The Peaceful Mompreneur
Encouraging and equipping Christian Mompreneurs to have peace in their lives and business while staying grounded in Jesus Christ.
The Peaceful Mompreneur
Reimagine Your Business Growth through Prayer
We’re talking about trusting God in our daily decisions, learning to hear His guidance, and bringing faith into every part of life—including business!
Connect with Amy → WorkplacePrayer.com
Grab the Healthy Sustainable Weekly Rhythm Guide for Busy Moms → https://aliesehalcomb.com/weeklyrhythms
About:
Amy Lykosh, CEO of Workplace Prayer, joins us on the Peaceful Mompreneur podcast to share how prayer can be a game-changer in business. Growing up in a family that embraced paid prayer through her parents' business, Sunlight Curriculum, Amy saw firsthand how faith and entrepreneurship go hand in hand. She shares how working with a dedicated intercessor brought incredible breakthroughs in her family business—and how we, as mompreneurs, can experience the same.
In this conversation, we’re diving into how faith touches every part of life, from everyday struggles to big business decisions. Amy explains how trusting God and learning to hear His voice can bring clarity and confidence, no matter what season you’re in. We also talk about impartation through prayer, a powerful biblical practice that invites more joy and divine connection into daily life.
If you’re ready to bring more peace, faith, and direction into your business, this episode is for you! You can also connect with Amy at WorkplacePrayer.com and on her Make Prayer Beautiful podcast.
Grab the Healthy Sustainable Weekly Rhythm Guide for Busy Moms ► ► https://aliesehalcomb.com/weeklyrhythms
All right, thank you so much for being here. Guys, welcome to the Peaceful Mompreneur. And today I have a guest, amy Lykosh, and I'm very excited to have her and for her to share her story and what she's doing these days. So, Amy, why don't you introduce yourself? Tell us who you are, what you do, who you serve, why you do it.
Speaker 2:Oh well, thank you, elise, it's lovely to be with you today. So I am the CEO of Workplace Prayer, where we pray for businesses, and we also have a few additional ancillary projects that we work on in teaching others to pray effectively, because basically we're just like all prayer all the time. But we recognize that in the realm of business there's sort of like this complete blind spot where people maybe recognize that prayer is important in general and they maybe have certain areas where they pray generally speaking, but in terms of business, most people have never even thought of it. So part of what we like to do is say, no, actually prayer is important, even in the realm of business.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful. So tell me, how did you get into this? I've never heard of someone specifically pray. I mean, like people in business praying for their business is one thing, but people who pray for other people's businesses never heard of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So my parents started a business in 1990, the homeschool company Sunlight Curriculum and they decided upfront they were, like you know, my dad had been on staff with a missions agency and he was, like we always prayed before we started our work. That was part of our morning. I guess you could say today morning huddle, but staff meeting and so when they started their business they thought, well, let's invite our staff to pray as part of their morning, like that's reasonable, as part of expressing our values. So I grew up with the idea that paid prayer for business was just kind of something that people did if they liked prayer and they liked Jesus. So it didn't even cross my mind that that would be kind of an odd concept. And so about 30 years in this would be 2020, there were certain things where I thought there are shifts that I want to see in the business but I can't bring them. Like I don't feel like I have enough firepower in terms of prayer. Like I feel a little bit like I'm trying to water a football field and I have a garden hose, so like maybe eventually I'll get there, but really it would be better if I had a fire hose or a sprinkler system, or the Lord just opened up the heavens and rains down. But in any case, like I just wanted more and so I went looking to see can I find somebody to tutor me, can I find somebody to pray like outside, who actually is not just a person who loves prayer and loves Jesus, but is, like I have dedicated my life to learning about prayer, and that was shockingly difficult to find. So, as I would ask people anyway, I had no idea it was going to be as hard as it was. So when I finally found the person who is now my business partner and who ended up being the person that we hired, when I found him I was like, okay, first of all, you are incredibly, you're like the unicorn. I didn't know where to locate you, but you do exist. So that's encouraging. But then what astonished me and again, at this point we'd had 30 years of paid prayer behind us and we had seen many very beautiful answers to prayer. The Lord was always very faithful. So obviously, absolutely, I'm a huge proponent of people praying for their own businesses.
Speaker 2:But what astonished me with that background was that the third day after we had hired him, I sent him a text at 11 pm and I said, bob, we've had 10 answered prayers today, and I didn't even know this was possible, like this blew my mind. And he texted back let's go for a dozen. And to me that, like I just remember, like almost standing still staring at my phone, like I don't even understand how this is possible, like here he is not content with 10, but like let's go for a dozen. So now I know he's very competitive, but also that just showed me how much I guess, how much faith he had, how much expectation he had. And then so we did end up getting to a dozen that day. And then that was June 3rd. For the rest of the month we never saw less than a dozen. There were days we had two dozen.
