During my career in business, prayer was essential to every facet of my work. Early challenges as a young manager of manufacturing plant included confrontations between management and a large, well-respected union. In one instance, facing the threat of a strike at our plant, we continously negotiated and bargained for 40 hours straight, without sleep or rest. The meetings were intense, argumentative, and very loud. Anger abounded and overpowered logic. Frankly, I became frightened.
Not wanting to be overwhelmed by the conflict, I sought a moment of privacy. I prayed and read the Scriptures, as well as Science and Health, in an effort to trust completely that God's peace and order are always present. Soon, I felt the comfort and certainty of God's love for everyone. In spite of the outbursts I'd witnessed, I knew that each of the people at the negotiating table was actually a loving child of God, not angry or willful.
From then on, every time we recessed, I thought about these lines from the Bible: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Rom. 8:35. These words helped me stay clear about the fact that no amount of struggle or "distress" could separate me or anyone else in the negotiations from God's love.
