9 to 5 Faith Podcast: Episode 2

Paige C. Clark 00:28

Well, I am here with my friend Lorien. And we’re going to be talking about just the church and what it looks like to have a relationship with God kind of outside of our regular nine to five and inside our nine to five. And I like to say we’re just the normal people, because I think just the average normal person probably has a nine to five job. So Loriann, can you introduce yourself a little bit?

Lorien Hershberger 00:56

Sure. I’m a 39 year old mother of one work remotely from home. But when I started my journey with God, which was intense, I would say because I was very convicted about all it’s time to go all in. At the time, I was working in a bank. So I was working in a physical location. They knew me as one type of personality. And now I’m the new creation. What does that look like? So I’ve been walking that out for about three and a half years now. I love to bake. I am an aspiring author myself, I’m working on a memoir. And that pretty much takes up all my time, you know, in between trying to be a blessing every day. But that’s that’s a little bit about me in a nutshell. Also learning to garden in the last year or so really been trying to do that.

Paige C. Clark 01:51

So what are you growing right now?

Lorien Hershberger 01:54

Right now? We’re in Florida. So we’re looking at you know, starting tomatoes and peppers. You know, they’re like you have such a long growing season and not really because the rain starts in June and it doesn’t stop until September. So everything you want out of the ground you need to harvest by June.

Paige C. Clark 02:12

Yeah, for sure. And a little bit of the same here. We don’t have the rain, but we have the long growing season. But it is cut in summer. So summer, you’re kind of you know, little out of luck. If you if you don’t pull I just I have a bunch of tomatoes in my garden and a ton of broccoli right now. So I haven’t harvested the broccoli. So it flowered these beautiful flowers and the bees are just absolutely loving it.

Lorien Hershberger 02:38

Yes. Like they love those brassica flowers.

Paige C. Clark 02:41

Yes. I’m impressed. You know, like the names. I’m not even. I’m like they have yellow flowers and green stubs. Yeah. And that’s about as far as I get. So what are you doing right now full time for your job.

Lorien Hershberger 02:55

I’m actually it’s really funny story. I was working in finance. And I didn’t really have a course charted for myself, I’ve always had to kind of take what was available. So but as circumstances, you as God began to shift my path as I began to say, putting your kingdom first and all these things will be added unto me, you know, I really began to want practice that and trust God for that. And, and I didn’t have discernment developed yet. So it’s a miracle I ended up in the right place. But I shifted gears it was right before the pandemic hit. And I was moved out of my loan officer position that I was in into human resources, which was the most isolated office in the entire building, and then the pandemic hit. So it was a total move of what I get, I attribute that to God’s hand. And then it wasn’t long after that, I was in that position for about a year and I was offered a position to go home and be a writer, because I really felt like that’s what the Lord was calling me to do. Yeah, but it’s not like the writing that I am passionate about. But it does sharpen my skills daily. So I summarize medical information for veterans that are trying to obtain benefits from the VA. So I edit their Doc, I edit documents all day long and, and I just kind of do that I push that and though I get to interact with my coworkers through chat, so it is a different environment, you know, trying to manage how can you be a blessing through chat, and I’m very isolated in that. But it’s allowed me I feel like time to heal. You know, when you get out there and you’re bust in it nine to 540 hours a week. It is very it’s very hard to manage. So that’s what I do now.

Paige C. Clark 04:51

Yeah, I feel like that could be it’s even its own spin off of like working from home and like working from home face versus like in the office. because I feel like that actually looks very different as well.

Lorien Hershberger 05:04

It does add, I would add, I have been blessed with some great opportunities to speak the word, I know that I have to be careful and execute with some wisdom, because I don’t want to be in people’s faces when I’m trying to present Christ or the word or, because we can easily become obnoxious with it and turn people off. And sometimes, you know, I’ve even heard that from some mature Christians where they’re kind of loud and proud with it, like you’re going to receive my ability to exercise my faith. And it just is really it turns them so away, but that’s, that’s really, it could be there is the thing that you I found, I thought I was going to have more freedom working from home. But when everything is monitored on your computer, they want you in that seat, eight hours out of the day, as my I have worked more from home than I ever did in office setting.

