Listening That Changes Lives | A Conversation with Laurie
Partner with work of CareImpact and Neighbourly!
Description
Shannon sits down with Laurie, a friend who embodies quiet, wholehearted care in the most everyday places. Laurie shares stories of loving neighbours who didn’t know how to receive help, praying with customers over the phone even when calls were being recorded, listening without rushing to respond, and learning to follow that gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit.
Look someone in the eyes when they’re talking to you. Slow down, listen fully, and resist the urge to jump in with a solution. Presence is its own kind of care.
Time Stamps
04:07 Strawberries, Pirogies, and Kindness
09:48 "Filled With Jesus' Love"
11:58 Phone Calls, Prayer, Connection
14:05 "Prayer, Protection, and Grace"
17:54 "Sharing Hope and Purpose"
20:11 Simple Acts Change Everything
Other Links
Join The CareImpact Podcast Group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1PgzJWfkq9/
Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.ca
Email: podcast@careimpact.ca
About the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportal
DONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
Transcript
What does it look like when ordinary kindness becomes a lifeline
Speaker:in the grocery aisle or at work? Or with a neighbor who
Speaker:doesn't really know how to receive it? And what happens when one
Speaker:person decides to show up with just a little more gentleness than
Speaker:the world expects? Hi, I'm Shannon
Speaker:Steves, and this is Neighborly. Each conversation
Speaker:around this table reminds us that care doesn't have to be perfect
Speaker:to be powerful. It just has to be real. And today
Speaker:you're going to meet someone who lives that out in the most natural,
Speaker:radiant way. Lori has this gift of making people
Speaker:feel seen. Whether she's praying with someone on the phone at work,
Speaker:offering a hug that feels like it came right from Jesus, or
Speaker:mowing the strip of grass outside an elderly neighbor's home just
Speaker:because it needed to be done, she carries hope into the
Speaker:everyday moments that most of us rush past.
Speaker:Every one of us has a story about someone who showed up when it mattered
Speaker:most. I'm Johan, and this is Neighbourly, a
Speaker:podcast about the ordinary ways people show extraordinary care.
Speaker:Every other week, Shannon Steeves sits down with someone who's
Speaker:lived that out. Real stories of faith, kindness,
Speaker:and community in action. So grab your coffee and let's
Speaker:join Shannon at the table.
Speaker:Lori, thank you so much for being here. I
Speaker:have just been looking forward to this conversation all week. Honestly,
Speaker:I'm really grateful to call you a friend. You are someone
Speaker:that just feels like family, and I don't think I'm the only one who would
Speaker:say that. To let our listeners know, Lori and I
Speaker:first met at our church, and ever since then, you've just
Speaker:been such a blessing to me. You have a way of making people feel
Speaker:seen and cared for. And I'm just excited today to talk about
Speaker:that and for our listeners, hopefully, to be inspired to live
Speaker:that out in their own lives. So thanks for joining me today.
Speaker:Oh, thank you for asking me. Well, we always get started with the
Speaker:same question. Whenever I interview someone growing up or
Speaker:just throughout life who has been a neighbor
Speaker:that you will never forget. I've lived in
Speaker:many, many different places, and I come from a
Speaker:rather diverse background. Lots of struggles
Speaker:and stuff. So I had a lot of neighbors, moved around a lot. The
Speaker:neighbor that most stands out in my mind, she was
Speaker:a old Ukrainian lady and she was very
Speaker:abrupt, let's say. And I believe that if
Speaker:everybody was just this much nicer in their life towards other people,
Speaker:what a better world it would be like. Don't get angry at the
Speaker:people you know that are maybe behind you, bumping you with the cart in
Speaker:Costco or something. But if just. You can just take a breath,
Speaker:relax and move on. She was a very
Speaker:old and very big woman, and
Speaker:she wouldn't mow her lawn. And I love mowing lawns.
Speaker:And so I used to start mowing by the
Speaker:sidewalk and around her outside of her
Speaker:yard. I never went inside, but I'd mow her outside. And she came out and
Speaker:she'd just yell at me, what are you doing?
Speaker:I would say, I'm just helping you, Mary. I'm just helping you.
