May 5, 2025 • 16 mins
LEARN MORE at http://teach4theheart.com/344
Have you ever heard the saying "Work as if it all depends on you; pray as if it all depends on God"? While this may sound true, it might not be the right way to view our work. Listen in as Linda unpacks why this idea doesn't make us better teachers, and how to view hard work biblically.
00:00 Introduction to the Teaching Journey
01:22 The Tension Between Work and Prayer
04:32 Understanding the Dichotomy of Work and Faith
06:50 Integrating Prayer and Work
10:01 Releasing Stress
10:44 Letting Our Minds Rest
13:57 Approaching Work with Thankful Expectation
Resources/Links Mentioned:
Hope Renewed: http://teach4theheart.com/hoperenewed
If you liked this episode, check out episode 170 4 Time-Management Strategies that Will Reduce Stress Right Away at https://teach4theheart.com/time-management-strategies/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Work as if it all depends on you.
(00:02):
Pray as if it all depends on God.
This phrase sounds really good, but wait a second, is that actually good advice?
Let's talk about it.
Welcome back to the Teach 4 the Heart podcast where we tackle teaching challenges from abiblical perspective.
Why are we here?
Because we don't believe our spiritual walk and teaching profession should exist in twoseparate domains.
(00:23):
Rather, the hope we have in Christ should change how we approach everything, not just athome, but at school as well.
So join us as we explore both the spiritual and practical sides of key teachingchallenges, integrating them together so we can succeed at teaching, glorify God, and make
a lasting difference in our students' hearts and lives.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
(00:45):
It's also brought to you by our sponsor, the American Association of Christian Schools.
If you're looking for a teaching position, the American Association of Christian Schoolsplacement service
is a free service to connect you with Christian schools that are looking for teachers.
The AACS represents 720 conservative Christian schools, primarily affiliated withfundamentalist Baptist and Bible churches.
(01:08):
This isn't the right fit for everyone, but if you are part of these circles, it could bejust what you're looking for.
Visit aacs.org, aacs.org, and click the big red placement service box on the homepage.
Thank you so much to our sponsors and I'm so excited to dive into this topic with you.
And I don't know you've ever heard that phrase before, work as if it all depends on you,pray as if it all depends on God.
(01:33):
Whether you've heard that phrase or not, I think this is a really good topic to dive into.
I don't know about you, but I can get really stressed when I'm trying to figure somethingout or solve a problem or when something I'm working on just isn't really working or
someone's not responding the way I want them to.
And I can get really worried about it.
(01:54):
And I can also find myself, my mind really grinding and trying to solve this problem allthe time and allowing it to really affect me.
And I'm guessing some of you have experienced something similar.
For example, some examples that you might have experienced.
Maybe you have a student who's not understanding a concept and you're trying to plan a newlesson, but you're worried.
(02:16):
Is it going to work?
Or maybe there's a meeting coming up to try to solve a student issue or an interpersonalissue and you're worried about how it will go or what you should recommend.
Maybe you're like, I want to figure out how to better engage my students, but what you'redoing isn't working and you're not sure what to do next.
I think of some personal examples.
Maybe, you know, hey, have my child is struggling in this area.
(02:38):
I can't figure out how to help them.
Or I need to make decisions about our schedule, but it feels so overwhelming.
So in all these examples,
Basically, we can get stressed about decisions we have to make or things at work, schoolthat we're trying to figure out or even in our personal life.
And as a believer, I sometimes feel this tension because on one hand, I know I need totrust God and that means I shouldn't worry, right?
(03:04):
God says, do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication withthanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and mindsthrough Christ Jesus.
So I know I shouldn't be worried about this.
I need to pray about it and trust God.
However, the tension comes in because, well, yes, we 100 % should not worry and we 100 %should pray about it.
(03:29):
At the same time, does that mean that after we've prayed about it, we just,
are done, we don't have to solve the problem anymore, we don't have to make the decision,we don't have to figure out how to help this student.