Paige C. Clark 06:03

Right? Yeah, that that’s another good point too. Like, I mean, I can go off on a tangent, but like, out, when I was in the office, I would get up, I would go talk to coworkers, I would go visit people by their desk, I would check it on a project and then just kind of hanging out there, see how life is going. Whereas like here, I know I’m hearing a lot of rumblings in the business world that like work from home is actually more productive, because you don’t have those distractions, but at the same time, it can feel a little bit isolating and that

Lorien Hershberger 06:36

it is isolating. I do like the ability to be at home when my son comes home, I think that was the biggest struggle for me, I didn’t, you know, I would have liked to do that whole section of life over again, where I could have had the choice, made the decisions to be at home and be a mother at the same time. But that’s not what life looked like for me. And I didn’t have make sure everybody’s got a choice. I could have trusted God, I didn’t. And so I missed out on all those years. And as as it would, as it would turn out. Not only did I need to sharpen my skill as a writer, that was a financial blessing to take the remote position. But more than that, I feel like we all get to that place where we’re like, I wasted so much time with my son or my daughter that I can’t get back. And in this season, the Lord has allowed me to recoup a little bit of that he’s and it was it was it was the it was the finish line of that time. You’re he’s now my son is. So I’ve only got like one year or two years to savor. But the Lord was like, if that’s all I can give you back, I’m gonna give that back to you. Yes, so he’s an admin. So it was like we I have got to learn about the Lord. He does so many things at once, that I could not have anticipated. And I only had like a week to decide when when that came. Yeah, so I didn’t have very much time to say, well, let me pray about it and get back to write. Because I had been paying attention and in prayer. And I felt like I knew the path that the Lord was leading me into, when I got that surprise invitation. I didn’t even look for the job. My friend said, I know you’re not looking. I was head of HR at the time. And she said, but I have a team, I have an opening on my team for a writer, which was a complete year shift of the track, right, right,

Paige C. Clark 08:34

From loan officer to HR personnel to writer and editor. Yeah, that’s, that’s quite the hop, skip, and a jump over there. It is. And

Lorien Hershberger 08:44

I like to say this about God, if you are ready when you say God, I’m gonna hand you the wheel, and I’m gonna finally sit in the passenger seat. It’s like he did this, you turn your ad into oncoming traffic and they want to panic about but it’s like I’m trying to get you off the nearest exit. I’ve been waiting on you to make this decision for nearly three decades. I am not going to waste another second trying to get you’re on the path that I designed for it. So I was like, okay, as much as I can emotionally handle he was like change, change change. So within you know, within like a three or four year time period, I changed jobs twice to get to this place that he was a place of blessing if I had been fearful at all. I would have lost the blessing.

Paige C. Clark 09:33

Yeah, it’s a story for another time. But I had a situation where, you know, I just had this like a stupid peace about a job change, where I’m like, it doesn’t make sense. It’s like, there’s no rational reason why I should be feeling the things that I’m feeling besides God. And I think for the first time that was like, where I had like peace beyond understanding, and I think it’s really cool. Well that God can even move through our lives in our career. And you pointed it out of not just how we minister at work, but also ensuring like, spiritual and familial growth and fulfillment at home, like a change in career might not be for your career or for that environment. It might be for other reasons that are fulfilling. And I don’t think that’s talked about, like, if ever,

Lorien Hershberger 10:33

yes, and to me, I have to say that if I had not received any of the other blessings, if I had not received the alignment with what I feel like is my purpose, if I had not received a financial blessing, the peace that I have about trying to recoup some of the things that I feel like I lost as a mother would have been enough for me to say, I’m all in God. So everything else was a bonus.

Paige C. Clark 11:01

Yeah, because, because I do feel like, especially I run into it a lot. Because I work in a, I’ve worked in very corporate environments. And I feel like a lot of the conversation is always about, what’s your next career move? What’s your next step? When, when really, it’s cool to recognize that your next step that God may be leading you in is not for your career?

Lorien Hershberger 11:30

That’s right. Yes. Because it’s all about, you know, Soul ambition versus worldly ambition, like, purity you want to be and, and that is how fast do you want to move through these cosmic lessons? How fast? Are you willing? How much of the world are you willing to let go of, and for me, it was a Toronto moment, for sure.

Paige C. Clark 11:53

Gosh, that that’s just that’s a beautiful, like, I just had like the aha moment of like, I’ve always just kind of treated my job on the side. I know, for some people, they hold their jobs, really close to their, their identity, and put a lot of their identity in, in their jobs. And it’s easy to do that. And I think that like, if God wanted me, I don’t know, on on the phones all day doing sales, so that so I may have other blessings in other areas of my life. That’s an opportunity that is really cool to think about.