Speaker:And she'd be so grumpy, and she'd go back in, slam
Speaker:the door. And it took me about three mo's.
Speaker:And she'd come out and she'd go, you want some strawberries? Because
Speaker:she had this massive garden in the back. And
Speaker:it went on like that for. We lived by her for about two,
Speaker:three summers. And she's passed now, but she
Speaker:came out at the end of that one summer. And she goes, I
Speaker:don't know why you do this for me. And I said, because
Speaker:you need it. You need some help, and I'm willing to help
Speaker:you. And she goes, you didn't need to.
Speaker:I says, no, I didn't, but I wanted to.
Speaker:And she goes, well, I thank you. And she shoved some strawberries and
Speaker:some pierogies, because she used to make these amazing,
Speaker:real Ukrainian pierogies. And she shoved them into my hand and
Speaker:walk away, you know, Never saw her outside. She did
Speaker:all her gardening in the evening. But it just
Speaker:impacted me because a lot of times, people don't
Speaker:know how to accept without feeling that
Speaker:they have to repay. Sometimes I feel
Speaker:that if everybody just did this much more
Speaker:willingly, it would change the world. Yeah. Yeah. If
Speaker:you see a need and if you have the ability to
Speaker:fill that need, do you see somebody needing something? It's like
Speaker:in Matthew, where, you know, saw I was naked and
Speaker:you gave me clothes. You saw I was hungry, you fed me. That's a need.
Speaker:Somebody that can't do something, that needs it, and
Speaker:you can do it, but don't. Well, shame on you. Like, where
Speaker:does this come from for you? You know, that heart to just
Speaker:care? You said, you know, you talked about Matthew. Is there more to that for
Speaker:you? Of, like, why? I come from
Speaker:a childhood where we didn't have
Speaker:timeouts or soft landings. Shall I say, it
Speaker:was. It was very harsh and very.
Speaker:It was disturbing by most people's standards. And
Speaker:I've always. I've never ever
Speaker:remembered a time when I didn't have that
Speaker:I need to help. I don't know. God had his hand on
Speaker:me. He created me for a reason. I don't always know the reason,
Speaker:but I know there's a reason. And I really believe that he
Speaker:just instilled that. I believe it's a gift.
Speaker:I believe that God has given me a gift to love people.
Speaker:And it doesn't matter who you are, everybody
Speaker:needs a little bit extra loving. Yeah, that's beautiful.
Speaker:And you just, you do it so. So naturally just connecting
Speaker:with people. I get to see it every Sunday. And
Speaker:I believe that also your work experience over life has kind
Speaker:of given you a front row seat to connecting with people. Can you share
Speaker:a little bit about that? I don't know totally your whole story when it comes
Speaker:to that. But I've heard pieces. I've been in the customer
Speaker:service all my life. And I do believe that's my strong
Speaker:point because I listen. People just want to be
Speaker:heard. And one time my boss
Speaker:said, he says you're like the human bandaid. He said, if ever I have a
Speaker:problem with a customer, I just transfer them to you and you just
Speaker:make it okay. And I went, that's because I listen. And I actually
Speaker:listen. Some people, you listen to react
Speaker:or to reply. You form that reply before
Speaker:you've actually heard the whole story. And I actually,
Speaker:I believe that God has given that
Speaker:to me, that the Holy Spirit will touch people. And the
Speaker:greatest thing it was two years ago.
Speaker:I worked with this young fellow. His name was Josh. He
Speaker:was one of our technicians. And whenever we would
Speaker:have a meeting with everybody in there, I would always
Speaker:pray. If you don't acknowledge me in public, if you're
Speaker:ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you. That whole. It's a lot of Bible
Speaker:learning. I'm going to jump back now a
Speaker:little bit. Sure. My mom told me
Speaker:my very first outing after I got out of the hospital, she brought me to
Speaker:Sunday School. So I am steeped
Speaker:in religion, and
Speaker:that religion became a relationship a number of years
Speaker:ago. But I've always been taught it from the earliest
Speaker:day. So a lot of the Bible verses that I grew up
Speaker:learning or the Bible stories that I grew up learning, I've
Speaker:always stuck with. No matter when I've strayed from God,
Speaker:I have not always made him happy. I'm pretty sure
Speaker:about that. But he's forgiven me and he's a great God.
