him. You didn't jump into this prayer opportunity before having a relationship with him and you were probably praying for him before that opportunity over Teams came up. So you probably had a relationship with him in prayer, even before he knew it.

BM: You know, that's so true. I have five teams across the country and we would have a call in line on Monday mornings. And everyone had the opportunity to call in, even if they didn't call in, God still said, "You will pray over those teams and you will call each one of their names out and just be a blessing to them." And when I started calling their names out, some would call me with problems and ask, "Can you help me?" And some would ask for a prayer. And that just reinforces what God says that He will grow those gardens. We're just supposed to be the light and so to see it all unfold was such a blessing. It's such a blessing, it's still a blessing to me, even with the individuals that I have now. That, I just... "Okay, God, what do you want me to say to them today?" Right? And so I just see God's hand on it. I see Him at work. I see Him at work everyday. Everyday I see Him at work.

MR: You know, Barbara and Leah, don't you wish we had like a video of Jesus at work, in the carpentry work, I don't mean later on, but just to watch for the day and hear the video. 'Cause I can imagine, when you think about it, yeah, he's gonna be talking to his father as he works. He's like, "Oh Father, what do I do with this warped board?" [chuckle] Or, "What do you do with this customer who's been so unreasonable?" And I... And then I can imagine him sharing his joy, "I love that chair I just made." You don't get... We hardly get that. And... But you gotta imagine that that's what Jesus was doing for a whole lot of years, having conversation with his Heavenly Father about the stuff he was doing, right?

LA: I also imagine that a prayerful relationship through work, like you're imagining Jesus had, had a building effect to the ministry that he did later that was more public. I mean, Barbara, I imagine for you, there's a building up process through prayer that's led to more success in your work.

BM: It really has. And I just look at what he's doing and allowing me... The places he's allowing me to go right now, and the tables he allow me to get invited to, to sit at and observe. And I'm part of several organizations, but to sit and have a conversation in a meeting and people are struggling, and I just say, "You know, I have to stop for a minute right now and I just need to pray over this. I need to pray over our group and what decisions we're gonna make and our thought patterns and pray for those that are struggling at this table right now, 'cause I just feel somebody is struggling right now, and that, can I just pray?" And they'll just look at me... When we had to... When COVID was going on and I was sitting on board meetings, and I've seen so much anxiety and worriedness and depression and discouragement going on that I just said, "You know, I just have to pray before we can move further on in this here meeting."

And people were open to it. So with that I've just learned that my business is a ministry and the committees and stuff that He put me on, it's a ministry. And at first I couldn't get my head around, this prayer and interceding and... But He said, "It's a ministry. You have to embrace it as a ministry, it's not what you think it is. You know, I've called people into the kingdom in different sectors, from government to business to teaching. And so, it's a ministry." And I just said, "Okay."

And He has definitely grown me to be okay with who He called me to be. Praying for others is a blessing to me to... And one thing I try not to do is tell somebody, "I'mma pray for you." And I've learned not to say that. I just say to them... I've learned to say, "I'mma pray for you, but can we stop right now? And let me pray for you now." Because I know if I get busy during the day, I'll forget their name. I'll forget where. I know I'm supposed to pray for them, but I'll forget all the things that brought us together for God to put it in my heart, to pray for them.

And it's just... I had an employee who almost lost his son this year in a car accident. And this was a family that... One of my longest employees, has been with me 13 years, and they didn't know what to do. And God said, "You're gonna have to walk them through this." And I said, "Well, I have HR for this." And He said, "No, they trust you. You're gonna walk them through this. You're gonna pray with them. You're gonna... " And so, they were so worried about their son in the hospital, they were sitting at the hospital and they hadn't eaten for like four days. And my spirit said, "You need to send a meal to not just them, but the staff at the hospital who has been taking care of the son." And I sent a whole complete meal and they called me up crying and said, "We forgot to eat." And, "Thank you." And so we prayed together. They cried. We prayed together. We all cried together. And I just said, "God has a purpose for his life." And what we would see in the flesh that this child would probably never recover and have all of these disabilities, up and walking in, just... It was a God thing. And so, woo, glory be to God. [chuckle]

MR: If somebody came in... If this was a radio show and they'd just tuned in now, they'd probably be thinking, "Oh, Barbara's their pastor." In a real sense you are their pastor. I mean, let's be clear. I mean, you're not officially the pastor of a church, but I'm just so struck by the fact that you're talking about caring about people, praying for people as the boss of a successful construction company and you do serious business, which I just think is so... Such an encouragement.

