Five Ways To Practice Gratefulness At Work

There is no shortage of things to complain about in 2020.  It would be easy to create a list of ways to complain at work, but who needs help doing that?  What if we could develop habits during Thanksgiving that we could practice year-round?  Now that would be an accomplishment!  So, as we go about our work – no matter if we work alone, lead a group of 4 or 5, or a team of 100, here are a few steps we can take to increase gratefulness around us every day. 

1. Write down the names of 5 people you work with. List one thing you appreciate about each of them and make a point to share that with them this week.

2. List 3 things that you can accomplish because of your paycheck. Be thankful for the income to do those things.

3. Send an email to a vendor or customer and tell them how much you enjoy your relationship with them.

4. Add a grateful sentiment to the end of your email signature.

5. Think of the person at work that gets under your skin and pray for them. Thank God for something specific about that person.

1 Cor. 1:4-5  I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—

This verse tells me that I should always thank my God for others because of God's grace.  I don't deserve anything, but God gives me His grace freely.  So, it's my turn to do the same thing to other people—what better place to practice this principle than in our work.  We can start to develop a habit of Thankfulness when we practice simple steps like the ones listed above.  Will you join me? 

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Happy Thanksgiving, Martha & Jim

About the Author, Martha Brangenberg

Born into an entrepreneurial family, Martha has been involved in small business her entire life. Gifted with an attention to detail and a sweet sensitive spirit, Martha is a servant leader with a deep faith in Jesus.

Salvaged - a For Profit Ministry

I have run several of my own companies – including an insurance agency and car dealership.  If you run a business, and are a Jesus Follower, you are the lead minister in your business. You have the opportunity to turn your company into a for-profit ministry.  Yes, you should make money and do it with excellence, but you are also there to minister to the people that God places in your path each and every day, including your employees, customers, vendors, city officials, stockholders, etc. Our country needs more for-profit businesses that understand that they are actually a For-Profit ministry. Or as we like to call them, a Biznistry.(Shout out to Chuck Proudfit from www.AtWorkonPurpose.org )

I am super excited to announce that our new PowerPods are being released on our regular podcast platform – 2 per week. These PowerPods are the highlight reel sections of past shows – the real meat of the show in a little over 12 minutes.  The very first PowerPod is about a guy named Roy Goble. He wrote the book Salvaged: Leadership Lessons Pulled from the Junkyard.  Roy grew up in a rare and privileged home where the family business, the salvage yard, was known as a For-Profit Ministry. Roy’s dad understood, decades, ago what you and I are grasping to understand today. 

Here's some facts about American Family run business:

·        There are over 5.5 Million family run businesses in this country.

·        36% of the population proclaims that they are born again believers in Jesus.

·        Roughly 1.98 million Christian family run businesses.

Imagine when they all know and understand that they are running a family run for-profit Biznistry, our country will be on a path to healing. Please pass this blog along to one of your friends running a family owned business with this link: iWork4Him - Wisdom from the Junkyard. (subscribe and get all of the shows on Apple Podcast)

In the trenches together, Jim

About the Author, Jim Brangenberg

Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!

Am I listening?

Have you ever noticed how certain words or themes show up over and over again during particular seasons of life?  You hear them in a song, on a podcast, or a meme on social media.  Well, a couple of different words keep surfacing for me lately, would you like to hear more about them?  You’ve probably been hearing these words too – I just feel like they’ve been in bold font so I would notice them. 

One is faith and trust.  You may think these are both nice words and probably interchangeable, but let’s look a little deeper and see why God might be pointing me to these words right now. 

“God, I have faith in you for this situation in my life.” Or

“God, I trust you for this situation in my life.”

Trust is a more active word than faith and I need to pay attention to it, to decide to act.  I have faith that the chair will hold me, but I don’t show that I trust the chair until I sit in it.  In this season of uncertainty I have faith in God my Savior, but daily I need to trust Him for the many unknowns, will you join me?  Here’s a past iWork4Him episode that really helped me to put this into perspective and I hope it will help you, too. 

Another theme that keeps popping up is the idea of being self-reliant.  I spend much of my time working in my strength, forgetting that God has something so much better for me if I would rely on Him instead of myself.  When we’ve been hurt or disappointed by other people, it’s easy to decide to rely on ourselves to get things done.  May my daily prayer include relying on the God of the Universe for strength and daily direction.  My church has a playlist on Spotify and many of the songs that minister to me circle around the idea of surrendering things to God and letting Him take control.  You might find some songs there that will help you today.  Here’s a recent episode of iWork4Him PowerPod that really deals with doing things in our own strength or turning them over to God. 

What words has God been planting around you recently?  Are you listening?  Are you asking WHY you keep hearing stories about a certain character trait or theme?  Ask God to show you what He’s trying to teach you and then listen, really listen and learn. 

Check out Isaiah 30:21 today

About the Author, Martha Brangenberg

Born into an entrepreneurial family, Martha has been involved in small business her entire life. Gifted with an attention to detail and a sweet sensitive spirit, Martha is a servant leader with a deep faith in Jesus.

1/12 of the Year is GONE

If you are like me, you find yourself bewildered and perplexed that it is the end of January already.  I mean for crying out loud, where does the time go?  Which makes me ask myself:  

am I making the most of the time that I have? 

I am often reminded that Jesus was busy but never in a hurry.  I’ll bet he’s glad that he wasn’t on the earth during this era of cell phones and the internet! It just seems like this world is crazy busy and so are we.  But Jesus’ example is a great one to follow – do I live life in too big of a hurry?

So…step back and look at your life. Are you spending enough time with the people God has placed in your life?  The people you live with and work with are in your life on purpose. Are you too busy to actually KNOW them?  I confess that I am busy and over committed, but I never want to be in too much of a hurry that I miss the ministry God puts in front of me.

Stop and take time today to smell the fresh air and ask your co-worker to have lunch with you today, or help your neighbor with their yard or shovel their driveway for those of you up north. BE today.  Don’t just exist – BE.  I am working on it.  You try it too.

Proverbs 21:5

If you do find yourself too busy to catch our radio show each day, we have just the thing for you!  Our new iWork4Him PowerPod – subscribe today and catch something new.  

You are loved and appreciated and cherished by our Father.

Jim and I appreciate you too.

About the Author, Martha Brangenberg

Born into an entrepreneurial family, Martha has been involved in small business her entire life. Gifted with an attention to detail and a sweet sensitive spirit, Martha is a servant leader with a deep faith in Jesus.