Speaker:Anyways, now bringing back to Josh. And so I prayed before we
Speaker:ate and I. I don't like saying bad words.
Speaker:And when he left the end of his term, he
Speaker:wrote me a long note and he said,
Speaker:laurie, he thanked me for being such a strong
Speaker:witness. And even just by doing the little things like praying before
Speaker:I ate, even when nobody else prayed. And
Speaker:he just said how much I had helped him when
Speaker:he was going through a rough patch. He knew that whenever he
Speaker:would come in, he could talk to me and I would encourage
Speaker:him because he was just a young Christian. He was going to Bible
Speaker:school. That's why he was leaving at the end of his term. He
Speaker:was starting his schooling and I didn't even
Speaker:realize it. I did not realize that
Speaker:people were watching and people are always watching,
Speaker:so it doesn't matter. I really believe it has to be
Speaker:sincere that the things that you do and the things that you say,
Speaker:they'll make a difference. It's just that you need to be willing
Speaker:to be used. And so I still pray for that boy.
Speaker:And I believe God's going to do great things
Speaker:through him. He's going to have an awesome testimony.
Speaker:And just because of the things that he would tell me, you know, So
Speaker:I don't know, I think all my life I've just. How
Speaker:does my, my grandson, Amy, he
Speaker:says, you hugged from the heart. And I do. When I
Speaker:wrap my arms around you, I just want you to feel Jesus. Wow.
Speaker:I had surgery earlier this year and when I. They roll you into
Speaker:the surgery room and, and my doctor came and he says, so, Laurie, how are
Speaker:you doing? And I said, listen, I got one thing to say to you. And
Speaker:he goes, what's that? And I said, when you open me up, take a peek
Speaker:and see if you can see Jesus in there. And he burst out
Speaker:laughing and he said,
Speaker:what? And I said, I want to be so full of Jesus
Speaker:that whenever you open me up, you see Jesus in there.
Speaker:And he started laughing and the nurse looked at me and tears
Speaker:started coming down. She's. What an awesome thought.
Speaker:And so. No, but when I, when I hug you and when I tell you
Speaker:and Shannon and you know, you are very special to me,
Speaker:when I hug you, it's, it's. I, I just, I just love you.
Speaker:Yeah. People, I think, underestimate those little
Speaker:things, you know, like you and I, we don't get to spend
Speaker:day to day life together. But, but every time you hug
Speaker:me, you're right, I feel that warmth and that care.
Speaker:And you know, you don't even have to say a lot
Speaker:to feel that when you say that you're praying for me. I
Speaker:know that you are. And that means so Much. And I think about
Speaker:that colleague of yours, Josh, that he. He
Speaker:knew you were a safe place and that whenever you. You'd come
Speaker:together as staff and. And you'd pray, that that was
Speaker:setting really, I think, either a tone or a
Speaker:culture that other people noticed that that's the kind of person
Speaker:you are and that you're always going to be a safe place for other people.
Speaker:That's so beautiful. You know, you mentioned customer service, and so I
Speaker:think about you probably got a little bit of a window into
Speaker:people's lives in different ways. Are there any
Speaker:stories that come to mind of. I guess maybe people that you just
Speaker:remember getting to chat with and interact with?
Speaker:Lots. Being in customer service and being on the
Speaker:phone all the time. There were some people that would
Speaker:call me, and when I first got to know them over
Speaker:the phone, it was just general because, you know, hi, I'm
Speaker:calling about this and just wondering if you'd be interested in doing
Speaker:that. And they'd say, you know what? I'm having a really bad time now, and
Speaker:I don't think I can. And I go, well, what's going on? And it would
Speaker:lead into it. And I would have so many people
Speaker:calling me sometimes just to say, lori, could you pray for me?
Speaker:And right there on the phone, I would pray for them.
