Jim: You've tuned into iWork4Him, the voice of collaboration for the faith and work movement.

Martha: We are your hosts, Jim and Martha Brangenberg, and our mission is to inspire every workplace believer to recognize their workplace as their ministry place, where they work with God every day. What can that look like in your workplace? Well, let's find out right now.

Jim: You know, Jesus is pretty clear in John 16:33, he said, "in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world." Now he starts that sentence with, "I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace." How can we have peace when we're facing adversity? What do we do when we face adversity in our work? And the final, most important question is, is there an upside to adversity? You know, Martha and I moved to Southwest Missouri a few years ago, and in that small amount of time, we have both plugged in pretty heavily here in the town.

We're involved in rehabbing old buildings, involved in economic development. Martha is now running the annual city festival. We're hosting a weekly news podcast right here for our town and still working with iWork4Him. What's amazing to us is that not everyone appreciates the volunteer work we're doing. We've faced amazing adversity in this town. And we have had to decide how to respond. While living out our Christian faith at work, Jesus promised us trouble. Did he tell us how to deal with it? We think he did. And that's what this podcast is all about today. So Martha, we've faced adversity in the past. Why does this adversity feel different?

Martha: Well, I think it's interesting, Jim, just even as you were talking in the opening, like we right now are not facing a lot of adversity in what most people would consider our traditional work, mainly because we just work with each other. Right? So in our volunteer, in this time where we're using our gifts, talents and abilities for the community, you know, when you're doing things out of the goodness of your heart, it's a lot harder to face that adversity, I think. I think that's why it feels different, because it's one thing if I've made a work decision and I'm reprimanded, right? Or I do something that causes conflict within my work, I have that scope of that, but as a volunteer and as somebody who just is looking for ways to do good for others, when you face adversity, it's quite surprising.

Jim: It's been frustrating, but when you put it in the proper perspective - and we're just being, we just thought today we'd do a podcast that was just a "Be Real with Jim and Martha" podcast (laughing)

Martha: Wait a second, we are always real, but we're just talking about our own situation.

Jim: Yes, we are. We're talking about our own situation instead of covering somebody else's. You know, God plucked us out of Southwest Florida, where we lived in Florida for 20 years and shoved us into Southwest Missouri because of our daughter, our youngest daughter, married a boy from this little town and we love it here, Marionville, Missouri. Come visit us one day. Come spend some time with us at our coffee shop once it's open.

We love it here and God's opened up doors for us to plug in our gifts, talents, abilities into this town, including doing a podcast, which if you want to check out our podcast, that's local and inviting. It's called The Good Place Marionville podcast. Just look it up on YouTube: Good Place Marionville.

Martha: We could put it in the show links.

Jim: We could. What an amazing idea. We've never done a news show before, but that's what we're doing. Just covering the good that God is doing. Well, really the good that's happening in town. We attribute it to God. Not everybody in town does that, but what was amazing is that we opened up our building to community meetings. We have just tried to help wherever we can help because we're empty nesters. We've got time.

And not everybody appreciates it. In fact at the last alderman meeting, we were on the agenda because we were holding a meeting for free out of the goodness of our heart in one of our buildings And some people didn't appreciate that.

Martha: And so why is that surprising to you?

Jim: I don't know! Because we're just trying to help and that's all we're trying to do. We're just trying to help. And I understand some people don't necessarily appreciate that. They all know that we're doing it out of our faith in Christ. They all know that our motivation is that our lives have been transformed by Christ, and therefore we just want to help people. We want other people to experience the really cool stuff that Jesus has done for us.

And we're not out there proselytizing on the street corners, but we have spent a lot of time praying for people. In fact, I pray at every city council meeting now. I don't know, it surprised us because ... I don't know, it just hurt our feelings. We're just trying to help.

Martha: So, let's talk about our response, because it's incredibly important to be Christ like, right?

Jim: Ha ha. So, our response was, just don't say anything. Because that was the better thing to do. And our response in moving forward is, okay, if that's what the city council wants, we'll move the locations of our meeting.