Lorien Hershberger 12:31

While and I found to even before I was following the Lord, you know, as far in the job, because it gets even wackier. Before I was a loan officer, I was 911, Administrator for the county, and supervisor over emergency dispatch. So that was even a wilder jump. And I found that looking back, it was it was kind of like a hostile push out of that position. It was you know, it’s under the termination of an elected official. So if he has somebody different in mind for a position that you currently hold, you’re in danger almost every four years. And it kind of came to that place where I was, it was a negative, it was a negative Firestorm, I was pushed out. It was very public, it was humiliating. And I look back on that. And it was because it was so public, I had a friend that worked at the bank. And they said, hey, you know, I’ve got a position here. And there was an open door already there for me. And I really thank the Lord for that. Because I came to this piece of this jewel that I feel like brought comfort to my heart was rejection is sometimes deliverance. And to get me on the path that he wanted to get me on where I could even receive the word I had to get out of that chaotic environment, I was never going to receive the routes, we’re never going to grow in my heart. That was very hard because of the stress and the pressure of that job. But being it he allowed it, you know, it was not a good experience. But I thank God for it every day because you know, he pushed me right out and I wasn’t even following him, then that’s the thing that I look back on. And I’m like, You are so amazing that you are not going to fail, even when I am ridiculous. Brings me such a comfort.

Paige C. Clark 14:27

Right? Gosh, yeah, absolutely. And, and I think to just knowing and like, especially, I mean, hindsight is 2020 Looking back, you see all of the seeds that were planted kind of along the way. Yeah, I could

Lorien Hershberger 14:42

have, I could have very well let my pride get in the way I could have dug in my heels in that position and said, I’m going to fight to keep it this is mine. I could have fought for the pride of my name, but I said I’m gonna choose peace and I’m gonna go through this open door. That’s been the but here just for me, I felt like it was almost right. And he blessed that.

Paige C. Clark 15:04

I love that. So let’s talk a little bit about your day-to-day. Like, let’s talk about what a week in Lorien’s life looks like. And where we’re like, yes, you have your family in your home to build. But what does also like your work and your faith and how those two intersect, and maybe family and home kind of work in there. But I don’t have kids. So I can’t really speak to that.

Lorien Hershberger 15:36

Okay, well, I’ll be happy to share that with you. Because I am a person that does better I draw a sense of comfort from systems and schedules and things like that not so rigid anymore, that it impedes what I feel like it’s the spirit, but I get up. Every morning, I try to make sure it’s between 530 and six that don’t always succeed at that. But I get up and I have one of two things that I’m going to gravitate towards some mornings, I don’t feel like getting in the Word. And I’m not going to force myself to do that. I do you feel like I have another priority in the writing, which is an expression of how I feel like the Lord uses his gifts in me. The words are very important. So whatever I feel like I’m gravitating towards, I will sit down and open up my word and my prayer journal, which I swear by Ben prayer journaling for over three years now. And I can go through one in about six months. But I began to pray about those things. And I’ll wrap them in a time them. And just because I love to go back and read and reflect on the things that God has done. And also know that those are not always my words, if he’s coming through me, and he’s expressing himself through me in that way. Then I asked him all the time, I say, Lord, help me to pray about those things that you want to see done in my life. I don’t want to continue to lift up, so and so salvation, you know, if you’re, if that’s not the time for them, yet, I’ve prayed that I trust that in your hand, what do you want to do now, because I need to see your work in my life, it’s a little bit selfish, where I was like, I need to win here, I need to see the hand of God, drop through this fabric here. So I pray, I try to make sure that I My prayers are. And the way that I would say that spiritually is that I want my prayers to be in line with the will of God. Yeah. And so I’ll spend about an hour and a half doing a drink my coffee, I get in my prayers, but in that journal is also my reading that I’m in and I have a default that I kind of lean back on, which is a three six, you know, read the Bible in a year. Right? But I’m not I’m not one of these that I’m never going to be like, Okay, well, I didn’t accomplish that. Because I do get what I call chasing rabbits in the word, which means I’m out started in Genesis, but they’re going to I’m going to read the commentary to that. And they’re going to drop a reference over here to maybe the book of Daniel, and I’m gonna go over there and read and reinforce it, because I’m so curious. I mean, I think that’s really what motivates me is my curiosity about God. And because he’s shown me so much of the Word is true. So I’m going to do that in the morning time, or I’m going to write which is working on the memoir, which I should do more of, I don’t know why all of a sudden it becomes a chore when it’s a project now I could have written really before but now it’s something I feel like I have to do so

Paige C. Clark 18:42

I feel that way a lot when I like look back at like school and stuff where I’m like, I wish I could do that now it’d be like a lot more enjoyable. It was in high school or in college like I wish I could take these classes now versus I had to back

