Silent Saturday: Counting the Cost

April 19, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

It is Saturday of Holy Week. Good Friday has passed. Easter Sunday is yet to come. We wait in anticipation of that joyous celebration. But what did the disciples do on that Saturday after the crucifixion? They did not know that joy awaited them. They observed the Sabbath in obedience, but that day of rest from work was most likely anything but a day of rest in the mind. How could they do anything but continue to relive Friday’s horror and wonder how they would ever face, not only Sunday, but every day after?

It is in human nature to avoid the painful, but what if you and I took this Saturday to relive some of Good Friday’s pain? Might it increase our joy of the resurrection?

How to Know What God Wants

March 15, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” I Corinthians 15:58 NKJV

I like setting goals. I have gotten in the habit of setting them at the beginning of every year. What I have learned most from this practice is that some goals are my ideas, and some align with God’s goals for me. As the year goes on, I can tell by the progress I make and how I am learning and growing in the process. I want to set those kinds of goals from the start. But how do I narrow down my goals to focus on God’s goals for me? How do I know what God wants?

This is a tough one. There are many plans in my heart and yours. So many things you and I want to do. How do we know which ones to focus on? How do we narrow our goals down to the ones that God has for us?

Here are a few steps.

Pray. This may seem obvious, but it is an easy step to skip. Even when we are working for the Lord it can be easy to leave Him out of the process. We make our plans and work hard, convincing ourselves that we are doing it for God, but it’s very possible that we’ve never talked to Him about it.

This became clear to me when I was working as a full-time pastor. All day, every day I was working for God, but I realized I was losing my connection to Him, and I didn’t want that. I began to pray regularly as I sat down to my desk, Lord, help me do this with You, not just for You. It’s a prayer I still pray, but. more often than not, it’s a prayer I need to remind myself to pray because I just dive into the work. Perhaps you identify with that.

Praying over my goals regularly helps me remember that I can’t accomplish them on my own and that my goals are not about me. They are about His honor and glory. That helps me tweak or abandon goals as necessary. But it also keeps me motivated to persevere in the goals that become clearly His.

Read. God’s goals will always line up with His Word. The best way to recognize God’s goals for you is to know what His word says. Again, this may seem obvious, but it is easy to skip.

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.

Am I Closer to God?

October 26, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.” John 17:1 NLT

Do you want to get closer to God? If you are a Jesus-follower you probably ask yourself, “Am I as close to God as I should be?” For most of us, me included, that question can bring up a nagging feeling of failure. No. I am not as close to God as I should be or as I want to be.

So, what do we do about it? How will we know if we are growing closer to God?

Jesus sets the example in all things, right? It would be easy to dismiss His example of intimacy with God. He was Jesus! But what if we looked at His example for clues that could show us we are on the right track?

John Chapter 17 records a long prayer Jesus prayed just before Judas arrived with the religious leaders to arrest and crucify Him. Jesus covered a lot of ground in that prayer, but He begins with a statement that indicates His intimacy with the Father and gives us clues to evaluate our own. Curious?

After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.” John 17:1 NLT

Prior to this statement Jesus gave a “pre-battle pep talk” to His disciples at the Last Supper. He taught them about how to live without Him and about the coming Holy Spirit. Then He addresses the Father. Jesus’s prayer was an agreement with God’s will, a recognition of His timing and a commitment to His glory.

What does Jesus’s statement show us about how can you and I evaluate if we are growing closer to God?

Birthday Reflections: What I Know Now

August 24, 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.” Philippians 3:12 NLT

Every birthday is an opportunity for reflection. Don’t you think? When I was young every birthday was an opportunity to reflect on possibilities. As I have aged, although possibilities are still part of the reflection process, birthdays have become more about processing lessons learned. August is my birthday reflection month. What do I know now that I didn’t know forty years ago? Forty years ago I had just graduated from college and was at the beginning my walk with Christ. I was so excited! Excited to complete my education. Excited for all that lay ahead for me. I wanted all that God had for me and didn’t know how to go about receiving it. I wanted to make it happen. I was learning what it meant to put faith into action, but also to trust God, His timing and His sovereignty.

I needed a job. I asked an older wiser lady in my new Jesus-loving church, “Do I just wait for God to bring me a job?” “No,” she said. “You’ve got to put your foot in Jordan and if the waters part you know to go through.” I learned my efforts were necessary to discover God’s will.

But then there was learning to wait on God. My pastor called me out one Sunday and shared a message from God in a prophetic picture. He described me as a child outside a candy store and I was anxious to have all that I saw. But the message from God was to wait and He would give it all to me. Learning to wait on God’s timing and sovereignty is still one of the most difficult lessons to learn.