Speaker:And I was so touched because there were people that would
Speaker:call just to talk, just to say, hi, Lori,
Speaker:I'm having a really bad day. And I know that our calls were
Speaker:recorded and I don't know what head office. I was just going to ask,
Speaker:weren't they recorded? You're so bold. I love
Speaker:it. Yep. And they would call
Speaker:me and they'd say, lori, I'm having a bad day. I had
Speaker:to talk to somebody happy. And I said, awesome. I said, so who
Speaker:are you calling? And she said, you.
Speaker:Oh, me? And then we'd start laughing and we'd talk,
Speaker:and just some of the things that I
Speaker:could pray for, like, there was a couple of customers that were going
Speaker:through cancer, and we'd pray, and I'd call and follow up with
Speaker:them, send them emails, and. And the one customer,
Speaker:her husband was going through a really hard time. And she
Speaker:said, lori, I don't know how you do it, but every time
Speaker:you do, you call me at the right moment. And I said, I
Speaker:really, honestly believe that that's God. I really do. I said, I believe that
Speaker:that is God telling you you're not forgotten.
Speaker:Because sometimes walking through cancer or walking through people
Speaker:say, oh, I know what you're feeling. And unless they've actually
Speaker:walked the walk, they don't know. And so they really just
Speaker:need somebody to say, hey, I'm praying for you. I don't know how you're feeling
Speaker:today, but I just want you to know that I'm asking God for you to.
Speaker:For your strength today. I'm asking him to
Speaker:protect you, give you by the Holy
Speaker:Spirit and by his grace, just give you that extra little
Speaker:heart hug and know you're not forgotten. And so
Speaker:I had my whole front of my desk. I had the little
Speaker:sticky notes. I'd have their. Just their first name, because I knew
Speaker:all of their names and accounts numbers and phone numbers, right? And
Speaker:whenever I would feel drawn of a confession, I have a
Speaker:little book that I carry with me of the people that I pray for, and
Speaker:their names are in there. And whenever I feel. That's like my prayer board,
Speaker:but it's my prayer book, I guess. And I just. Whenever God tells me, you
Speaker:know, what brings me to a specific name, I'll be
Speaker:honest. You're on my. You're in my book. Oh, I feel so
Speaker:blessed. Wow. I made it in the
Speaker:book. What an honor. That's so humbling.
Speaker:Wow. You said something earlier, you know, because you're
Speaker:talking about all these different conversations that you've had with people and
Speaker:customer service. You know, you're working in a business, right? And so it's not
Speaker:like, you know, you're maybe in a natural spot to just
Speaker:have these more deep conversations. But it sounded like it
Speaker:started with a question. You. You would ask people what's going on?
Speaker:And I think that's really important because,
Speaker:I mean, personally, sometimes I might be intimidated of,
Speaker:you know, wanting to just care about someone, but maybe
Speaker:not knowing where to start. And I think that
Speaker:question is the place to start. It's so simple. What's
Speaker:going on in my other favorite. My other favorite line is,
Speaker:what can I do to help? How can I help? Yeah, well, you
Speaker:can't. There must be something. What can I do? How can I help?
Speaker:And it's usually just, I'll pray. Wow.
Speaker:That's all. How have you learned to,
Speaker:you know. Cause it's such a. Maybe a delicate thing sometimes, of not
Speaker:wanting to pry or press, you know, too much into someone's life,
Speaker:but wanting to really show them that you. You mean it when you're asking,
Speaker:how can I help? How have you learned to, I guess, discern
Speaker:when to really kind of dive deeper with a person and when
Speaker:to maybe hold back? Quite literally, when I ask
Speaker:Jesus into my Heart. When my heart starts going
Speaker:boom, boom, boom, I know it's time to move. I feel like that's the. The
Speaker:Holy Spirit saying, now go, now go.
Speaker:And sometimes it's just. I don't know, I can hear something
Speaker:in their voice, and it just. It gets
Speaker:me. It just gets my heart right there, and it
Speaker:just. My heart just hurts for them. There have
Speaker:been times, and I'm going to be
Speaker:brutally honest here, when I have felt the Holy Spirit
Speaker:push a little bit and I'm. I don't feel like I'm ready or
Speaker:I don't feel like I should, or I don't feel like
Speaker:I've been, you know, like. Didn't read my Bible today? Oh,
Speaker:I. I didn't. You know, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. And it's not
Speaker:what I didn't do, it's what Jesus did.