Speaker 2:I kind of felt like my like most of my month was spent just recording the answers to prayer, because it was such a dramatic, like it was just dramatic. So by mid-month I was like, oh my word, like can I join your team? How many people are doing this with you? And he was like no, no, it's just me. And again for me, having looked for paid prayer for like nine months and not been able to find it anywhere, I was like no, no, no, no, like people need this. This is important and in retrospect I understand. Like his thing as an intercessor is like I just want to pray, like I don't want to have to deal with billing, I don't want to have to like all of the admin stuff, like please know, that's not really my, I just don't want to. But for me, I was like I really like business, like I am happy to do that, and so that was how I started. We spent the summer of 2020 praying and then, by September, we started to have our first clients.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, that's super exciting. That is definitely like the Lord laying it out, putting you guys together, making things happen. That's a very awesome story, all right. So most of our audience, they're moms with young kids and they're either just starting a business or they are, you know, wanting to start a business. Ok, and so prayer, and they're Jesus lovers, like that is the point, we love the Lord. And so, with that in mind, and who you're talking to like, what practical steps, like prayerful steps, should they be taking? Where should they be spending their time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I love that. So, as a mom with five sons, at this point my oldest is in his early 20s, so they're a little bit older at this point, but I worked through their whole childhood and so I resonate with that sense of like I'm actually keeping little people alive. I do understand about that. So really the beautiful thing about prayer is that we get to enter in wherever we are, and so one of the early questions that I asked Bob, I was like on a scale of one to 10, like how good are you at prayer? Because one of the things that I recognized was most of us, I think, when we approach prayer we're kind of like I'm really not that good at it, like I'm not even sure the Lord wants to hear from me. I kind of.
Speaker 2:I know I went through a season when my oldest was born where I maybe didn't even have a quiet time for seven months because it was so all-consuming, like I'm just keeping somebody alive. And I remember asking a friend of mine like how, how does that work? Like I'm just sad about you know, like is Jesus mad at me? And she was like Amy, when you are ready to pray again, jesus will be right there. And so I was like, okay, well, that's encouraging to know that he didn't actually leave just because I'm busy. So, anyway, that was kind of my own internal issue. So I asked Bob, like how good are you? Because again, I also would say like I was maybe like at a one on the scale of one to 10. And most of the people around me I felt like maybe would be like maybe I'm a fraction. And even the woman at my church who I thought, like you are the most prayerful person, like I can ask you questions because you will have the answers, I went to ask her a question about prayer and she was like, well, I'm no expert. And I was really like, if you're not an expert, what hope is there for the rest of us? And so I think what was really precious?
Speaker 2:When I asked Bob this question, he said, amy, because of my time spent in prayer, the prayer meetings and the trainings and the conferences, and like really just being dedicated, I am a 10 in prayer. But he said I actually believe that we're all 10s in prayer, that the Father welcomes us to himself because he's our Father, because he loves to hear from us, and so there's not a, there's no, I guess breakdown between like, how much does he want to hear from us? And so for the starting entrepreneurs, for those who are excited about Jesus, it's like just be so excited to enter into time with him. Even if it's just a single sentence prayer, quiet times, almost like a nun or something, then probably I'm not actually making it and instead to say, no, there's actually really effective single sentence prayers that you can pray, that are powerful and beautiful.
Speaker 2:And so I know for me, part of what I would do when I was getting ready to start working or trying to just prepare for things, would be to say Lord, just guide my work today, I want you to be present here. And it was so fun over time I could track and see if I didn't remember to pray, that like things would not go as well. And a couple hours in you're like what is even going on? And it's like, oh, oh, no, I just forgot to pray my prayer. So then it's like Lord, just come and be present. Come and be present.
Speaker 1:That's fabulous. Yeah, I love that and I like that anecdotal about you whenever you just had your first son, which I have found is very relatable. It happened to me, it happened to my best friend, it's happened to people that I've met. Like you know, you had this whole rhythm, like you had this quiet time and now you're responsible for keeping someone alive and you're like I don't know how to do this and it's so great, like you're right, like God wants to hear from us, no matter what it looks like. And something that I had to learn was very much like it doesn't have to be, doesn't have to look the way it used to look. It can look different.