There are so many things I could share that more than forty years of following Jesus has taught me, but here are some of the most important lessons.

The truth I know must be tested by my experience.

What I’m Learning: The Challenge is Not Mine Alone

June 1, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.” 1 Corinthians 12:26 NLT

So, here's this week's update. I am recovering well from the surgery on my right wrist. I am still very limited in what I can do, but I am feeling better, and I know that after my follow up appointment this coming week I will be able to do more. My left wrist is healing. As it has been the only hand that I can do anything with, at times it feels a little strained. I can do what I need to do, like eat as long as the food is prepared for me. I can’t handle carrying any weight. But we are moving forward. Thank you for your prayers!

I am keenly aware that what I am going through, this challenge, it’s not just my challenge. My challenge presents challenges to others. This challenge is also my husband’s challenge as he cares for me and helps me with the many things I am unable to do for myself. It’s my church’s challenge as my care pastor works to help us through it with meals, rides and other support. It’s my family’s challenge as they navigate their own feelings about my injuries and recovery. I may be the one with broken wrists, but when I fell a whole bunch of other people fell with me.

I once heard a message by Elisabeth Elliot in which she defined suffering as having what you don’t want or wanting what you don’t have.

So…Surgery next

May 25, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Psalms 103:13-14 NLT

Hello friends!

Here is an update on my situation. You remember from last week that I fell, and God miraculously protected me from cracking my skull on the cement floor of my basement. However, as I told you last week, I had a cast on my right wrist and my left wrist was injured, but I expected it to get better within a few days. My situation has developed, shall we say. After my visit to the orthopedic doctor, it was determined that there is a crack in my left wrist. So, I now have a brace on my left wrist. I am OK with that because now it doesn’t hurt the way that it did. However, that leaves me with no 100% working hands.

The orthopedist also determined that I need surgery on my right wrist. Although the cast had immobilized my wrist, the bones were not staying aligned. Therefore, by the time you read this, the surgeon will have added screws and a plate in my wrist.

As you can imagine, that’s a lot to take in.

Ordinary Day. Extraordinary God.

April 27, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” Luke 5:5 NLT

Have you ever missed a message from a good friend? Sometimes the days get so busy that I don’t check my messages, or I miss a phone call from someone I really want to hear from. Does that ever happen to you? It’s easy to get caught up in our everyday life and miss what’s really important, isn’t it?

Jesus showed up in Peter’s everyday life. After a normal night of regular employment, Peter didn’t know what would happen when he said YES to Jesus and cast his net. But that YES completely changed his direction. Peter desired something different after he said YES to Jesus. And he left the familiar seaside village, people, and nets to pursue it.

I didn’t know how my life would change when I said YES to Jesus all those years ago (more years than I’d like to admit!), but the trajectory of my life completely changed. Where I wanted to go was altered by my YES.

Do you notice how Jesus is showing up in your everyday life? How might He be inviting you to follow Him today? How might your direction change if you say YES to that invitation?

What Will They Remember About You?

April 13, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” Deuteronomy 34:10 NLT

When people think about you what is the first thing that comes to their minds? What do you want them to think about? What kind of legacy do you want to leave?

I’ve been thinking about Moses. Moses was identified by his relationship with the Lord, not by all the miraculous things he had done or how he led the people. His legacy was intimacy with God. How’s that for a legacy? I want to be identified by my relationship with the Lord more than anything that I do. That’s what I want people to remember. Boy, have I got a long way to go!

Isn’t that the legacy of the “spiritual giants” who have done great things for God? They preached to large crowds but spent hours alone on their knees. They taught the principles that defined their daily actions to lead others into the kinds of relationships that they had with God. That’s why we remember them.

Brother Lawrence, Oswald Chambers, Charles Finney, Eric Liddell, Billy Graham, Jim Elliot, Elisabeth Elliot, Amy Carmichael, Mother Theresa, Joni Erickson Tada and so many others. I’ve read about them or read their words. What is it that attracts me to these people? Not their mighty deeds. It is the deep relationship with Jesus that motivated their works.

When people remember me, I want them to be inspired to spend their energy pursuing His presence in their lives. That’s all that really matters.

What can you and I learn from Moses about intimacy with God?

Silent Saturday: Counting the Cost

March 30, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

It is in human nature to avoid the painful, but what if you and I took this Saturday to relive some of Good Friday’s pain? Might it increase our joy of the resurrection?