Martha: But I think in general, like, I mean, let's talk about our responses to everything that we do. Not just a specific one.

Jim: So our response was, Okay, our feelings have been hurt. All we were trying to do was help. And so when your feelings get hurt as a guy, you get angry. When your feelings get hurt, typically as a woman, you cry. I would love to have just cried. It would have been way better than getting angry, but I just was like, really? I mean, why would you attack us? We didn't do anything.

But our response, Jesus was really clear. He told us, love God, love our neighbors. That was the summary, basically, of the Old Testament. Love God, love your neighbor. But then he went on to say, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. So that's our only choice. Love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you. That's what Jesus said to do.

Martha: You know, and I think it's important in all circumstances, so not just in a specific one, but in all circumstances to number one, we have a choice of whether we see somebody as a neighbor or an enemy.

Jim: But the response is the same. We're supposed to love them.

Martha: Right. But it's a whole lot different internally when you say I'm loving my neighbor or I'm loving my enemy. And naming them as an enemy can be very dangerous. And so I don't think that adversity automatically means someone is our enemy.

And I think that this is really dangerous in 2025, where the media for the last several years has only shown us the only way to approach adversity is to fight. And that is such a wrong approach. That's not the biblical approach.

Jim: And a lot of times people who we come across as our enemies, we're not understanding them. They're not understanding us and therefore they're pushing back or they may actually be you know, just as Martha taught me so many years ago: hurting people hurt people. So it could be that the people that have said things about us negatively are just, they're hurting people. So that's why Jesus told us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute you. Why? Because they're likely hurting.

Martha: So let's put it in the context of work for people that are listening and I go back to the days when we were running an insurance agency and we had some clients, some customers that tended to lash out at me doing customer service, not because of the work I was doing, but because their feelings were hurt. Their bill, you know, wasn't what they wanted it to be, or they had a claim, and I think my response even then was incredibly critical, and you gave me permission in that moment when we had customers that got ugly because they weren't getting ugly at me. I had done nothing to hurt them directly, but they didn't like the situation and they would take it out. Often people do on customer service, right?

And you said, Martha, you need to tell people when they're getting ugly with you that they do not have permission to talk to me that way and I have permission to hang up the phone right now if they're going to keep talking that way. And that really was a level of respect that got to get communicated. And so I always appreciated that because nobody has to be ugly in order to get problems solved. And we have been living in an era where that has not been what has been modeled very well.

Jim: Discourse. We've forgotten how to actually have conversations with people. If you have a conflict with somebody, just talk to them about it, people. Seriously, just have a conversation.

Martha: And even, and even beyond that, Jim, something you've taught me is to ask questions. Don't just assume that we understand. Ask questions. Tell me where this is coming from. I want to better understand. In fact, we just had a conversation this week, you mentioned the coffee shop that we're going to be opening and we've been talking with some people that are like, I'd like to have hard conversations around a table, like open it up and say, hey, on Tuesday morning, this pastor or this citizen or this person, whatever, is going to be talking and have an open round table talking about some hard topic so that we can get in the practice and work that out.

You know, just be able to show what it means to have good conversation where we don't necessarily see eye to eye. So I think a lot of people find adversity in their work and don't know what to do with it because it's either fine, I'm just going to leave.

Jim: Take my ball and go home.

Martha: Or your briefcase or whatever it might be for your work.

Jim: All right. So when our days are or weeks are tough or years are tough, where do we go for encouragement?

Martha: Well, we have learned over the years about praying together in our work, especially when there's conflict or frustration or we're hitting a, you know, a blank wall or whatever you might want to say, where we just, you know, it's tough, then we say, okay, let's just stop and pray with each other.

But I want to share something. I shared this in a ladies group recently, and I thought that this would be a really good place to share it as well. And I'm holding up on the video, an ornament of an elephant.

Jim: It's a white elephant.