Well, no, right?
I'm still responsible for this area, so it's not as if I can just kind of let go and letGod and just be like, well, I don't have to do anything about this, right?
(03:53):
That wouldn't be fulfilling my responsibility.
So, I don't know, has anyone else ever struggled with this tension between feeling like,yes, I need to trust God?
But I don't think that trusting God means I don't do anything.
So how do I work without worrying?
What exactly does this look like?
Well, that's what we're talking about, right?
(04:14):
And particularly, I wanted to kind of dive into this phrase that I've just heard.
I don't even know where I ran across it, but maybe it just really stuck out to me and it'sbeen in my mind ever since.
And it is work as if it all depends on you.
Pray as if it all depends on God.
So in other words, according to this phrase, it's saying, okay, when you pray to God, prayas if what you're doing has nothing to do with it and it's all God.
(04:42):
So just basically like really, really ask God to work.
But when you're working, work as if it all depends on you.
And I think what the phrase means is work really hard.
Work really hard as if you are responsible for it.
So I think that this phrase is,
well- meaning what it's trying to do is say, trust God and work hard, okay, which are bothtrue.
(05:05):
However, there is a big problem with this phrase, and that is it's creating this dichotomywhere I'm either praying or I'm working and like prayer is God's realm and work is my
realm.
And that is not true.
And that's also what's gonna cause us to feel the stress.
(05:27):
In fact, when I'm stressed, I would submit, at least for me, in most cases, it's becauseon some type of subconscious level, I'm believing that dichotomy.
I'm believing this is all on me.
I gotta figure this out.
I gotta do it.
And that's not true because our heavenly father is with us and nothing is ever all on us.
(05:49):
God is our father.
The Holy Spirit is our guide.
and we need him for everything that we do.
And the great news is we need him and we have him.
He's always with us.
We have access to him.
We have access to the one who has all wisdom and all knowledge.
And so we need to invite him in and trust him to guide us.
(06:11):
We never have to figure things out, make decisions, try to help our students all on ourown because he is always with us.
So it's not work as if it all depends on you.
It's work in the strength and wisdom that God provides.
Work and pray together.
Pray as you work.
(06:33):
Trust as you work.
And invite God, bring him into that with you.
So let's take just a moment and talk out some kind of practicalities of what this mightactually look like to marry these two together instead of viewing them as separate things.
What do we do?
Number one, we need to pray for guidance.
So the prayer part, definitely true, right?
(06:55):
We need to pray for guidance, ask God, not just to solve the problem, right?
Because once again, that phrase kind of implies like either God's gonna, it's almost like,you know, God's doing his part, I'm doing my part.
No, view it more as together, all right?
So don't just say, you know, we do wanna ask God, please intervene, help, in all of thissituation.
(07:18):
But we also want to ask God, God, direct my thoughts, direct my words, help me know whatto do.
Have your spirit speak through me.
So I'm not just going off my own agenda and asking him to reveal the solutions to make thedecisions clear to us.
So definitely pray and ask God for guidance.
(07:38):
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
Did you know that the Teach for the Heart podcast is part of the Herzog Foundation PodcastNetwork?
The Herzog Foundation Podcast Network is a hub for thought-provoking discussions,insightful narratives, and inspiring content around education from a Christian
perspective.
So if you enjoy this podcast, we encourage you to check out all of the Herzog Foundationpodcasts at herzogfoundation.com / podcasts.
(08:05):
One in particular that you might enjoy is the School Success Podcast, where school leadersshare their stories of successes and failures to inspire and motivate us.
Find this podcast and more at HerzogFoundation.com / podcasts.
Now back to our program.
Number two, trust and believe that God does care about this and is involved.
(08:28):
Okay, so once again,
A lot of times when we are stressed and we're just like, I gotta figure this out, we arekind of temporarily forgetting that God cares about this situation and that he's involved
in it.
And sometimes we do fall into this trap of thinking, well, it's not that important, right?
