I laughed a little as I read a small sign someone pinned on our office bulletin board.

My nervous laugh didn't do much to relieve my anxiety. I was enthusiastic when I started managing my current project, but delays, extra costs, technical difficulties and personnel problems soon developed. Now it seemed like we were in the Disillusionment stage rapidly heading for Panic. No matter how hard I worked, there was little progress.

I often pray for guidance in my work, but this time the challenges seemed so numerous, diverse and complex that I had difficulty in knowing how to pray. Later that day, while at my desk ruminating about the project, I remembered the sign.

I don't know if it was frustration or inspiration that impelled me, but suddenly I found myself snatching the sign off the bulletin board. Next to the first stage (Enthusiasm), I scrawled: "Love of Life, God," and I added a favorite verse of mine from the Bible, "Rejoice in the Lord always."

In that moment, enthusiasm changed for me—it turned from being fragile and ephemeral to being based on something permanent. It became the celebration and appreciation of spiritual goodness. I believe that this goodness is abundant, available to everyone, and has its source in an ever-present spiritual power that many people call God. I believe that we all have a daily opportunity to witness and experience this spiritual goodness.

To my surprise, this rebellious alteration of the sign was a great relief. Warming to my task, I looked at the next stage on the list: Disillusionment. "Hmmm," I thought. "That means to get rid of illusions." I figured that the illusion I needed to get rid of was that spiritual goodness was missing from or irrelevant to my work on this project. Next to Disillusionment I wrote, "Spiritual vision, discernment of spiritual reality."

I continued transforming the sign to match what I believe about spirituality. Panic was changed to "Peace, confidence in God's allness." Search for the Guilty was replaced by "Listening to God." For Punishment of the Innocent, I substituted "Omnipotence of good, ever-present justice." Honors and Accolades for Non-Participants became "Glory to omnipresent God and personal humility."

When I finished, I felt comforted and confident in a way I hadn't for a long time. Why? I think because my graffiti was really a form of prayer. Mary Baker Eddy, the author of Science and Health, describes prayer as "conscientious protests of truth." This prayer is the vigorous, firm and steadfast declaration of universal, unchanging spiritual truths that counteract the depressing load of daily challenges. I've found this to be an effective way to pray.

I kept that sign and looked at it every day from then on. It inspired me to aggressively resist being pulled down by discouragement and to be alert to spiritual goodness. This outlook gave me a new enthusiasm for the project and a basis for praying about specific problems.

There was no dramatic turnaround of events, but I understood better what was really going on. In the midst of challenges, I was confident that spiritual goodness was with me. The results were progress, a clearer sense of direction and new ideas that led to solutions. The project was successfully completed.

In prayer, it's not the specific words that matter so much as the spiritual ideas at work in your heart. Let that spirit animate your work. This prayer brings results!