Monica was a coworker with an attitude. She was nice enough at first, but as my new job grew, so did her rudeness. You know, sometimes people are just mean. When I was the newbie in the office, she found her place as the seasoned professional.  She was the one in the know and enjoyed the role of superiority.  However, within a few months I no longer needed her input or assistance to do my job.  That’s when her true colors came shining through.  We didn’t do the same job, but we did sit next to each other all day in a very busy office. She often would make comments to me that were demeaning or embarrassing.  Or worse, she would do it when our coworkers were within earshot.  My tendency in situations like these is to just be quiet.  I know, it’s probably not the best personally attribute when dealing with a bully.  I’m working on it.  However, I would sit quietly and silently pray she would stop.

This went on for quite a while. I loved the job, and enjoyed working with everyone else in the department, but oh my goodness Monica made my life miserable. This woman could ruin a perfectly good day. But what could I do? I needed to either suck it up or find another job.   However, I hadn’t been at this job very long.  My life was chaotic at the time, and the last thing I needed was to have to start another job search.

Monica was married and her husband had a solid government job. They owned a home and by her own account they were planning on never leaving the area. She had absolutely no desire for a different job, so basically there was no way in heck she was going anywhere. I found that to be discouraging, thinking there was no solution to the situation.  I was now stuck between a rock and a hard place.

So I started praying for her.  I prayed for her to be successful. I prayed for her husband to be successful. I prayed for her to find happiness and joy in her life. I did this every single day on my way to work and on my way home. Every prayer was filled with faith that something good would happen to her, causing her to focus on something positive instead of picking on me.   I also prayed that if this was where God wanted me, he would help me find a way to deal with the stress of working with someone who would cause my stomach to cramp when I saw her car in the parking lot.

The coolest thing happened. One day, about a month later, completely unexpected, Monica walked into the office and announced her husband had been offered not only a wonderful promotion, but all the benefits that go with it, such as a large pay increase and a government paid move to another city in California. At first she didn’t want to sell their home and move, but with the pay increase they could purchase a larger house and would still be within a few hours’ drive of her parents’ home.   It gets better.   She said she was putting in her two weeks’ notice because with her husband’s new salary they could concentrate on the move without worrying about the loss of her income.

WHAT?

Everyone in the office was shocked. I would love to say I was not surprised and knew this was how it was going to work out.  But I was just as surprised as my coworkers.  I was so caught up in my circumstance I had forgotten God is bigger than any obstacle. You can call it whatever you want, coincidence, or good luck, but I’m not buying it. It was faith. It was the power of prayer.  I stinkin’ prayed Monica out of her job.

I admit it; it still feels pretty good. Not only did God make a way for me when there seemed to be no possible solution, but he also did it in a way that I could never have imagined. God used my hard place to do something significant in both my life and in Monica’s.

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”                                      – Hebrews 11:1

Wishing you joy and peace,

Lorrie