It's not like God of the universe important, but God says it is, you're my child.
(08:50):
I care about every aspect of your life.
And so God does know, he does care and he is involved.
We just need to ask him to be involved.
I love this quote by Shay Bynes in her book, Grace Over Grind.
She says, rest is an ongoing awareness of the presence of an unchanging and all-powerfulGod in your life.
(09:15):
In other words, when we are, remember, an ongoing awareness, we are aware that God, who isunchanging and all-powerful, is with us.
He's involved.
Whew, we can breathe out.
It brings a calm.
It brings a rest to our minds even as we solve the problem.
(09:35):
So that rest doesn't mean I'm no longer working on this problem.
I'm no longer making this decision.
I'm no longer going through all the steps that I need to take.
I'm no longer attending the meeting, right?
It doesn't mean that I'm not doing anything.
It means that as I'm working, my spirit and my mind are at rest because I trust that Godis with me.
Number two, trusting and believing that, allowing that truth to permeate down into oursouls.
(09:59):
I'm not alone.
God is with me.
Number three, in some cases, a little bit of a practical piece of advice, we might need torelease some of that stress.
So if we've allowed stress to really build up, we might be carrying that in our body, inour attitude, in our speech.
So sometimes a very practical thing we can do is take some deep breaths to calm down.
(10:21):
We might need to say, I need to go for a walk.
and come back to this.
And this is most powerful when paired with prayer.
So taking a couple deep breaths and praying, going for a walk and talking to God.
But just recognizing sometimes if we're really, really stressed out about something, weneed to pause, take a breath, pray, and then come back to it.
(10:45):
Number four, let our minds rest.
So I'm talking here specifically about when we are not working or we're in a time wherewe're not trying to solve this problem.
So I don't know about you, but problems and challenges typically don't just stay at theschool building or stay during work hours, right?
(11:06):
We can often bring them home with us and they can be stressing us out or like whirling inour mind when we are supposed to be resting or spending time with our family or relaxing.
So
In many cases, actually, what we need to do is give ourselves permission and sometimes doa little bit of work to stop thinking about some of these things during times when we're
(11:30):
at home or trying to rest.
So giving ourselves kind of that permission to say, okay, no, I'm not gonna think aboutthis right now.
I'm gonna kind of put it aside, let my mind rest and come back to it when it's time towork on it.
Couple notes about this though, I do not recommend making these super hard lines like,will never think about anything work related at home or that's not at all what I'm saying.
(11:55):
There are times when it is very helpful to think about work things, you in the back ofyour mind or actively while you're doing other things.
One time would be when we're feeling excited and creative.
Sometimes you get an idea and you're so excited about it and you like wanna flush it outin your mind or grab a sheet of paper and jot down some thoughts, that is good.
When you have that creative, excited energy, that is a good thing, that is a gift fromGod, and go with that.
(12:18):
That's not a time to try to shut it off necessarily unless there's something else youreally need to be doing at that moment.
So that excited, creative energy, that can be a really good thing.
And also just recognizing that a lot of times when we take time away to not think aboutsomething, then
We're giving God space to work in the problem.
(12:39):
We're giving God space to work in our own minds.
And so we might be surprised by having some ideas or situations crop up somewhatunexpectedly.
So if they do and you're like, huh, that's not the time again to push it away either.
So the time that we want to kind of put it away is when we notice that we're stressing andwe have this like mental grinding going on where we're like really getting stressed out.
(13:03):
We're like thinking and thinking, but
but no solutions are coming, that's definitely the time, or typically the time I think tosay, okay, I'm gonna give this rest, I'm gonna pray about it and kind of give it to God
and put it aside and come back to it at a time when I can have a better attitude towardsit or when it's time to actually work on it.
So that's number four.
Recognize that there are times when we need to let our minds rest, there are times when weneed to put it aside and that's particularly when we notice that thinking about this is
(13:29):
stressing me and it's not being productive.
putting it aside until a better time.