Martha: Yeah, it's just because it's the wood, but the point of this was that, okay, I've never in my life wanted anybody to call me an elephant, but after I read this, I'm going to challenge each and every one of you to be the elephant. Okay, and it's a story of love and loyalty, and it goes like this. In the wild, female elephants are known as fierce protectors. And when one of their sisters is suffering, they circle up around her. They close in tight, watch guard, and even kick dust around her to mask her vulnerable scent from predators.

And yet, we are the same. This is who we are and who we are meant to be for each other. Sometimes we are the ones in the middle. Sometimes we are the one kicking up dust with fierce love. But the circle remains. And then this card says "thank you for being my elephant." And I think this really symbolizes in a lot of ways what believers need to do for each other, lift each other up, protect each other, not to say like I don't want, you know, anybody to get in but protect them so they can be who they were meant to be and keep off the predators by supporting each other.

And for us, we know that that circle includes praying for each other and encouraging each other, seeing the gifts and talents and abilities that God's given us, and then allowing them to live that out so they can live another day without that adversity.

Jim: I think it's so important that we have somebody we can go to when we're having a tough day. Somebody that will go, Hey, Jesus said you're going to have a tough day. Just, it's not the end of the world. Not every day is going to be like this. Don't respond. Wait till tomorrow to send that email back that you need to send, or that you want to send right now, or whatever it is, or text message, or instant message, or phone call.

Go to somebody who doesn't have skin in the game, who is an encourager, but will also speak truth into you. Because a lot of times when we get, we face adversity, we get discouraged, we just want to quit, or we just want to walk away, or we just want to smack somebody! I've never wanted to do that openly, but in my head, sometimes I want to say things that I shouldn't say, but we need somebody that's going to be that for us. Sometimes it could be different people, but you know, go ahead.

Martha: Well, I just was going to say, you know, that for us, like I mentioned before, prayer has been a really vital part of our journey, both professionally and personally. Ever since our very first date, you and I have prayed together daily and when things are tough at work or home, we do stop and pray.

Now. It hasn't always been that way. That's something we've learned along the way, but I just wanna encourage listeners about the iWork4Him Nation Covenant that we have on our website. It has been adopted by thousands of people with the very same goal to commit their workplace as their mission field, and to commit to pray for those they work with.

And eventually, pray with them, too. So just imagine the encouragement you can bring to your work when you pray for your co workers and start praying with them when the opportunity arises. So I just want to encourage you to go to iWork4Him. com forward slash JoinTheNation and learn more and start making that change in your work happen.

Jim: Yeah. No. I would also encourage you, if you're watching this on YouTube, which is fun, you'll see that I'm in a really heavy sweater today because, you know, it is really cold in Southwest Missouri today. But what's really cool about Southwest Missouri, last Sunday it was 50, next Monday it'll be 63. Today, 8 below zero!

Martha: Actually, by the time this show releases, it'll be springtime, practically.

Jim: Y'all in shorts and a t shirt. Southwest Missouri. Come here for the weather. (chuckles)

All right. One of my favorite verses - and I grew up in Minnesota, I mean, I don't know if everybody listening knows. I grew up, Minnesota. I'm kind of a mutt. I was born in New Jersey, lived in Maryland til I was 8. Moved to Minnesota just after my eighth birthday and we had this saying in Minnesota, no good deed goes unpunished. I don't know. I don't know where it came from. I should have done some research, some etymological research on where did that come from.

 Ten, fifteen years ago I was reading through Galatians and I ran across this verse. And it is my absolute, one of my favorite fun verses. Okay, because Paul writes to the Galatians, and in 6:9 Galatians 6:9 He says "so let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." And why did Paul write that to the Galatians?

Well, of course, because no good deed goes unpunished, because why would you get tired of doing what's good? Because if you're doing what's good and you're constantly being rewarded and people are saying, thank you, you will want to keep doing it forever. But you will grow tired of doing good if no good deed goes unpunished. That's Jim's theological opinion. But I am pretty sure that it's true.

