My YES Adventure

We all have a story. I'm Cathleen Zahradnik and I could give you all the details of my story. You know, facts and events. But that isn't what we are sharing here. Here we are sharing something much bigger than our own stories. Here we are sharing the journey of fulfilling divine potential that begins with one word: YES. 

My YES adventure began in high school. I was a church girl. We went to church every week, but I didn't know anything about having a relationship with God. I had a friend who began to talk to me about knowing God personally, about surrendering my life to Jesus Christ, but I didn't really understand. Still, I knew a personal relationship with Jesus was what my heart yearned for, and I found myself giving Him my first YES, the BIG YES, YES to Jesus!

At that point, Jesus became an important part of my life, but not the center. In my junior year of college, I found myself overwhelmed with my own emotions and feeling unable to handle life. I kept saying, "I should be able to handle my own problems." Until one night the fleeting thought of throwing myself in front of an oncoming car made clear that I wasn't handling my own problems. I needed help! After I made it home, I knelt next to my bed and said, "God, I can't do this by myself anymore. I need your help!" That was my second YES, a YES to surrender.

My YES adventure truly began when I humbled myself enough to admit that I needed him to take over. From that point on it has been one YES after another. Some have come easily and some with great difficulty. But through the years I have come to understand that when I give God my YES He gives me more than I ever imagined. I said YES to marriage when I thought I wanted to stay single, and I said YES to children when I was afraid to become a mother. My husband, Tom, and my adult kids are blessings I would have missed if I hadn’t said YES.

I also said YES when I answered the call to ministry. My upbringing and early Christian experience caused me to believe that ministry was a males-only calling. I even responded to an altar call for young women who believed God had called them to "marry a minister." I did marry a minister, but along the way, God made it clear that he had also called me to be a minister. I am ordained with the Assemblies of God and have more than ten years of experience as a full-time staff pastor. I can tell you, that is something I never expected when I first gave God my YES!

YES became the ticket to my great adventure, my YES adventure, which still continues! Your journey will look different than mine. You will go places I haven't been. You will do things I haven't done. But because we are getting to know Jesus better as we give him our YES, and because one day we will be neighbors in eternity, we are on this journey together. Let's go for it!

Discover your MORE when you give God your YES!

Click here to set up a free coaching call. Discover YOUR more!

If you’d like to hear some more of my story, listen to the audio message below

I’d love to send you my weekly blog by email.  I’ll send you 5 Ways To Jumpstart Your Daily Devotions when you subscribe.

Stop in and say hello on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, @cmz110.

Thanks for stopping by and share the encouragement with someone else!

Sign up below to receive The Yes Adventure blog by email!