And then number five, when it is time to work or solve this problem or figure out thedecision, we should work and think with thankful expectation, listening for God's leading.
(13:51):
Okay?
So in other words, when it's time to actually do the work, like we set it aside and nowwe're coming back, okay, now it's actually time.
whether that work is thinking about it, whether it's working, teaching, talking to astudent, attending the meeting, whatever it is that's involving this situation that's
stressful.
We wanna start with prayer.
We wanna once again remember God is with me.
(14:11):
And if you can, take a moment and be thankful for God's goodness, for his presence, forall that he's doing, for all he has done.
And then seek to work from that.
place of rest.
Remember we talked about that ongoing awareness.
When we approach it in that way, say, God, I know you're with me in this work.
I'm about to tackle this, but I'm going to pray.
I'm going to give it to you.
(14:32):
I'm going to remember that you're with me.
I'm going to thank you that you are going to help me with this, however it turns out thatyou're with me for it.
That can just totally change how we approach the work.
And no matter what happens, we can go through it with peace and a calm from Him because Heis with us.
(14:52):
I guess the bottom line is rather than work as if it all depends on you, pray as if it alldepends on God, I would say pray and work as if God is with you and there to help you all
the time because he absolutely is.
I hope that you've enjoyed kind of thinking through some of this with me and I'd love tohear your thoughts as well.
(15:14):
All the notes and the links from this episode are going to be at teachfortheheart.com/344
So, free to hop over there and join the conversation if you're watching on YouTube toleave a comment down below.
It's also such a great help to us if you like, subscribe, share the podcast, leave areview.
All of those things are really helpful to help more teachers discover this program.
(15:35):
And of course, sharing it with a friend directly is always wonderful as well.
Before we go, I want to mention one other resource for you.
If this kind of thinking about me and Linda, I am stressed a lot.
I'm often...
maybe even feeling defeated or frustrated about all the challenges around teaching, I wantto recommend Hope Renewed to you, which is a five-week program where we kind of go through
(15:55):
the Bible and talk about truths to help you stop feeling defeated and teach with hopeinstead.
So you can get more info about that at teach4theheart.com / hope renewed.
Well, this episode has been brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
All views and opinions are our own and don't necessarily reflect those of the HerzogFoundation.
(16:15):
Thank you guys so much.
look forward to being with you again soon.
In the meantime, teacher, remember, God is at work in you and through you, and he's usingyou to make a difference.
Keep your eyes on him and teach for the heart.
Work as if it all depends on you.
(00:02):
Pray as if it all depends on God.
This phrase sounds really good, but wait a second, is that actually good advice?
Let's talk about it.
Welcome back to the Teach 4 the Heart podcast where we tackle teaching challenges from abiblical perspective.
Why are we here?
Because we don't believe our spiritual walk and teaching profession should exist in twoseparate domains.
(00:23):
Rather, the hope we have in Christ should change how we approach everything, not just athome, but at school as well.
So join us as we explore both the spiritual and practical sides of key teachingchallenges, integrating them together so we can succeed at teaching, glorify God, and make
a lasting difference in our students' hearts and lives.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
(00:45):
It's also brought to you by our sponsor, the American Association of Christian Schools.
If you're looking for a teaching position, the American Association of Christian Schoolsplacement service
is a free service to connect you with Christian schools that are looking for teachers.
The AACS represents 720 conservative Christian schools, primarily affiliated withfundamentalist Baptist and Bible churches.
(01:08):
This isn't the right fit for everyone, but if you are part of these circles, it could bejust what you're looking for.
Visit aacs.org, aacs.org, and click the big red placement service box on the homepage.
Thank you so much to our sponsors and I'm so excited to dive into this topic with you.
And I don't know you've ever heard that phrase before, work as if it all depends on you,pray as if it all depends on God.
(01:33):
Whether you've heard that phrase or not, I think this is a really good topic to dive into.
I don't know about you, but I can get really stressed when I'm trying to figure somethingout or solve a problem or when something I'm working on just isn't really working or
someone's not responding the way I want them to.
