God’s Idea of Getting Back to Normal

August 22, 2026 Cathleen Zahradnik

“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.” Psalms 37:23-24 NLT

What is normal? I mean…really? We talk about normal. We think about normal. And when everything is out of whack in our lives, we long to get “back to normal.” I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit. So have you. When faced with challenging seasons, all we want is to get back to the way things were. Back to what is familiar. Stable. Predictable. That’s what we want, but is that what we need? What is normal?

On a recent trip, I found myself in bed for an entire day with some kind of illness. Was it food-borne? Maybe. I was uncomfortable. Sick. Unable to eat anything, but I didn’t want anything to eat either. What did I want? Just to get back to normal. To do the things I normally do and eat the things I normally eat. I wanted to be comfortable and enjoy life. Perhaps that is how I define normal. What about you?

If our definition of normal is to be comfortable and enjoy life, then most of life is not normal! So much of life is uncomfortable and unenjoyable. Isn’t it? So, what is a better definition of normal? And above all, what is God’s definition of normal?

In the beginning, God created His idea of normal. I guess if I want to find out what God’s idea of normal is, I need to consider creation. When God created everything, called it good, and then placed humans in the middle of it all, what did He want? What was the purpose of all He designed?

God created Adam and Eve to enjoy and help each other, but also to enjoy and obey God. To partner with him in caring for creation and each other. What is normal for God? I guess it is creation functioning according to design. That means people who completely love and trust Him. Ouch!

A - C = P: Anxiety - Control = Peace (Repost)

August 8, 2026 Cathleen Zahradnik

'Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. ‘Philippians 4:6-7 MSG

I was listening to a podcast when I heard a quote that brought so much clarity, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Here it is: “Anxiety results from wanting to control something God has not given us to control.” I didn’t remember the name of the person or why she was on the podcast, but what she said made so much practical sense. (I looked it up later. So, if you are interested, it was Joanna Weaver’s podcast, The Living Room, and the guest was Sharon Hodde Miller, author of The Cost of Control: Why We Crave It, the Anxiety It Gives Us, and the Real Power God Promises Us.) As I pondered her statement, a formula took shape in my brain, “A – C = P,” Anxiety – Control = Peace. Easy to remember and a goal worth aiming for.

Anxiety is something we all experience. Anxiety steals peace and commands focus. Whether it’s something personal about your family, or a job, or something broader like politics and the world situation, anxiety creeps up behind us, leaps upon us and gets us in a stranglehold. Ever feel that way?

Your brain goes in circles, trying to resolve something you are powerless to resolve. You can’t sleep and every waking moment is consumed with mental and practical fruitless attempts to solve the problem. Suddenly, it seems like nothing else is happening in your life. What started as a thought becomes a huge shadow. What do you do?

Ask: Why Am I Asking?

February 8, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“…You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” James 4:2-3 NIV

Motives. It’s so hard to recognize and understand our own motives. What are my motives when I approach God? Am I asking Him to agree with me or am I agreeing with Him? What is it I really want? My motives when I approach God will affect how I ask and what I ask Him for.

Corrie Ten Boom was a well-known Christian author, speaker, and concentration camp survivor. I once heard a quote attributed to her that has shaped my prayers since. She said the key to knowing God’s will is being willing to do whatever He asks. Wow! That is a simple and challenging statement! Do I truly want to know God’s will? Am I willing to do whatever He says?

When I get honest with myself, I recognize times when God’s will is not what I want most. I am really looking for something else, even though I am going to God in prayer.

Comfort. I clearly remember the moment when God revealed comfort as a motive for my prayers. I was fervently praying for a loved one to break out of a deep depression. At least I convinced myself that is what I was praying for. As I prayed, I felt God’s whisper. “Stop!” He showed me that I wasn’t praying for my loved one. I was praying for myself. My loved one’s challenge made my life more difficult. What I was really praying for was my own comfort. My loved one’s healing would make my life easier. That was my motive for prayer. Yuck!

Ambition. I often hear people say they want to do great things for God. So do I!

How to Be Better

November 16, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3 NLT

Better. Most of us desire to be better or do better, but sometimes we compare ourselves to others and, whether we admit it or not, we think we are better.

The Dicionary.com definition of better is this:

of superior quality or excellence
morally superior; more virtuous
of superior suitability, advisability, desirability, acceptableness, etc.; preferable:

Am I really better than someone else? Am I of superior quality or morally superior? Am I preferable? Let me put it this way: Does God prefer me over someone else? You and I are well aware that the true answer is no, but there are times when we may painfully feel like God prefers someone else or pridefully feel He prefers us. Ouch either way!

When I think of myself or my ideas or my convictions as better than someone else, I am not thinking like Jesus. Jesus showed us the way of love, a better way (1 Corinthians 12:31 CEB)

The better way is the way of humility, kindness, gentleness and patience (Col 3:12-14). The better way is love which elevates the needs of others above my own. Better is serving. In a cultural climate of division, we can do better. We can be better. Division comes from thinking that my way is better and because my way is better, I am better.

The Promise of Perseverance

November 2, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.” Hebrews 10:36 NLT

Life can be hard. True? There have been times when my life seemed so incredibly difficult that I could only handle one moment at a time. Perhaps you’ve been there. I call managing those moments “survival mode.”

In survival mode, you do the needed tasks but have nothing left for the extras. You focus on getting through the present but have no energy left to imagine the future. Perhaps your hopes have been decimated. I’ve been there. Imagining a different future is not possible while you process that pain. Survival mode gets you through.