Lorien Hershberger 18:59

Right well and you know, I have had the opportunity to go and do that but that’s another topic to take in a Spanish class and I wish I would have paid attention in high school but that’s that’s what I do I kind of go into one of those two lanes I do discipline and say these are the choices where your morning reflections and sometimes I don’t you know I give myself grace in that sometimes I’m just not very I’ll barely get up in time to make it to my computer which is ridiculous to log in. But when I get in that groove and and I have to make sure I don’t forget to pray, Lord, help me get up and meet me in that place. And because if I ever forget that it I do start filling the drain on end and I need the Lord to refresh me in that so I’ll sit down at my computer which I love. I love love love working from home. My husband puts some birdfeeders right Outside my winter, because he’s an ace. And so I’ll watch the birds. And then I kind of, you know, our boss will will say, these are the claims that we would need to make a priority today. And we’ll get that. But there’s bit, it was interesting to watch, because I really don’t have any background in medical. And this is we’re compiling medical evidence and putting in summarizing it. So that is really a miracle that I even got the job. But then I get put into the mental health lane. And I don’t have any experience in that. But there was one other lady that I was working with, it was only me and her. So I’ve watched God kind of and that’s, that’s what I put to it is I’ve been put in this position, why? Who am I supposed to be connecting with. And so I do the job, but at the same time, make sure that I’m flexible enough to say, if I get interrupted, whose is this person on my mind not to ignore those subtle prompts of reach out and chat this person. And, and I look to it was just, it’s just amazing the way that that that that has that had that has worked. One instance, if if if I may, one instance, typical, typical situation, she had dropped in the chat that she was having a rough time, this was in our group chat. It’s very casual. And she was in the middle of a divorce. And her daughter was a wall and I really gravitated towards her. And I got to know her better because we got stuck in the same mental health lane. And she was a, you know, an anchor for me, and she’s very knowledgeable and experienced. So I just kind of appropriately chatted her. And I said, you know, is there anything I can pray about with you? And they know that I love the Lord. I mean, I think that anytime I got the opportunity to establish that idea. Yeah, just so they, I just feel like it was important to say, you know, if they, if they would speak something in the chat, and I’ll say, Oh, well, that’s a scripture. And there’s a scripture for that. So it was important to let them know, Hey, if you need you write a beacon, just wanting to establish myself as that beacon, right. And so I chatted her and she said, Oh, bless your heart, you know, she so it’s one of those things where she acknowledges God, but maybe he doesn’t claim to him, right, maybe he doesn’t walk with him, maybe doesn’t acknowledge his name and all things. So I just had an opportunity to tell her a testimony which was involved when my when my mother passed away and how the Lord was faithful. And I wasn’t, I was actually kind of mad at God, I think at that moment. And my mom ordered some books in the mail, not knowing she wasn’t going to receive them. And I received them in the days that I was trying to bury her. And I had a body I didn’t know how I was gonna, how I was gonna bury her because I was very young, I was only 23 Not financially solvent. Right. And the book’s title was the buzzards are circling, but God’s not done with me yet. So she has a little bit of an edgy personality, and I knew she wouldn’t be offended by that. And I just kind of told her, I was like, you know, he’s never late. He’s never like my friend. And this is a testimony to that effect. So I got an opportunity to kind of slide that in. But, you know, I just kind of go through my day like that. Looking for opportunities. If I get them, they’re very rare. Yeah, I am not, I would say I’m probably one of the only ones in that environment that is strong in faith. So, but it gives me an opportunity to, you know, as I see the things that they post in jest, and here are the kind of comments that they make, and I know that they may be living without hope, then they go into my prayer journal, before I even start the day, if they’re on my mind, you know, them out, then I’ll begin I work a lot from the beginning of Square One is to pray. That’s why when when I’m going to try and affect change in a situation or in, in an environment. Step one is to pray. And then I say to the Lord, help me build relationships with with the persons that’s whose hearts are ready. And that’s the important thing like I, we can go out there and I think I’ve heard this kind of preached before, which was, you know, the, the sower doesn’t care. They just sowed the seed liberally and they it just lands all over the place. Right? If you want to be good at what you do, you don’t want to sow seeds out of season. I mean, as I’m learning and developing my skills in the garden, you’re wasting you’re wasting your seeds if Yeah, it takes very little effort to kind of scan you know in read the back of the packet, which is the same as people, you know, get to know them a little bit, see what they need, they might not need I can do all things through grassroots strengthens my right, they might need something different. They might need to know that God makes everything beautiful and has time they might need what is what is the remedy? Nothing. Yeah.