Speaker 1:And it took me longer than it should have to realize that I could do it at night before I went to bed and and you know what. That's how it worked for that season of my life and I felt silly, honestly, that it took me so long, but I did it eventually, okay. So what sort of I guess we're talking about mindset a little bit what sort of mindset shifts do you think would have to happen for someone who is just had their first baby or a second one? You know, everyone causes a little bit of chaos, I'm sure. And so what? How would you help her change from I'm not able to do this to no, I have the king of the universe on my side, like I can do this.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I guess, if I'm just thinking about prayer, for me again, part of it was saying prayer doesn't have to be 15 minutes, prayer can be three seconds. And so one of the really precious tools that a friend gave me was, she said, after an unwanted divorce I would be. I would have days where I was like I don't know what I can make for dinner, I don't know, like I'm just so struggling, I don't know if I can make my bed. And so then she would be like Lord, can you help me make my bed, and he could help her make her bed. Or like Lord, can you help me figure out what to make for dinner, and he could help her figure out what to make for dinner.
Speaker 2:And so I love that idea of the constant reliance on the Lord, the constant desire to say what is the like, can you help me with the next step, whatever the next little step could be?
Speaker 2:And in some ways that's kind of like training ground, because I read a beautiful quote.
Speaker 2:It was in Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Berkman, and he was quoting somebody else, and it was something like if your car headlights oftentimes only illuminate a little ways in front of you, but that's enough to get you all the way to where you need to go. So it's not like, oh, I don't have the whole large perspective, I only have this little perspective. That little perspective actually is enough. And so I guess that would be probably the biggest thing that I would say is like actually just say oh, rather than turn immediately to my phone. Is there like three seconds to just say, lord, be present here in my life, or Lord, what do you want to speak to me in this moment? And so I think what does it say in James that if we ask for wisdom, he's always so generous to give it. And so I think the gift of always being like I just need more wisdom that was definitely one of my big prayers when my boys were little like, oh my goodness, I need more wisdom.
Speaker 1:That's perfect, okay, so what are some practical ways that we could incorporate prayer into our daily lives and our daily operation?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So I think for me I guess this is probably also a little bit in terms of mindset, but to be able to say the Lord actually does care about all of it. And so I, at one point I had written up a series of 21 short emails, like emails about short sentence prayers that you could pray as you go about your day, and one of them was about details and that the Lord actually we think about the Lord as kind of like big. You know, you read Psalm 8 and it's like the heavens declare the glory of God and I mean it's so majestic and enormous. But then it's like, oh, but he also is the God of the subatomic particle, like he actually cares about the entire span. And so I think the ability to be able to say the Lord actually does care about the littlest things, and one of the things I've noticed, even in terms of, I guess, making prayer requests, is that it's almost like we have this restricted range where we think it's okay to ask. You know, it's kind of like it's big enough that it's not really obvious, but it's not too big that I don't seem proud and so kind of an embarrassing, maybe.
Speaker 2:Example from my own life. There was a time where I had a manicure and it was kind of like has it lasted long enough? Like is it going to break before I have this event coming? And I truly had been kind of ruminating on this because it's I live far from town. It's not like an instant, you know, I'll just go and take care of it. It would require kind of schedule, arranging and such. And yet I didn't want to ask about that. You know, it was kind of like that's so petty. It's like I want to change the world and tell people to pray, but I don't actually want to ask about this thing. That's kind of trivial and I'm maybe even a little embarrassed about it. But then it's like no, I need to actually break through and say I am actually invited by the God of the universe to cast all of my cares on him, even if they're outside of that little range of like well, I'm praying about a new car. You know, like kind of the new car prayers seem like they're acceptable, but the manicure prayers are a little too small.
Speaker 2:On the other hand, you have like I'm running a business and I like can I, can I actually double my business, you know? So there's like that side where you're like, can I even voice this request? I had a client ask me that at one point and I'm like bring me the big request. Like we want to celebrate the big request with you.
Speaker 2:So part of it is even just saying God cares about the details in the entirety, like from the very little all the way up to the very big, and it doesn't have to be like a deep, you know, drawn out, wailing or something to voice these requests. It really could be like Lord, I don't know what to do about my nails, like I need some help here. So that's one aspect. I think the other part is to actually believe that God cares even about business, and so One of the really startling for me realizations probably back in maybe 2019, 2020, was that it wasn't just that God cares about business because of how much you can donate to your favorite local charity or charity in general, that he's not actually only interested in the generosity after you make the money side, but he's actually interested in having businesses that thrive.
Speaker 2:He's interested in having families that thrive. He's interested in having families that thrive, he's interested in communities that thrive and that, when you look at the scripture, he actually is a creative God, so he likes it when his children are also creative. So that for me was also one of the, I guess, celebration like oh, I can pray about business, because business actually matters to God.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful. I love that. Yes, absolutely. So how let's say like, okay, they've decided, all right, I'm going to do this, and they start doing it? How can they confidently make business decisions through prayer?