And I can get really worried about it.
(01:54):
And I can also find myself, my mind really grinding and trying to solve this problem allthe time and allowing it to really affect me.
And I'm guessing some of you have experienced something similar.
For example, some examples that you might have experienced.
Maybe you have a student who's not understanding a concept and you're trying to plan a newlesson, but you're worried.
(02:16):
Is it going to work?
Or maybe there's a meeting coming up to try to solve a student issue or an interpersonalissue and you're worried about how it will go or what you should recommend.
Maybe you're like, I want to figure out how to better engage my students, but what you'redoing isn't working and you're not sure what to do next.
I think of some personal examples.
Maybe, you know, hey, have my child is struggling in this area.
(02:38):
I can't figure out how to help them.
Or I need to make decisions about our schedule, but it feels so overwhelming.
So in all these examples,
Basically, we can get stressed about decisions we have to make or things at work, schoolthat we're trying to figure out or even in our personal life.
And as a believer, I sometimes feel this tension because on one hand, I know I need totrust God and that means I shouldn't worry, right?
(03:04):
God says, do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication withthanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and mindsthrough Christ Jesus.
So I know I shouldn't be worried about this.
I need to pray about it and trust God.
However, the tension comes in because, well, yes, we 100 % should not worry and we 100 %should pray about it.
(03:29):
At the same time, does that mean that after we've prayed about it, we just,
are done, we don't have to solve the problem anymore, we don't have to make the decision,we don't have to figure out how to help this student.
Well, no, right?
I'm still responsible for this area, so it's not as if I can just kind of let go and letGod and just be like, well, I don't have to do anything about this, right?
(03:53):
That wouldn't be fulfilling my responsibility.
So, I don't know, has anyone else ever struggled with this tension between feeling like,yes, I need to trust God?
But I don't think that trusting God means I don't do anything.
So how do I work without worrying?
What exactly does this look like?
Well, that's what we're talking about, right?
(04:14):
And particularly, I wanted to kind of dive into this phrase that I've just heard.
I don't even know where I ran across it, but maybe it just really stuck out to me and it'sbeen in my mind ever since.
And it is work as if it all depends on you.
Pray as if it all depends on God.
So in other words, according to this phrase, it's saying, okay, when you pray to God, prayas if what you're doing has nothing to do with it and it's all God.
(04:42):
So just basically like really, really ask God to work.
But when you're working, work as if it all depends on you.
And I think what the phrase means is work really hard.
Work really hard as if you are responsible for it.
So I think that this phrase is,
well- meaning what it's trying to do is say, trust God and work hard, okay, which are bothtrue.
(05:05):
However, there is a big problem with this phrase, and that is it's creating this dichotomywhere I'm either praying or I'm working and like prayer is God's realm and work is my
realm.
And that is not true.
And that's also what's gonna cause us to feel the stress.
(05:27):
In fact, when I'm stressed, I would submit, at least for me, in most cases, it's becauseon some type of subconscious level, I'm believing that dichotomy.
I'm believing this is all on me.
I gotta figure this out.
I gotta do it.
And that's not true because our heavenly father is with us and nothing is ever all on us.
(05:49):
God is our father.
The Holy Spirit is our guide.
and we need him for everything that we do.
And the great news is we need him and we have him.
He's always with us.
We have access to him.
We have access to the one who has all wisdom and all knowledge.
And so we need to invite him in and trust him to guide us.
(06:11):
We never have to figure things out, make decisions, try to help our students all on ourown because he is always with us.
So it's not work as if it all depends on you.
It's work in the strength and wisdom that God provides.
Work and pray together.
Pray as you work.
(06:33):
Trust as you work.
And invite God, bring him into that with you.
So let's take just a moment and talk out some kind of practicalities of what this mightactually look like to marry these two together instead of viewing them as separate things.
What do we do?
Number one, we need to pray for guidance.
So the prayer part, definitely true, right?
