The Christian Working Woman

Presented by Lauren Stibgen We have been talking about how much time we spend at work—one-third of our waking hours—and the social friendships and connections we may or may not have there. Like me, you may be just too exhausted to even think about being social at work! After all, sometimes these connections require even more of your time, and your calendar outside of work can be just as busy. Spen...

Presented by Lauren Stibgen With one-third of our life spent working, it is no wonder we seek friendship and connection from our colleagues. A recent Forbes article from March 2024 titled How Loneliness Can Impact Your Job (And Life) by Tracy Brower says 69% of employees report they are unsatisfied with their social connections at work, and 43% don’t feel a sense of connection with their colleague...

Presented by Lauren Stibgen We all spend so much time at work. In fact, on average, we will spend about 90,000 hours working over the span of our lifetime. This is one-third of all our waking hours! Given how much time we spend in our workplaces, it is not surprising we want to find community and relationships at work. We can develop friendships that last. While statistics vary between 70-85%, on...

What does it mean to “reflect Christ”? It’s a rather unusual use of words. Has anyone ever said to you, “You reflect your mother”? No, usually we say something like “You look like your mother,” or “You remind me of your mother,” or “That’s exactly what your mother would say.” If I reflect my mother, even though I don’t look like her, people might comment on how very similar my mannerisms, words, o...

Are toxic coworkers driving you crazy? First, just remember workplaces will be workplaces—people will be people. In most workplaces, you have a lot of different personalities thrown into one cauldron during working hours. Drama, power struggles, office politics, and other unpleasant things are going to happen, at least to some extent. It’s not that you just settle for these types of situations, bu...

For many years, I’ve been sharing the privilege and importance you have as a Christian in the marketplace to let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven , as Jesus told us in Matthew 5:16. In all those years, one issue surfaces most frequently—dealing with people. As Charlie Brown said, “I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand!” I’m exa...

I can remember times when I worked with or for someone who was toxic. I think of one man who was never pleasant, always complaining and demanding, had no encouraging words ever, and truly poisoned the atmosphere in the room when he entered. Do you have a coworker like this? I’m specifically looking at how Jesus would want you and me to respond and interact with the toxic people in our lives. I thi...

Are toxic coworkers driving you crazy? These are people you are forced to be with daily, and their habits or attitudes are driving you—well, crazy! What are some characteristics of toxic people? Basically, they are people who somehow poison the atmosphere around them with their attitudes and behavior. As Christians dealing with toxic people, our first challenge is to remember God loves the person...

How often do you say something like: “It’s driving me crazy”? Or “He’s driving me crazy”? It’s a way of expressing frustration and impatience with something or someone. And usually it is someone—that person who is getting on your very last nerve! I want to talk about dealing with toxic people—especially coworkers—who are “driving you crazy!” Someone has said relationships are the sandpaper of our...

Presented by Lauren Stibgen Forming relationships is foundational in every aspect of our lives. From early relationships formed with family and childhood friends, to our experiences in sports, school, and work, we are made for relationships. God is relational. He was never alone. At the beginning of Genesis, we can see the unity God has in the trinity—one God, three persons: The Father, Son and Ho...

I’ve been examining how we can do a better job of connecting with people. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9). How do we show hospitality to one another? There are myriads of ways to do that, but it means you will have to see yourself as the host or hostess rather than the guest. Someone who shows hospitality takes on the responsibility to make others comfortable, to s...

Do you approach your relationships as a host or a guest? We can improve our ability to connect with others. And the attitude that helps is to think of yourself as the host or hostess rather than the guest. Or, in more biblical terms, as one who serves rather than one who is served. Think about your daily interactions with other people—at work, at home, or church, wherever. Are you a host or a gues...

Think of yourself as a host or hostess on your job—initiate conversations, volunteer help, keep your antenna up for anyone who needs a word of encouragement. This is how we show Christ’s love in a world that is starving for kindness and compassion. I’ve heard one of the Boy Scout’s mottos is to “leave it better than you found it.” Imagine how much nicer our worlds would be if we all practiced that...

Do you know the name of the person who cleans your office or who delivers your mail? An important connection skill is to consider everyone significant, and to take the time to learn names and call people by name. Often people in service jobs wear name tags. Waiters, waitresses, cleaning people, doormen—they usually wear name tags. If you see a name tag, call that person by name. And if they don’t...

I am often asked: What is the main issue people in the workplace are struggling with today? I’ve been broadcasting this program a long time, and I can tell you one issue remains at the top of most everyone’s list, and that is how to deal successfully with people! It’s people! In some form or another, our relationships—on the job and everywhere else—cause us more frustration, create more conflict,...

In part one, I challenged you to enlarge the way you pray for yourself, using some biblical prayers as guidelines, and I want to follow up on the power of claiming God’s promises to you in prayer. For example, think about this passage from 2 Peter 1: 3-4: His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thro...

Presented by Julie Busteed I used to think there were seasons of waiting on God, but now I think there is always something I am waiting on from him. Maybe it’s waiting for some direction in one area of my work or waiting for something to come to an end or waiting for the next big thing. But aren’t we always waiting to hear from him? And since we are always in this “waiting room” of God’s timing fo...

Presented by Julie Busteed What happens when you are not patient and run ahead of God and take things into your own hands? That’s exactly what happened to King Saul. You can read the entire account in I Samuel 13:1-15 but let me summarize. Saul is the newly appointed first King over Israel. They’ve had some success at defeating their enemies. I guess King Saul is feeling pretty good about this. Th...

Presented by Julie Busteed Waiting on the Lord is hard. But he gives us promises that we can hang on to during this time. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31 ESV). Years ago, I was in a job that was not my favorite. There were many things that were fine, b...

Presented by Julie Busteed When you’re in God’s waiting room do you ever think that if you just pray more or fast more or do something more that this will get God’s attention? That there is something you need to do. I used to think maybe I’m not in his will, doing something wrong, or not being persistent enough—which is why he’s not hearing or answering my prayer. Are you familiar with the parable...

Presented by Julie Busteed Waiting is not my favorite thing! Whether it is waiting in a store line, waiting in traffic, waiting for a doctor’s appointment, or waiting for the coffee maker to finish! The most challenging thing can be to wait on God to answer my prayer or give direction. Or waiting for a difficult situation to resolve, or a hard season of life to ease up. We are called to persevere....

We all know prayer is our lifeline to God, and we are encouraged to cast all our cares upon God, because he cares for us. We know God is intimately interested in our everyday lives, and he rejoices when we rejoice and mourns when we mourn. Jesus empathizes with all our weaknesses because he walked this earthly road like you, and I do. So, it is normal and wise for us to pray about the circumstance...

The question today is: How can you become a God-confident woman or man? First, you must continue to grow in your knowledge of Jesus and the Word by making them a daily priority in your life. There’s no “secret sauce” here. It is back to the basics of saturating your life with the truth that comes only from God’s Word. This is written Word—the Bible—and the Word made flesh, dwelling among us—Jesus...

What is hindering you from having God-confidence? Being confident in yourself is very risky because pretty soon that self will let you down. But being confident in God—who he is and how he sees you—is a firm foundation that holds up no matter what. What is keeping you from having this God-confidence? Could it be a sin you haven’t confessed and forsaken? Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a...

As Christ-followers, the Bible says we should put no confidence in the flesh. It’s pretty undependable. But you can and should be totally God-confident. Confident that you have become a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ and confident that God has good plans for you—good works for you to do which he determined before you were born. There’s nothing to be gained by being constrained and hand...