Paige C. Clark 25:19

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think to you, you touched on something like the people you have close proximity to, like, you can kind of get a sense of like, okay, do they have a relationship with Jesus? But you got me thinking, as you were saying that I was like, You know what, like, I feel like, I’m the only one in kind of my department that might know, Jesus. But then also, I’m like, okay, but like, how often do I talk about him? And like, What if everyone else is acting like, I’m acting in terms of like, not talking about Jesus? And like, what, you know, like, what if there’s, like hidden Christians in the room room that I just don’t know about? Because they’re acting like I’m acting, and they’re acting like, I’m acting in the sense that like, I don’t really talk about Jesus a whole lot, you know, or my relationship with him or anything like that. And so, as you were saying that those were that thoughts, like running through my mind of like, Hmm, maybe, maybe, maybe I should, you know, be a little bit more forward with that. And I think there’s, I think there’s fear in that. But also, I think that, that you can, I don’t know, God can work through it and find community, and, you know, be a hope to others.

Lorien Hershberger 26:42

Yeah, and if you’ll allow me to kind of take a little dog into that is two things that really motivated me to, to get truly out of the boat. You know, you hear that all the time, when you say, get out of the box, get out of the boat. And one of the guys in the church that I was at at the time, and this was just when God was kind of cracking me open on my shell. He said, but don’t make it weird. You don’t even know what you’re saying. Like, in retrospect, I was like, you can’t tell me that. Because, you know, here’s the thing weird is subjective. And so some really comical things transpired when I was like, I’m coming after you, God, I don’t know what’s right or wrong, but we’re gonna go through this rough process of trial and error here. And it was, you know, so in the, in the workplace. So like, you’re talking about these, these hidden, hidden Christians, that I’ll give two examples of that, and how it is very relevant to what has produced this zeal in me. And God has honored that he’s, he’s definitely blessed it with food. But there was one lady in the office in my previous job where this all began. And she was probably the most despised person in the office, she was, you know, she was she was the one that was kind of subject to gossip all the time. And I never I didn’t step out and defend her at all, I didn’t have that close relationship with her. I was like, I was kind of like, it’s not my business. You know, I’m not, I’m just gonna, even though and so but that was me before I committed myself to the Lord. When I committed myself to the Lord. Some, my perspective began to change. And so all these other women, though, that were there, they were openly Christian, and they were not behaving in a very cross like way. And when I came out of when I really came into what I could say, come into the lab, when I came into the understanding, and I committed myself to the Lord. There’s one thing that really bugged me was that I was surrounded by Christians in my office professing Christians, but nobody was wondering about my soul. Nobody wants that nobody was looking for me as the way that I like to say it. So I don’t remember any edifying conversations, or anybody trying to figure out, you know, where my soul was. And I was like, that’s a shame to be surrounded by, you know, Christians. And the Lord even speaks about that in the Bible. Now he’s talking to if I’m not mistaken, he’s talking to the pastors of the church. He says, You have not gone out to look for my lost sheep. They are lean, and they’re hungry. And he’s like in awe. And you’re, you’re over here eating good. You’re over here taking care of yourself, but you’re not going out to look for my lost sheep. He’s like, you will be priests no more, and I’m going to go out and I’m going to get my sheep myself. Praise God for that. But after after that come about, I really felt compelled to defend this woman. And she ended up now she knew like everybody else in the office was really scared of my train for transformation. Because I was really kind of dark and reserved. I was a tough person. You said good morning to you might get a good grunt, but I’m going to

Paige C. Clark 30:00

And you were with the same team. Right? Like, before Christ and after Christ.

Lorien Hershberger 30:06

Yes. Okay. Yes, at that time, it was very uncomfortable because I’m, I’m got a new identity, I’ll get out of the way blonde, right? A lot right now. But she ended up she knew what had happened because she really had had a very similar experience where she was just you know, the Word says that the love of God has poured into us, you know, and so you can’t help but just, it’s transformative, really, truly when you get that way, right. She had experienced that before this woman that was despised. And so she’s just kind of celebrating her heart, not openly, she comes to me lighter. And she says, you know, because everybody kind of turned on me all of a sudden, I’m crazy. I’m a lunatic. So but this woman came to me. And I was, first of all, I was very ashamed of the fact that I never stood up for her. I should have that was an injustice. And I did apologize to her. But she told me the story about how she came to know the Lord and it was in a workplace setting. And she was in the break room with this other girl. And this other girl asked her just simply said, Are you saved? And she was kind of smart, smarty pants about it. She’s like, What, am I drowned in? I’m not drowned in. And the woman the Christian said, Oh, but you are. And she, she invited her to church, the woman went to church with her and she was transformed. Wow. And so it was one of those things I didn’t know she had that kind of walk with the Lord. Yeah. And the other women were very, you know, they were kind of open about their Christianity, but they might not they might not be a good example. It just it everything flipped every half upside down. So yes, that from that moment, I have been determined to make sure it is known. And the second thing is, is that because I don’t want if there’s somebody in my vicinity, and I have the ability to either number one, introduce them to the Lord, or strengthen them in Christ. I feel like that’s a daily daily mission.