(06:55):
We need to pray for guidance, ask God, not just to solve the problem, right?
Because once again, that phrase kind of implies like either God's gonna, it's almost like,you know, God's doing his part, I'm doing my part.
No, view it more as together, all right?
So don't just say, you know, we do wanna ask God, please intervene, help, in all of thissituation.
(07:18):
But we also want to ask God, God, direct my thoughts, direct my words, help me know whatto do.
Have your spirit speak through me.
So I'm not just going off my own agenda and asking him to reveal the solutions to make thedecisions clear to us.
So definitely pray and ask God for guidance.
(07:38):
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
Did you know that the Teach for the Heart podcast is part of the Herzog Foundation PodcastNetwork?
The Herzog Foundation Podcast Network is a hub for thought-provoking discussions,insightful narratives, and inspiring content around education from a Christian
perspective.
So if you enjoy this podcast, we encourage you to check out all of the Herzog Foundationpodcasts at herzogfoundation.com / podcasts.
(08:05):
One in particular that you might enjoy is the School Success Podcast, where school leadersshare their stories of successes and failures to inspire and motivate us.
Find this podcast and more at HerzogFoundation.com / podcasts.
Now back to our program.
Number two, trust and believe that God does care about this and is involved.
(08:28):
Okay, so once again,
A lot of times when we are stressed and we're just like, I gotta figure this out, we arekind of temporarily forgetting that God cares about this situation and that he's involved
in it.
And sometimes we do fall into this trap of thinking, well, it's not that important, right?
It's not like God of the universe important, but God says it is, you're my child.
(08:50):
I care about every aspect of your life.
And so God does know, he does care and he is involved.
We just need to ask him to be involved.
I love this quote by Shay Bynes in her book, Grace Over Grind.
She says, rest is an ongoing awareness of the presence of an unchanging and all-powerfulGod in your life.
(09:15):
In other words, when we are, remember, an ongoing awareness, we are aware that God, who isunchanging and all-powerful, is with us.
He's involved.
Whew, we can breathe out.
It brings a calm.
It brings a rest to our minds even as we solve the problem.
(09:35):
So that rest doesn't mean I'm no longer working on this problem.
I'm no longer making this decision.
I'm no longer going through all the steps that I need to take.
I'm no longer attending the meeting, right?
It doesn't mean that I'm not doing anything.
It means that as I'm working, my spirit and my mind are at rest because I trust that Godis with me.
Number two, trusting and believing that, allowing that truth to permeate down into oursouls.
(09:59):
I'm not alone.
God is with me.
Number three, in some cases, a little bit of a practical piece of advice, we might need torelease some of that stress.
So if we've allowed stress to really build up, we might be carrying that in our body, inour attitude, in our speech.
So sometimes a very practical thing we can do is take some deep breaths to calm down.
(10:21):
We might need to say, I need to go for a walk.
and come back to this.
And this is most powerful when paired with prayer.
So taking a couple deep breaths and praying, going for a walk and talking to God.
But just recognizing sometimes if we're really, really stressed out about something, weneed to pause, take a breath, pray, and then come back to it.
(10:45):
Number four, let our minds rest.
So I'm talking here specifically about when we are not working or we're in a time wherewe're not trying to solve this problem.
So I don't know about you, but problems and challenges typically don't just stay at theschool building or stay during work hours, right?
(11:06):
We can often bring them home with us and they can be stressing us out or like whirling inour mind when we are supposed to be resting or spending time with our family or relaxing.
So
In many cases, actually, what we need to do is give ourselves permission and sometimes doa little bit of work to stop thinking about some of these things during times when we're
(11:30):
at home or trying to rest.
So giving ourselves kind of that permission to say, okay, no, I'm not gonna think aboutthis right now.
I'm gonna kind of put it aside, let my mind rest and come back to it when it's time towork on it.
Couple notes about this though, I do not recommend making these super hard lines like,will never think about anything work related at home or that's not at all what I'm saying.