But it is in survival mode that you begin to truly understand “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) It is in survival mode that you experience the truth “He is near to the broken-hearted.” (Psalm 34:18) It is in survival mode that you find strength in the “everlasting arms.” (Deut. 33:27)

Through every survival mode season, there are some things I have found to be true. Here is some hope for your current or upcoming survival mode.

God is using survival mode for your good. Current pain can blind us to the current positives. It can be hard to see beyond how hard it is now. But please, Dear Friend, remember that God is good and only does good. There have been moments when all I could do was remind myself of God’s good character. I couldn’t see the situation as good. I didn’t feel good. But because God is good, I chose to believe He was at work for my good.

That is true for you as well. Feelings are not good forecasters.

Where is God When I am in Pain?

August 3, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalms 46:1 NIV

I’ve been on a journey these past few months! I had my final check-in with the orthopedist this week. The bones are healed, and it is “safe” for me to return to all normal activities, although it will take a bit more time to regain strength and flexibility as my wrists continue to heal. I’ve been sharing with you what I’ve been learning through this. But there is something I’ve learned that I hesitate to share.

No one seeks out pain. However, pain is part of the human experience. Physical pain has been my most recent experience, but I’ve been through other types of pain in my six decades. So have you. Each of us experiences different kinds of pain: emotional, relational, mental, financial.

When we are in pain we have one goal: End it! We want to end the pain. But in most cases, we have no control. I could not end the pain of two broken wrists and all the side effects. I had to walk through it just as you must walk through your pain. Where is God when you and I are in pain?

What is Normal?

July 13, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 NLT

I don’t know about you, but Tom and I have been in a very unusual season over the last six months as we have both battled some physical challenges. It’s natural to want to “get back to normal.” Ever feel that way? But I have found myself asking, “What is normal anyway?”

We think normal means smooth with no obstructions. Deep within we think normal means perfect because that is what God intended. We are wired for eternity which will be perfect. But the normal we live in is the broken normal that Adam and Eve bequeathed us when they took life into their own hands in the form of shiny, delicious forbidden fruit. Their bites broke normal as God intended and passed on to us a normal that we don’t want.

The normal we have received is full of bumps and obstacles, limits and loss. We lost perfect in the garden and gained struggle, heartache, and sometimes hopelessness.

Right now, my normal means I have limitations as I recover from the basement fall that broke my wrists. It means that I have a new normal. In this new normal I have faced some unexpected pains, struggles, and trauma. In this new normal I am a bit more careful as I head down into the basement or lift a pitcher of water or drive to the store. My abilities are not fully recovered, but so much better than when I was first injured. Even when my recovery is complete, the memories will be a part of me. I will remember falling, breaking my wrists and all that followed. So, normal will never be the same.

So, what should I expect as “normal”? Maybe these thoughts will help you navigate the broken normal you are living.

Pressing on is More Important than Perfection: Tom’s Birthday Tribute

June 29, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:12-14 NLT

I don’t remember meeting Tom. It was somewhere near the end of elementary school. We were never in the same class, but our families attended the same Catholic church. In high school, we were in plays together. We have known each other through the best and worst of seasons, even before we were married. Watching God transform Tom has been one of my life’s greatest privileges.

From the moment he first surrendered his life to Christ at the age of 19, I have watched Tom pursue God zealously. When my own commitment to Christ brought me to the same church he was attending, we rebuilt a broken relationship and became good friends until God surprised us with love and marriage. He is not the same sarcastic boy who cut people down with his words in high school. And he is not the same fearful young man that I married. He has pressed on through a myriad of challenges, internal and external. And that is what I have learned most from Tom. Pressing on is more important than perfection.

Here are a few lessons I’ve learned from Tom. Maybe he will inspire you as well.

Don’t let fear keep you from trying.

What I’m Learning: Hope in the Present Reaches for the Future

June 22, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 NIV

When people hear that I broke both my wrists in a fall on Mother’s Day their first reaction is surprise and sympathy. Their mouths drop open, they shake their heads and say, “How terrible for you!” I appreciate their compassion, but part of receiving the grace to get through this is accepting the reality of what is without feeling sorry for myself the way others feel sorry for me. Yes, this is a challenging season, but even the most challenging season is manageable. What makes it manageable? It won’t last forever.

Walking though this challenge knowing that every challenge will end fills me with hope for the future. Perhaps you could use a bit of hope, too. Here’s how hope can help you get through what you are going through.

Hope motivates movement. Hope in the present reaches for the future. The first time I did my physical therapy exercises at home following my right wrist surgery was excruciatingly difficult. Stiffness and pain made each small movement a major effort. I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to keep going, choking back tears. It wasn’t extremely painful, but it was extremely difficult. However, quitting was not an option. Why? I want to regain the use of my right hand!

Without the pain now there won’t be any restoration in the future. Dear Friend, you may be experiencing a tremendously painful challenge, but keep doing what you need to do to move forward! Remind yourself that it won’t last forever, and the future payoff is worth the challenge now. Don’t quit!

What I am l Learning: Sometimes You Just Need a Break

June 15, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”Matthew 11:28 NIV

Well, my friend, it’s been a rough week. I had an unexpected medical issue arise. So even as I am recovering from two broken wrists and right wrist surgery, I found myself facing another challenge. Ever been there?

Part of what I am learning throughout this stressful season is that sometimes you just need a break. I see it on my husband’s face as he walks through it with me and I recognize it in myself as well.

So, if you will indulge me, I’m going to step out. I’ll see you next week!

By the way, my friend, if you are going through a rough season, maybe you just need a break, too.