Martha: Well, I love breaking the verse down and looking at each part of it because we don't need to sit on the :no good deed goes unpunished." We, what we need to sit in is the promises that God gives us. And he says, don't grow weary of, tired of doing good. Don't get tired of it because it is a good thing. And then he says at just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.

Jim: So, two years from now, we want you to send an email to Jim at iWork4Him. com. That's Jim at IWork, the number 4 him, dot com, or Martha at the same thing at iWork4Him. com. And ask us, have we started to reap a harvest of blessing?

Martha: Oh, we already have.

Jim: Right, we have, but.

Martha: Okay, so you're saying like a Bill and Ted thing? Where you go back in time.

Jim: I want somebody two years from now to ask us, okay, going back to March of 2025, because this show's releasing at the end of February of 2025. So in 2027, somebody sent us an email and go, so, so, did God deliver on Galatians 6: 9 for you? (silence)

 (laughing) Okay, we're not supposed to have dead air time.

Martha: (laughing) Well, I didn't know where you were going with that.

Jim: I think it'd be good for people to give us some perspective.

Martha: But I think the key, is that God's timing is not our timing, and we do not understand it. I just posted a verse last night on my Instagram story, Proverbs 3:5- 6. And remember, the key part of that that in 2024 really taught us a lot, Jim, was that we're not to lean on our own understanding. We have finite minds. We, we only understand so much. And there is, there is way more that we don't understand that God does. And trust, we say, oh, it's so, you know, yeah, just trust him.

Yeah, that's pretty hard because we don't have complete understanding of the events. So trusting him every day to take that next step and to walk in the obedience that he's called us to. And then just keep our eyes on that. Boy, that can be hard. I think about the situations people might be dealing with in their work and how hard it is.

Jim: Lots of people are getting laid off. We know several people, lots of people losing jobs across the country. What do you do with that? You know, I think it's really important to, how we're supposed to respond when we're attacked? Okay. David, King David, was chosen to be king when he was a teenager, early teens, likely, somewhere between 13 and 16.

And he didn't become king until he was 30 years old. And in all of that time between when he was anointed by Samuel and brought onto the throne in Hebron, in just Judea and in Judah and Benjamin, and those tribes, when he was 30 years old, and then later at 36 or 37 for the rest of Israel, what happened?

Well, his boss, the king, started chasing after him, trying to kill him. His best friend Jonathan's dad.

Martha: That is like a tangled web when you think about it.

Jim: That's right. And I've seen it. When you love on an enemy, eventually, they could become a friend. Once you actually have a chance to really understand them, you know, but I always pray when I have people that are persecuting me or enemies, Lord, give me a chance to serve them. I just want to serve them.

Martha: You know, but I think about, Jim, all of the Psalms that David wrote through the years and even though he knew that he knew that he knew that he was anointed, he had ups and downs. He questioned God. He said you know, oh my heart is so, you know, in distress,

Jim: yeah, God, what are you doing?

Martha: But at the same time he would then be like, God, I see your plan and I love you and I praise you and I thank you. And you know, we are like that every day. It's really hard sometimes in the midst of our own adversities to see what the purpose might be or where it's going to go. And we don't have the privilege of... he was physically told he was going to be the king, you know, but he still had to wait a lot of years. So it's amazing how all of that can teach us lessons.

Jim: And we're watching the chosen series right now, which just really puts the life of Jesus into hollywood action, and it's so It's fun to see it. I mean, it's scripturally based. Obviously, they add some storyline to it. But you talk about adversity. I mean, all Jesus did was heal people, love people, take good care of people. And all the religious people wanted to do was kill him. Because why? Because they were threatened by what he was doing.

And he claimed to be the Messiah. And they're like, Well, but if you're the Messiah, we don't believe you and it's an inconvenient truth and we're gonna kill you. So talk about adversity. You know, speaking of adversity, Martha, have you ever felt like everything's going wrong? Yeah, we had a whole year like that.