Paige C. Clark 32:14

Yeah, yeah. I’m like writing notes over here, as you’re saying that I was like, Oh, wow. Like that’s like gossip in the workplace. Like, that’s a problem. But that’s a whole thing of itself. And I have participated in it shamefully in the past. And, you know, I’m being reconvicted all over again, as as you’re talking, because it does happen. And I think too, like, the other part of it is which, which leads me into my next question is like, the fear of making a mistake, right? Like, we’re, we’re all human, we’re all sinners, we Wilson, we will make mistakes. But being amongst people for the majority of our life, right, like we’re with, we’re with our co workers more than we’re with our family sometimes. So we’re bound to make mistakes, and then have that. I think for me, there’s that fear that it’s going to tarnish their view of a person who follows Jesus or a Christian because it’s like, oh, look, she’s doing X, Y, or Z. And she, you know, calls herself a person of faith and and I think there’s that fear there. And I think that’s really real. A really real trap that we can fall or fall into ourselves. And so that that was gonna lead me to the question of, when you go to work, or when you leave work, do you feel like I don’t know, like, You’re a different person. Like you wrote something. When we were talking before of like, like, your workspace and what you do for a living it can be your mission field, right? And so like, you have like your home and you have kind of your core. And then you have your mission field, right, like Jesus had his 12 people and then he went, it would go out and work in the field. And so I feel like not that they’re different personalities or masks, but I think like the headspace and the intention that you go into the situation with is different.

Lorien Hershberger 34:26

Yeah, it definitely. I think the the more we really first I think it’s great that we recognize that there’s a difference. And our next goal is to shorten that gap. I think for me, it has been because I don’t have the energy to kind of maintain two different modes. Yeah, so I I’ve been really trying to and I guess I could I’m gonna use the full armor of God on this on this one. You know, we get in this mentality. Like when we go to work, we’re gonna go to hit suit up. We’re gonna put on the full armor of God, we’re going, we’re ready to go out into the world and share, you know, be be that person because you know, it is you you do become more accountable when you advertise and you say, I’m a child of God, like you say, I think that recognize that there’s truth in that, well, you’re apprehensive of putting yourself out there because then you’re gonna have this scrutiny. Right? And that, and that, to me, I would speak to that what I have learned in that is, is that, yeah, there is there’s going to be some discomfort, there’s going to be some failure, but it’s the Lord that gives us the grace to achieve success in that, and I can’t ever forget that. And, and it would, and I would use the word trying to manufacture the fruits of the Spirit rather than allowing the Lord to grow them in you. And I think that myself included, you know, we fall into that this is what I think Jesus looks like. So this is how I’m going to act, instead of saying, Lord, because there’s some really, there’s some faulty characteristics in me that I thought, as I see that a gentle and quiet spirit is pleasing to You, Lord, in Your word, but I really wish he would have given me that.

Paige C. Clark 36:20

Yes, I guess.

Lorien Hershberger 36:22

like, how do I suppress this, these parts of me that I feel like are not pleasing in your sight, and they’re gonna bring shame to your name. And so I really felt like this was the response. He’s like, you know, yes, I know, you get too big for your britches, it’s adorable, I’m able to humble you when you get, you know, out of border. So I know that you’re very vocal, give me your mouth, and you have permission to be bold with my message, but don’t get crazy. So and I could tell you some really humorous things that I did in the newness of trying to be that change factor in the workplace. But I learned that he’s gonna take everything that in is in me that I thought was bad. And he’s going to transform it if I give him enough time, and I’m persistent and following him. And I’m persistent in prayer. And I found to that if I do these little things that I feel like he’s calling me to do to be obedient, he opens big doors. And those two things are tied together often. So I would say, you know, I would, I would say to that, that’s the goal is to shorten that gap in between those two personalities. And sometimes we get home and we say, I want to, I want to take off the armor of God now, because I’m home and I want to relax, when home is absolutely the time that you need to make sure that you have it on. You know, first and foremost that that really is the workplace is the mission field. But if the enemy can tear up your home life, you can’t produce anything good outside of it. Yeah, my husband could testify on that. But I have, I have said that I was like, and I’ve actually heard those words said by other Christians, where they’re like, I have to be so careful about everything I do outside the home, I don’t want to have to execute that kind of discipline inside the home, I want to be able to relax, I don’t want to have to worry about the things so much that come out of my mouth. And my response to that is when God answers your prayer, when you lift this prayer up, and you say Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me. The more pure your heart becomes the less work it is to Yeah, the less work it is to present a you know, a good image of cross because your mind and your heart. He does. He gives you those new things. I didn’t think it was possible. I really didn’t. And that was one of the things that kept me from submission was I was like, I, I’m tired. I’ve been tired of that. And my inner demons, you know, whoever your person is with these hostile thoughts? Yeah, I have no hope that this person that I can’t fight this, I just want to honestly succumb to the dark. Yes. Because I’m tired of fighting it. Yeah. But the Lord has definitely shown me that he can transform all of the things that we feel like and I hope that’s not off base like this, that no, you