(11:55):
There are times when it is very helpful to think about work things, you in the back ofyour mind or actively while you're doing other things.
One time would be when we're feeling excited and creative.
Sometimes you get an idea and you're so excited about it and you like wanna flush it outin your mind or grab a sheet of paper and jot down some thoughts, that is good.
When you have that creative, excited energy, that is a good thing, that is a gift fromGod, and go with that.
(12:18):
That's not a time to try to shut it off necessarily unless there's something else youreally need to be doing at that moment.
So that excited, creative energy, that can be a really good thing.
And also just recognizing that a lot of times when we take time away to not think aboutsomething, then
We're giving God space to work in the problem.
(12:39):
We're giving God space to work in our own minds.
And so we might be surprised by having some ideas or situations crop up somewhatunexpectedly.
So if they do and you're like, huh, that's not the time again to push it away either.
So the time that we want to kind of put it away is when we notice that we're stressing andwe have this like mental grinding going on where we're like really getting stressed out.
(13:03):
We're like thinking and thinking, but
but no solutions are coming, that's definitely the time, or typically the time I think tosay, okay, I'm gonna give this rest, I'm gonna pray about it and kind of give it to God
and put it aside and come back to it at a time when I can have a better attitude towardsit or when it's time to actually work on it.
So that's number four.
Recognize that there are times when we need to let our minds rest, there are times when weneed to put it aside and that's particularly when we notice that thinking about this is
(13:29):
stressing me and it's not being productive.
putting it aside until a better time.
And then number five, when it is time to work or solve this problem or figure out thedecision, we should work and think with thankful expectation, listening for God's leading.
(13:51):
Okay?
So in other words, when it's time to actually do the work, like we set it aside and nowwe're coming back, okay, now it's actually time.
whether that work is thinking about it, whether it's working, teaching, talking to astudent, attending the meeting, whatever it is that's involving this situation that's
stressful.
We wanna start with prayer.
We wanna once again remember God is with me.
(14:11):
And if you can, take a moment and be thankful for God's goodness, for his presence, forall that he's doing, for all he has done.
And then seek to work from that.
place of rest.
Remember we talked about that ongoing awareness.
When we approach it in that way, say, God, I know you're with me in this work.
I'm about to tackle this, but I'm going to pray.
I'm going to give it to you.
(14:32):
I'm going to remember that you're with me.
I'm going to thank you that you are going to help me with this, however it turns out thatyou're with me for it.
That can just totally change how we approach the work.
And no matter what happens, we can go through it with peace and a calm from Him because Heis with us.
(14:52):
I guess the bottom line is rather than work as if it all depends on you, pray as if it alldepends on God, I would say pray and work as if God is with you and there to help you all
the time because he absolutely is.
I hope that you've enjoyed kind of thinking through some of this with me and I'd love tohear your thoughts as well.
(15:14):
All the notes and the links from this episode are going to be at teachfortheheart.com/344
So, free to hop over there and join the conversation if you're watching on YouTube toleave a comment down below.
It's also such a great help to us if you like, subscribe, share the podcast, leave areview.
All of those things are really helpful to help more teachers discover this program.
(15:35):
And of course, sharing it with a friend directly is always wonderful as well.
Before we go, I want to mention one other resource for you.
If this kind of thinking about me and Linda, I am stressed a lot.
I'm often...
maybe even feeling defeated or frustrated about all the challenges around teaching, I wantto recommend Hope Renewed to you, which is a five-week program where we kind of go through
(15:55):
the Bible and talk about truths to help you stop feeling defeated and teach with hopeinstead.
So you can get more info about that at teach4theheart.com / hope renewed.
Well, this episode has been brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
All views and opinions are our own and don't necessarily reflect those of the HerzogFoundation.
(16:15):
Thank you guys so much.
look forward to being with you again soon.
In the meantime, teacher, remember, God is at work in you and through you, and he's usingyou to make a difference.
Keep your eyes on him and teach for the heart.
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