...even in concerns about work that I assumed were too minor to bring to him. For example, I was feeling frustrated with one of my organization’s vendors, a contract company we have worked with for several years. The timeline on a recent project had been derailed by mistakes made by the vendor. I was feeling impatient with these delays and even starting to wonder if it was time to end our relationship with this person. Could I continue trusting her to do good work? 

Through The Call to Work, God showed me that the real issue underlying my frustration and impatience was fear. My identity felt threatened. Fear of failure and fear of looking bad to others drove me to blame and distrust this person. It’s true that she had made mistakes, but my fear was narrowing my perspective on the situation. Instead of envisioning solutions and potential positive outcomes – outcomes where God’s grace could overflow even in the midst of others’ mistakes or things out of my control – the fear clouded my mind with negative possibilities, fueling feelings of frustration and impatience. During The Call to Work, God invited me to give Him my fear and rest in His peace, to trust His grace to be at work in this project, even when it wasn’t going as planned. Without the cloud of fear, I knew that I could forgive the vendor – who had done plenty of good work over the years – for her mistakes. Most importantly, Jesus replaced my sense of fear with a sense of love. He reminded me that my identity is not in others’ opinions of my work or success. Instead, I am found in God’s love.

Now, when I encounter similar situations that trigger impatience and frustration, I have the opportunity to practice remembering God’s love and changing my old habit  of reacting out of fear." 

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...I had a situation at work where I had to upwardly manage a difficult manager. In that situation I was able to take a step back to assess the situation holistically to understand the relationship i.e. what was good in the relationship, what was not optimal in the relationship, what would God want my approach to be etc. I was able to stay calm despite the tenuous relationship with my manager and approach our working relationship in such a manner that eventually led to me reporting directly to the Director of the group. Since then there has [been much less] strife at work and I am managing larger projects with higher visibility and responsibility.”  

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...She plays her music loud, is rude. I struggle with her daily. My natural feelings: I don’t like her. But the thing is I just came from a [long] quiet time with the Lord. What’s good about the relationship: we are both made in God’s image. We seem to have respect for each other’s space. The brokenness is: we’ve never communicated. 2 Peter 1:7 [says] “and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.” So I prayed, then today I talked to her.  It’s the beginning. I let God [in]. It went well and we wished each other a [good day]."

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...My uncle is in the same line of work as me and has high expectations for my progress at my firm. While I know my uncle cares for me regardless of how successful I am, I often let his high expectations alter how I interact with him. I feel as though I need to constantly communicate to him the ways in which I’m performing well at work. I feel like I always need to be well-composed when I see him and share insights into the world of finance. This has left me feeling like our relationship is fairly surface-level and that I’m afraid to be my true self around him.

TC2W has been incredibly valuable to me in processing this situation. It has enabled me to become more aware of the situation in the first place. TC2W gave me the tools to begin with seeing the many positives in my relationship with my uncle instead of just starting with the bad. It has enabled me to envision ways in which the relationship can be restored. In more recent interactions with my uncle, I feel less pressure to always feel like I have to be “on” when I’m around him. I believe TC2W will continue to impact my relationship with my uncle in the years to come and help us grow closer as I feel more equipped to be authentic around him."

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...But daily these Uber charges were popping up, which put her account in the negative. She brought it to his attention. He said it was an accident - that he pushed the wrong button on his phone. Her other issue is that they are not close, but are just starting to get close.  Because of The Call to Work, I have learned not to solve her problems for her, but be a loving presence. I am prayerful too.

She wants to get close to him. By showing her the Key Relationships Lens, she herself came to the conclusion to change her credit card number. She then told him that he is more important than the money. If he can't pay it back that's alright. It is more important for her to be in communication with her son. She loves him." 

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...because she thought that one of her children's medications was not called in and she was getting the run around. Finally, she spoke to me and proceeded to curse me out and tell me how unprofessional my office was. I tried to calm the situation (as I usually can by explaining to her that it was a miscommunication), however she told me that she didn't want to hear what happened, she just wanted me to fix the problem and she would never be returning. I was hurt, shocked and angered by what had happened, and my plan was to send her case to my office manager, and never see her again.

However, my spirit wouldn't rest, so I asked my husband to go through one of TC2W tools with me. After using the tool, I was able to see the situation differently - how God would have wanted me to handle it. The next day I called her and did not try to explain what had happened. Instead, I told her that I heard her say that she had been sick and I wanted to just ask how she was doing. I explained that God had put her on my heart and that he loves her, and if there was anything that I could do to help the situation, to please let me know. She began to cry and said that she couldn't believe that after she treated me so poorly and cussed me out, that I would call and check on her. She thanked me and hung up.

I know that it was TC2W tool that allowed me to see through my anger and ego - that guided me to see the situation through God's lens." 

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