Paige C. Clark 39:21

Actually like took what I was thinking and kind of flipped it around. Because I was thinking like, when I’m at work, I may be more reserved and what I say just because of it being taken out of context, being able to explain myself all the way legal reasons and I’m hoping in a future episode, I can talk to an employment law lawyer who talks about like, what, what can and should Christians be able to do in the workplace legally, you know, so I was talking about like, rather than like, suiting up, I’m like, okay, like, I have to be honest Art in the workplace a little bit more than like, I would be like, at church or hanging out with my friends or hanging out with my family. You’re, it’s funny though, you kind of took it and went the opposite way with it of like, No, you need to be on guard at home and with your family, against the devil and, and like, I’m like that’s so true. Because I absolutely believe you know, like, when we let our guard down at home, like we’re safe, we think we’re safe. But, but that’s kind of when our when our walls are down, that’s when we’re most vulnerable. But I do think that going into your workplace, and being able to allow Jesus to shine and the way that he ministered to the people. I think like, that’s always my best bet when it comes to like ministering to people is just like, do it how Jesus did it. And that’s in relationship and who are we around more than our co workers? Like? I’m sure there’s a stat out there, but we work more than we spend a week time with our, with our people. And, and so I think that’s why one, I think that’s why a lot of people either feel the pressure to enter into some kind of formal ministry role, whether it’s a pastor, or you know, it’s some kind of mission work, like they feel pressure because, you know, it’s, it’s a very obvious equation where it’s like, I’m supposed to be, you know, showing the light of Jesus, always. And it’s not saying that being a pastor, and like, being a missionary is the easy way. But it’s kind of obvious, it’s, it’s obvious, right? Like, you should obviously be talking about Jesus. Whereas like, you’re sitting as a copywriter, and an editor behind a computer. That’s not so easy to be obvious with your faith. And, you know, I work on, I work in social media, and it’s not always the easiest thing to lead and be obvious with my faith in that way, either. So both in the work that I produce, and with the, behind the scenes with my co workers that that exists.

Lorien Hershberger 42:37

Yeah, and, and, and has to say, on that, that’s 100%, like, when you have all of your interests combined into one outlet, it does bring some measure of peace, like, I do find myself as apt because I have a heart that I want to go into ministry one day, I just don’t I’m in transition, where I’m trying to do both of those things, right. But the interesting thing was, I did have a situation in my newness at work, where I had an office right next to my bosses, and I had people coming in and out of my office all day long. So I was like, Oh, great, this is gonna be an awesome opportunity to, you know, kind of minister to people as they come in. And it was one of those things where I said something to this person, and my boss heard it. And it was really kind of misinterpreted what I said, and it really caused a big problem, I actually got called into the president’s office, and he said, you know, we really have to be careful about, you know, the things that we say. And it was really, you know, in a polite way, asking me to leave religion at home. And so the, the, and he was actually a believer, he actually has scripture on his window sale, but he put the interests of the bank and the members, or the he put them, put them first. And the thing that I would say, I feel like I’ve learned, you know, in reverse looking things, looking at things in front in another way, in some growth is one good way to minister or to shine or to show Jesus is just to do your job well. And because if you have any desire to work for the Lord one day, I think sometimes we see people gonna go into ministry like that, and I don’t want to discount you know, everybody that works in ministry, but they kind of get in there because it’s maybe a more grace filled environment or, you know, for whatever reason, they kind of gravitate toward that thinking it’s going to be an easier path. But you’re working for the Lord at that point. And I so in my current job, it really kind of compels me to say am I really given my best? Am I m r is my work Excellent. I think that’s step one. When is too, and I think that the Lord will give you a favor in that as well. So and as you become lifted up, your influence becomes more and more, and then your words carry more weight with people. So I think step one to me would be, do do your job with excellence as if until the Lord here to really grab on to that scripture and prove it true. So that means that no more slacking on these documents, like if I want to just I want to get this off my plate, or I’m supposed to call this person back promptly. But two or three days later, I still haven’t called them. You know, however, that looks like in your job. That there there are ways that you can kind of tighten up. And as you do that, I just really believe the Lord will lift you up and as you lift are lifted up. So is his name.