You know, Barbara, I do have a question and you... First of all, you can correct me if my assumption is wrong, but you're in construction. I tend to think of construction as kind of like a lot of men mostly, and at least from my part of the world, the bosses tend to be white. You're a black woman in that field. I'm really interested. Has praying helped you to deal with some of the cultural and personal challenges that I'd expect have come your way?

BM: It has. I used to cry a lot. Sometimes I still cry. But God sustains me every day, every challenge, and He just gives me the victory and He reminds me that the battle is not mine, that it is His and that He puts the non-educated and unqualified in places that we think we don't belong or we don't fit. And He just says, "I have a purpose for you." And it makes me grateful. And so, I've been told some things that I think people... Harsh things that people say to people and I would go in my office and cry, and then He said, "Enough sulking, dry your face. Let's go, let's go because I've called you." And so, it's funny that you would ask that because He... I just opened another company and it's for fiber and infrastructure. And so people are looking at the money that's gonna be made. I'm looking at the lives that's gonna be touched. When I look at rural America, that don't have access to healthcare, they can have telehealth.

Somebody can call them and they can... Or the children in rural America or urban America that don't have access to education and advanced classes, they'll have access. And so last week, He took me to the same environment, [chuckle] and I walked in the room and I said, "Lord... " And He said, "But you're prepared this time. You're not gonna do all that crying this time, 'cause you've already done it. You already know where I'm gonna plant your feet and I need you to be open to this." And I just said to Him, "Thank you so much for loving me. Thank you so much for protecting me." But, I have done a lot of crying, but you know what? Prayer just seems to heal the wounds for me. And I remember that we are a royal priesthood. We are adopted into His family. I'm a princess, I'm part of royalty. And I have to remember that when I get in those places where people say that you're a nobody or you don't belong here because God has called me here. So I have struggled. But prayer has really helped me get through a lot of those challenges where... You know, God says to bless them, those that spitefully use you, those that say the wrong things against you, you're still supposed to bless them. And He take me back to scripture, you know?

LA: Is there a particular scripture Barbara that you lean on in these cases?

BM: That He is my shepherd, that He will set a table before me in the presence of my enemies, that He will anoint my hair with oil, my cup will run it over. And so I go back to that 23rd Psalm and I put myself where David was and how God just protected him and set a table before the presence of his enemies. And I just remember that. And I just say, "Thank you for being my shepherd. Thank you for never leaving me. Thank you for never forsaking me. And thank you for just loving me for Barbara."

MR: Wow. Thank you for sharing that. It's very touching and it makes a lot of sense. And I just think there... You know, there are a lot of folk in our world today kind of like you who maybe didn't come from privilege and opportunity, but God has called them and they're being faithful, but sometimes it's really hard. And so your example of faithfulness and prayer in that and letting God affirm who you are, so you can keep doing the thing to which He's called you. That's just a great encouragement, I'm sure.

BM: Thank you.

LA: I feel very encouraged. I feel very encouraged with this idea of bringing God to the table. Barbara, you quoted the 23rd Psalm, "He sets a table for me in the presence of my enemies." And I imagine you going into that boardroom table where you're facing, maybe you don't want to say enemies, but maybe some pushback there. I love the idea that through prayer in the workplace we can really invite God into those boardrooms or around those tables where really, I might not feel like personally that I have the wherewithal to deal with it, but through prayer I can get the support of God, who's like a shepherd.

Barbara, where do you feel like God is leading you next in your journey of prayer at work?

BM: To [long pause] guide the broken and those that have been hurt by churches, hurt by pastors, hurt by religion. And so, a couple of months ago, He said to me, "You've cleaned up and it's time for you to move, I'm gonna bring the broken," and I said, "Oh, what is that gonna look like?" And He said, "I just need you to be open to the people that I'm bringing." And the first person He brought was an agnostic person that... He knows God, he knows the Word...

LA: And this is one of your new employees?

BM: One of my new employees, and so broken from church and religion, and he says to me, "I see you have a lot of religion things around here, you got verses from the Bible," and I said to him, "News flash, I don't do religion," and he looked at me. I said, "I do a relationship with God." I said, "So if you think four walls determines who I am, no." I said, "I'm the church, God has called Christians to be the church. It is not four walls that we come together on Sunday or whatever day you go to church," and so he just looked at me. He said, "So you are the Church?" And I said, "Yeah. And you're His church too," and I went on about my business.