Speaker:Wow. And so I'll have to
Speaker:answer for those parts, probably. And.
Speaker:But I try. I really try. And I feel like the older I get,
Speaker:the freer I become, because there is a truth
Speaker:in freedom and getting older because you
Speaker:realize that you've got way more ustas than
Speaker:gunas. I used to do that, but I'm gonna do
Speaker:this, you know, so now is the time to just
Speaker:go. Do be used.
Speaker:Yeah. That's so good. I think we can get really caught up
Speaker:in what holds us back. Those feelings or
Speaker:lies, really, of not being enough or, you know, I'm too new
Speaker:of a Christian, or I just. I don't know, you know, what to say.
Speaker:And so we, you know, stay back. But I think people
Speaker:actually need what we have because like you said,
Speaker:I think before we started recording, you talked about hope, that
Speaker:actually we carry hope. I just, you know, in sharing
Speaker:these stories, I really want people to understand that they have
Speaker:something to give that other people need.
Speaker:All that I hope is that
Speaker:people see Jesus in me. I hope that
Speaker:Jesus is so apparent, and I don't want
Speaker:to get emotional, but I am that they actually.
Speaker:They don't see this. They don't see me, but they see
Speaker:what Jesus wants them to see and what. What Jesus is and
Speaker:what he means to me. And
Speaker:everybody's going to have lots of mistakes and lots of
Speaker:regrets and lots of, oh, I wished I would have done that differently.
Speaker:But every time we realize that, I really believe that we can.
Speaker:We have hope that we can do it better. We have hope.
Speaker:As long as I have breath in me, I have hope. And
Speaker:there's a chance for Jesus to fix what's
Speaker:broken in me and use it
Speaker:to help somebody else. That's my hope that
Speaker:he will shine through me. Yeah. And how
Speaker:kind of God that he wants to use us. Right.
Speaker:He doesn't have to. I think I talked about
Speaker:this on our last episode with someone that he invites us
Speaker:into the kingdom building work in moments like this,
Speaker:you know, that hope that we have in him, he's like, okay, now go
Speaker:do something with it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Speaker:You know, just kind of going back. One last question about work and that
Speaker:experience. What have those years or what have these years
Speaker:teach you about what people need when they're having a hard moment or
Speaker:a heavy day? I think everybody is a little
Speaker:bit self conscious and a little bit unsure and a little bit
Speaker:alone. And I think it doesn't matter
Speaker:who you are, how popular, how
Speaker:unpopular. I think they just need to feel that
Speaker:somebody cares about them enough to say something. And whether
Speaker:it's a kind word, whether it's a smile, whether it's a hug,
Speaker:whether it's a phone call, you can change the world with a
Speaker:smile. You could, you could change everything with just a.
Speaker:That much more kindness, just a
Speaker:little bit more. You know, if we all just lost
Speaker:the focus on our day to day
Speaker:struggles and, and challenges and
Speaker:just looked outside of our immediate
Speaker:trouble, it doesn't even have to be trouble, I guess, but just look past
Speaker:that and saw somebody else. And if you see somebody that
Speaker:needs something, if you just reached out.
Speaker:Yeah. You talked a lot about before this listening
Speaker:and practically just to kind of, I think, help people take
Speaker:this and really live it out. You talked about listening to people.
Speaker:Listening to understand, not just to respond. Can you just give
Speaker:some practical tips when it comes to listening to people? What does that look
Speaker:like for you? Focus on actually
Speaker:what they're saying. Focus on looking at them.