 Well back when we owned an insurance agency, we often had clients tell us that when they were going through a divorce or something else was really hard, I mean people would tell us it wasn't uncommon for someone to have an accident because they were distracted with other elements of their life. In fact, if you're listening to this and you're going through a divorce, just have other people drive you because you are almost 100 likely to have an accident. Ultimately, it was like everything was going wrong for these people.

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All right, Martha.

Martha: I wasn't gonna say desk or desktops because I thought that sounded, you know, we're admitting that we're using a tower, but actually we do for the studio. (laughing)

Jim: Hey, at Costco, they've got Dell towers so cheap. Phenomenal deals. That's what we use in our studio.

Martha: Shout out to Costco, I guess (laughter)

Jim: Another free advertising right here. All right bottom line this: when we're facing adversity, what do we need to do?

Martha: Definitely pray . Be in the Word. My sister gave me a book by ... it's a gal, her website is clearly stated and a lot of people will know who she is if you follow her on Instagram.

Jim: Free plug right here on iWork4Him.

Martha: Oh, yes, but her name. Her name is C L E E R E, so it just kind of is cute because it's like clearly stated. Anyway, she wrote a book of prayers when you're going through difficult times, and I am not always a big prayer reader, but sometimes God gives people words and puts them articulately in a way that speaks to your heart.

Jim: That would be like the Psalms?

Martha: Yes. But, you know, having those resources to help you when you can't articulate things for yourself. So I would say praying alone, praying with others, having other people lifting you up.

Jim: Have a network of people that you reach out to and say, Hey, pray for me, please, right now.

Martha: Yeah. And it might be, Hey, I'm going into a meeting with that person at work that I don't get along with or that complained about me or whatever, you know, pray for me that I use good words and that I have a good attitude or, you know, whatever it might be. That's huge.

And then being the elephant for other people, I think it's so important because sometimes we don't have the energy ourselves to - well, we don't, we need to trust in the Lord and, and let Him be our ultimate support - but physically having community, I have women friends all over the country. They're not literally standing around me, you know, kicking up the dust, but I know that I can go to them and they're there for me and they'll pray for me. And that is amazing, speaks volumes, somebody willing to go to the throne room of heaven on your behalf.

Jim: Absolutely. And to have the perspective, yes, Jesus said, love our enemies, pray for those who persecute you, but to have the perspective that the people that likely are causing adversity in your life are hurting people. And if they don't know Jesus, you know why they're hurting, because they've got no hope. And if they do know Jesus and they're hurting you, what's going on in their lives that's causing them to lash out? Most of the time, they're acting out in order to get somebody's attention to say, Hey, I am hurting, people, can somebody help me?

Martha: Well, that's what I was going to say. At the beginning of the show, you hit on a phrase that's actually one of your favorite verses.

Jim: Is there an upside to adversity? Absolutely, God uses adversity in our lives to take us from who we are to who He can use more effectively. Os Hillman wrote a book, I can't remember back when, 2010, 2012, but he wrote one book called The Upside of Adversity. If you're going through adversity, I highly recommend you get this book. You can find it on Amazon. You can also find it on TGIFbookstore. com. Upside of Adversity. Upside of adversity. Get a copy of the book.

Martha: What does that book tell people, Jim? That there is an upside of adversity?

Jim: God uses adversity in our lives to shape us and to take us from who we are to who he can use more effectively. Take Joseph, for instance. God brought a lot of adversity into Joseph's life as a teenager, and look what it did. He went from being kind of a privileged kid to the leader of the second in command to the most powerful country in the world.

But it's our understanding from watching scripture and reading it in his life that the hard things that he had to do, what we look at him being in, you know, first of all, being ridiculed by his brothers and sent to slavery and put in jail and all of the things. God used those to mold him into someone that he could use more effectively when the time was right. He could have become bitter, but he became better.

Martha: Amen. Let's do that.

Jim: That's right. You've been listening to iWork4Him with your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. We're Christ followers. Our workplace, it's our mission field, but ultimately, iWork4Him.