Paige C. Clark 45:55

Yeah, man, you just kind of jumped forward there of like, what, what I was gonna ask you, which was like, What is like one takeaway that people who are listening can implement in their lives? So maybe like, Do you have another one? Like, number one is excellence be excellent in what you do as a first step to showing Jesus in the workplace? Do you have another one another takeaway?

Lorien Hershberger 46:21

My second one is to love. Well, you know, because I think a lot of the times we try to win people to Christ without loving them, and then it becomes a burden, and it becomes a chore and it becomes a task. And I heard this recently said, you know, well, I want to protect my peace. And in Scripture, you know, Jesus says, I give you my peace, and not as the world gives, but I give it and in the book of Isaiah, and I’m sorry, I can’t tell you where exactly it is. I know that y’all know, we’re Google. But in the book of Isaiah, he says, He will keep him in perfect peace, whose faith is firm. So when we’re dealing with people, sometimes we can say, I’m going to put this wall up. And because I want to protect my peace, and then the Lord says, in the Scripture, I don’t know how many times but this one, I’m going to use an example, he tells Abraham on your shield, your exceedingly great reward. So I would say, you know, don’t be so careful about protecting yourself from people this is, this is what I feel like I had had to make the shift in my mind, which is the job come second, people come first. So I can work anywhere. And I know that, you know, because we get in that mode, where we have somebody come to our office, and we’re really busy. And we don’t have time to listen to what they’re saying. But they’re saying that they have a fractured relationship with their mother. That might not be what they say, they might come in your office venting. But what they’re really saying, if you’re listening with your spiritual areas, I have a fractured relationship with my mother. They need prayer. So make time for that. If you have some good counsel, one of the things that, you know, I think that you said, really kind of caught me just to kind of, you know, hit back on that for me, I know you’re wanting to close up, but you’re good when this when these people kind of look and they say Oh, well isn’t she supposed to be, you know, a follower of Christ. And she there was this one person in the workplace, she was the only unbeliever in the place. And not only did she not believe that she was hostile to the Lord, and I didn’t know the word then I would have loved to express to her, you know, when you attack the Lord, and you might, you might not understand it, but anybody that’s a follower of Christ receives the God as their Father, Jesus Christ as their older brother. This is so you’re you’re literally attacking their family member. It’s insulting, and it’s hurtful and to be able to explain that into a way where they might be able to have greater compassion toward Christians in the workplace, and God as a whole, like you really being hostile toward him. When they open the conversation up, I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t know the word I didn’t know God. So I just had to kind of sit there with my mouth shut. But that’s what motivates me to go to the word in the morning is when the opportunities arise. I want to pre be prepared. And I love when it says that in the Scripture, be prepared to give an answer. You know why you have this hope? So, you know, be excellent in your job, love people, well make time for them genuinely, you know, try to, you know, pray those things in there, pray change into their life, and have a good be be hopeful because that’s gonna be that magnet that draws people in and say, you know, what’s different, you know about, or we hear that in the church all the time, you know, to be a lot, but you know, it It’s gonna draw them in for conversation. And all you have to do is like a beta trap. I feel like the Lord sets in the workplace, you load yourself up with the word, and wait until God brings them to your table.

Paige C. Clark 50:12

I love that Lorien. And I at my church, we call them throat punches, which is like, where it’s kind of like a gut punch, like, check yourself kind of thing. You just hit me so many throw punches you don’t even know of putting, like, you can have a new job that that hits hits me hard of like, what I was saying at the beginning of so many of us make our job our identity. Yes. And like, when you say like, you can always get another job put people first it’s like, Whoa, I always say like, well if like, man, that that it’s true, is true. And to have someone says very throat punchy, have you so

Lorien Hershberger 50:56

The best way I get I really feel like that’s part of my charm. And, you know, the one thing I would say is, and this is probably for totally now the segment, but it will if you if you do that, it will align you into the purpose for which you were born. God says I had designed good works for you in advance. And so my, I don’t make decisions anymore. I made one decision to follow Christ. And now the rest of my time is spent trying to figure out what he wants me to do.

Paige C. Clark 51:30

That’s beautiful. Lorien, thank you so much for joining us. Where can people find you? I want people to go and hear your words of wisdom and hopefully one day read that memoir of yours. So where can they find you? I’m

Lorien Hershberger 51:44

I’m most active on Facebook, so you can find me Lorien Hershberger it’s it’s definitely a unique name. And, and I’m also on Instagram as cash noise. So those are my two places and I am working on a website but I don’t have that built yet. That makes

Paige C. Clark 52:06

all the good things. Well, thank you so much for joining us and we’ll catch you guys next time. Bye