Speaker:How important do you feel when somebody looks at
Speaker:you and looks at your eyes and looks at you,
Speaker:they're not texting or. Yeah. Huh? What? Oh,
Speaker:yeah, yeah. You know, like. And I know that when I was
Speaker:in customer service, face to face
Speaker:people, you can do that on the phone. It's just
Speaker:listening or it can be. Anyway, just, just
Speaker:be quiet and listen. Hear what they're
Speaker:saying and don't listen to
Speaker:answer because God will give you the answer. God will give you the
Speaker:answer all the time. And sometimes it's just a quietness that they
Speaker:just need to vent. They just. And you don't need to say anything. You
Speaker:don't have to have words of wisdom every time you listen. You just
Speaker:have to listen. And then if you're going to pray
Speaker:for them, pray for them. If you tell them you're going to pray, pray.
Speaker:And I took that to heart because there was a lot of times people would
Speaker:call me and I just. I mean, I'm sitting in the front of the office
Speaker:and there's people around me. I'm sitting like 20ft away from
Speaker:the manager, and I just say, well, can I pray
Speaker:for you? And they'd say, yeah,
Speaker:sure. And I'd start praying. And they go, oh, you meant now?
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, I meant now. Because. And it doesn't have to be this
Speaker:long, flowery, beautiful prayer. That's.
Speaker:It just needs to. God, you know this person's hurting. You know
Speaker:this person's going through this struggle. God, I just pray that you would be
Speaker:with them. Just help them. Show them
Speaker:your beautiful face, show them your love. And
Speaker:I just want to be that. That tool God can use to
Speaker:show somebody love. Help if I can.
Speaker:I could talk to you forever, I think.
Speaker:But before we finish, is there anything that you want to
Speaker:share or feel led to share that I haven't asked yet?
Speaker:I want to encourage people, everybody that listens,
Speaker:if you can. Just the next time somebody bumps you on the cart,
Speaker:you know, on the back of the legs with the cart or cuts you off
Speaker:or doesn't use their blinkers when they're turning, instead of
Speaker:saying you do, just say, lord, whatever
Speaker:that person is going through that is distracted, I just pray that you would give
Speaker:them clarity and that you would help. Like, how much would that change?
Speaker:Yeah, right. That's. That's big. Okay. You know, like, okay,
Speaker:you want to cut in front of me? Well, you must be in a real
Speaker:hurry. Like, I always. I say,
Speaker:what if their mother's in the hospital and they have to get there really fast?
Speaker:Like, I would drive fast. You know, like, if it was my kid and
Speaker:they needed something, I would be in a hurry, too. So you don't
Speaker:know what that other person is going through. You don't know what
Speaker:their life, what they're facing. They may have had
Speaker:devastating news. They may have lost their job. They may have. There's
Speaker:so many things that the world is full of pain,
Speaker:full of it. And if we can. We don't have to add to
Speaker:it. If we can just give them a little bit of
Speaker:Jesus love. That's what I try to live by. I just want to
Speaker:be the hand that God can use to
Speaker:hold somebody up. And whether it's in prayer or a hug
Speaker:or if I bring you some sourdough or
Speaker:whatever. If there's something that I can do to help, I want to
Speaker:be that person that God can use. Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, thank you, Lori. This has been so, so good.
Speaker:You are such a blessing. And there's so much
Speaker:from this conversation that honestly has convicted and challenged me.
Speaker:And I think what you said at the end there, that there's so much pain
Speaker:in the world, we don't have to add to it. That's so good.
Speaker:The stories we share here remind us that CARE doesn't have to be perfect
Speaker:to be powerful. It just has to be present.
Speaker:Neighborly is an initiative of Care Impact, a Canadian charity
Speaker:equipping churches, agencies and communities with tech and training
Speaker:to care better together. Visit CareImpact CA
Speaker:or to find out more about the podcast sponsorships, being a guest
Speaker:or just dropping us a line, visit NeighborlyPodcast
Speaker:CA. We'd love to hear from you. Check the show notes for the link
Speaker:or hop on our Care Impact Podcast group on Facebook to join our
Speaker:podcast community. I'm Johan. Thanks for listening
Speaker:and keep being the kind of neighbor someone will never forget
Speaker:in a good way. Turning all
Speaker:the tables Tearing down walls
Speaker:Building up the bridges between
Speaker:the stones of these Turning over
Speaker:tables Breaking off chains
Speaker:When I see you in a. Stranger I'm no
Speaker:longer stay.
Speaker:Us all.