Speaker 2:Yes. So I will say in some ways, that is, I don't want to say trial and error, but I would say sort of like, in any relationship that you are developing, it takes a little bit to even know the person. So there is, if I think about, like, when I first met my husband, like I I, there were some. I mean, very first we had some communication issues, that kind of it took a while to get this resolved, but like I didn't know who he was, I didn't know his character, I didn't like I maybe could recognize his voice, but did I really know how his thought processes worked and such that takes time. And so, similarly, I think, if you're asking the Lord for wisdom around a business decision or you're curious, like, okay, can you help me understand this better, lord? Or I just you know option A or option B, what do you think? I think what's precious is that, over time, as you ask those questions and pause for a minute, it's like, okay, I have a sense of which direction is the way of peace. And if neither of them really feel like the way of peace, it could be that you just need to actually spend some time either researching it more or that there's going to be something in the next couple of days that is going to make it more clear. I think oftentimes when things feel kind of cloudy and murky, it's just because it's not time for the decision to actually be made yet. But a lot of that is so instead of saying trial and error, I guess I would say a lot of that is just walking it out with the Lord. It's walking it out and saying, okay, I'm learning to hear God's voice better, I'm learning to understand what he's saying and how it feels. So this, I guess for me, was also one of the really fun things was being able to recognize that the Lord is communicating in different ways, that he's speaking so maybe I can hear him not necessarily audibly, but kind of get a sense of what he's saying but that he might be speaking through a picture.
Speaker 2:Like I'm not a visual artist. My sister's really good. She had a picture at one point where she was like we were praying about something and she's like, oh, I'm a pink tree, and that had a really specific meaning for her. She's like it's a very cute pink tree, and so that's not how the Lord speaks to me normally. He does occasionally send those little visions. A vision is also usually like one to four seconds, it's just like a little still image. But it's like what does that mean? And then you figure it out with the Lord. So also a gut feeling like do I feel good about that or do I feel kind of resistant, like that's actually another form of communication that the Lord can be sending. So there's additional. But I feel like that startled me and surprised me how many different ways the Lord was trying to communicate and then even that it was possible for me to get attuned to what he was saying.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, all right. So if there was, if you had any other pieces of advice or encouragement for the my audience, what would you tell them if you had? You know mom with young kids starting a business. What do you say to her?
Speaker 2:I probably would want to actually just give an impartation on hearing God's voice, so if that's okay. So, um, I did not grow up in a culture of impartation at all. When you look at the scriptures it talks about Paul mentions this several times in Timothy, and then we also see this in the book of Acts, where the elders would come and lay hands on Paul and whoever his traveling companion was before they would send them out, and it was a way of I guess you could say like commissioning or blessing with a gift. So Rabbi Lappin talks about this like if I have a guitar, I could give you the guitar and then I don't have the guitar anymore. But if I give you a tune, then I have the tune and you have the tune. And so that's often how I think about impartations is it's like I have something and I can share it because I've learned it, I've taken the time and I've had the gift of being given that, and so if this isn't something you want to receive, it's totally fine, but if you do want to receive it, here is just my prayer of impartation for you. So, lord, I thank you for the ways that you have taught me over the years how to listen to your voice and that it wasn't instantaneous, but that it didn't take forever either, like in some ways, it was faster than I was expecting. And so, lord, I ask that, for any who would like to hear your voice better, that as they're speaking their single sentences to you, as they're running around and there's poopy diapers and there's little vomits here and there because people just get sick and there is like, oh, my goodness, it's time for the next meal that in the midst of that that there would be an increased hunger to talk to you about what's happening and that there would be an increased desire to hear what you're saying. And so, lord, from that place, I ask that you would blow out the channel between your voice and their ears, that any cobwebs or dust, that you would simply blow that away, that it would become a clear channel.
Speaker 2:I pray, lord, for the opening of the ears. I pray, lord, that if there's a space, or that the eyes would be able to see, that there would be a release of visions. Lord, I pray that if you're sending dreams in the night, that they wouldn't be confusing or frustrating, but that instead it would be like oh, I actually feel like that was a hopeful dream or that was encouraging. I actually can understand what that means. We thank you that dreams are one of the things that you use in the scriptures to communicate. Lord, I pray for any kind of gut sensations or like a gut feeling that there would be a clarity around what is the way of peace. So, generally speaking, lord, I thank you for all of the ways that you communicate, that you're playful, that you're a joyful father who delights in your children, and so I ask for release of that in greater measure. Thank you, lord. We love you, Amen.
Speaker 1:Amen, that was great. Yes, thank you. Okay. So where can people find you, amy, if they want to know more about you or get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. So our website, workplaceprayercom is wonderful. I also have a podcast. Every day I just talk about like five or 10 minutes of thought about prayer. That's the Make Prayer Beautiful podcast, because I do want prayer to be beautiful and not something that's kind of hard or unpleasant, and so yeah, those are two of the best ways.
Speaker 1:Awesome, okay, well, I will have those linked in the notes. Absolutely Thank you so much for coming on with us. Absolutely Thank you so much.