Then he came in my office a couple of days later, he was saying something, and I said, "I'm sorry that you experience in church hurt, and that you were homeless, and he just looked at me like, "How would you know those things?" Because I had said to God, "If you're gonna have me do this, you gotta give me a little insight on who I'm dealing with, so that I can not offend them, and that I can speak in love. I don't wanna judge them, I wanna speak in love, and I want to encourage them." And so now with that, he's starting to share a little bit more, and a little bit more, and a little bit more. And I just said, "God said, you just keep being a light to Him, you just keep shining, you keep blessing Him and you just keep moving."

And so then he brought in two people with records that people won't hire. And I said, "So, how am I supposed to do this, Lord? They have no skillset, they have... " He says, "It's called on-the-job training, and you're gonna teach them a skill." And He said, "They're gonna be loyal," and I just said, "Okay." And you know, they haven't missed a day of work, they come in every day smiling. And yesterday... I brought a truck six weeks ago in Oklahoma, and we've been waiting for the truck to get delivered, but they couldn't deliver the truck, so Tuesday, God said to me, "You have a vendor, you have trucks always shipped to your other locations. Call the vendor and see if he could pick the truck up."

That was Tuesday, the truck was delivered yesterday, and we were standing out there just like... I said, "This is nobody but God," 'cause they were just like... It got delivered in a day, but God let me see their happiness. They were smiling and they just said, "Barb, this is such a nice truck," and I just said, "Do you like the truck?" They said, "Oh my God, it holds everything. Who picked the truck out?" And I said, "I did." And they just said, "Oh my God, oh my God." And so, they haven't missed a day of work. They see God all day, 'cause I just talk about God all day and His blessings, and I just say, "This is a blessing. This is a blessing. This is a blessing." And they just look at me and God just said, "You just keep being that light to them, you keep being that light, and never judge them. Give them always constructive criticism, encourage them because they're so broken, encourage them that they can learn this craft and that they can grow with this company. Just do that, and then I'll handle the rest." And He's just...

He's just sending them. And last night I said to Him, "Okay, you keep sending these people. I need you to bring the contracts with it, and I need you... " [chuckle], you know, I'm having this conversation with Him, and He said, "Don't you worry about it, don't you. That's not what I... Don't you worry about that. I need you to just keep pouring into them and encouraging them and blessing them."

LA: What I hear so much from you, Barbara, is we often think of prayer as a one way. Like, "I'm doing this, I'm praying, I'm getting my word in with God." But what I hear from you is really this two way communication that prayer is for you, both talking and listening.

BM: I think... So when I look at my relationship with God, I look at Him like, I don't wanna be all dressed up. I want Him... He already knows who I am, but you know, I don't... I tell some friends of mine, "God doesn't look at your posture with a pressed shirt and a tie, and your correct vocabulary." I say, "He looks at our hearts," and I said, "So, I look at my relationship with God as a friend," like sometime I'm just like, "Really? You're gonna have me do that? I can't believe you're gonna have me do that." And then He'll explain to me why He's having me do that. And so I'm having a constant conversation because I think when we wanna talk all the time, but if we don't have our ears open to listening to what He has to say and why things are going the way they are, we miss it. And when we miss it, we have to go back around the corner again to get it. I don't like reruns and I don't like repeats and scratch records. I just said, "Okay, I didn't get it the first time." If I... So I'm... I've learned over the years to stop and listen to what He has to say...

And don't be in a hurry, 'cause sometime I think when we... If it's a one sided relationship and we're just talking and telling Him, we're... He's not getting no glory. If we're just saying, "God, God... " I just think we become complacent and become complainers. And so I've just learned over the years, okay, God's not talking, there's a reason why. I can't get in a hurry because I mess it up. So I've just learned to say, "God, you know what I need. I know you will supply according to your riches and glory, I know this, and can you kind of like hurry up here 'cause I'm stuck here for a minute," and He'll just... He'll say to me in a nice soft voice, "My timing is perfect." And so, just like we have relationships with people and interaction, that's the kind of relationship God appreciates for everyone to have with Him, not just come and ask and ask and ask, but He wants us to li sten 'cause He speaks to all of us. I think sometime we just get so busy with the world that we can't hear what He's saying. And I've just learned over the years to really listen to what He has to say.

LA: I think that's a great place to sum up prayer at work. You know, we get so busy, but we gotta slow down and listen. Barbara, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. This has been a real joy. Thank you.

BM: Thank you.

MR: Yes. Indeed.

BM: Thank you for inviting me. This is like my favorite subject. [laughter]

MR: We can tell, you do great. We love to have you talk about it.

BM: Oh, my favorite subject.

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