YES Changes Everything

May 4, 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

I opened the large manilla envelope with excitement and amazement. I knew what was inside. The evidence of my YES to a ministry calling. The proof that I had obeyed God YES by YES through years of classwork, application, testing, and interview. I slid out the certificate bearing my name as a licensed minister of the Assemblies of God. As I held that hard-earned certificate, I found myself praying, “Okay, God. I obeyed You. Now what?” Now that I had that certificate, I had no idea how God wanted me to use it. So, I began to seek God for my next YES and another season of YES by YES began until He opened the doors He had planned for me.

Where has your YES taken you, my friend? Your whole life is a compilation of YES and NO.

When Peter gave Jesus his YES and threw the net on the other side of the boat, he began to compile a different set of YES and NO. That one act of obedience set the stage for a life he had not imagined. Much like pursuing ministry credentials changed my direction. What about you? How has your obedience made a difference? Why does YES change everything?

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?

Prepare for the New Year: What Got You Through That Will Carry You Forward?

December 9, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24 NIV

Do you like to skip to the end of a book or a movie? Are you one of those people who just wants to see how it all turns out? Does knowing the end help you to enjoy the unfolding of the story better? You can see how everything fits together as it is happening. But it does take the element of wonder and surprise out of the picture, doesn’t it? When you don’t know the end, you find yourself trying to figure out how things fit. You think back to earlier parts of the story and try to envision where the creator is taking you. Life is more like that, right? As much as we want to skip to the end and see how it all turns out, we can’t. Each step along the journey of life is connected, but if we aren’t thinking back as well as looking forward, we don’t make the connection. Let’s apply that to right now, shall we?

The best way to prepare for the new year is to look back at the current year. We are a culture that skips over reflection to get to what is next. I know I do! Tom and I have been in a major transition for quite some time, and I have been so aware of how much I want to just skip to the end. But I have also been aware that I haven’t wanted to miss anything along the way. I know that every step is important. Every transition has endings and beginnings, but in between is the messy middle. That’s the place where you want to skip to the end! Now that our transition has more beginnings, I have been looking back and seeing the important steps along the way. The ones I wanted to skip.

You Become What You Believe

September 2, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2 NLT

There’s a phrase that I have heard quite often: You live what you believe. What that means is that you can say that you believe something, but if your actions don’t line up with what you say, then you don’t really believe it. What you do is what you believe.

When it comes to faith, I’ve heard it said that you only believe the parts of the Bible that you actually do. Well, that could be pretty convicting! Am I doing what I know the Bible says? Am I living what I say I believe?

What do you believe about yourself? You may be able to quote Scriptures about being a child of God and more than a conqueror, but are you living out of those things? Think about how you reacted to a recent challenge. Did you behave like a confident child of God? Did you live like you are more than a conqueror?

Don’t be too hard on yourself, friend! None of us live up to what we know 100% of the time. However, if we become more aware of our responses and what they tell us about our beliefs we can begin to shift. We can become the person we want to be.

What do you really believe about yourself? Do you realize that what you believe is what you will become? What beliefs will set you free to become all that you were designed to be?

Paul told his friends in Rome to “let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” (Romans 12:2 NLT) Where do you want to be transformed? What would you like to believe? How can you begin to become that new person and let God change what you think?

Here are some tips to get you started. Read on, friend!

How to Start Getting Where You Want to Go

February 18, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Philippians 3:12

I’ve always dreamed of traveling. One of my first adult jobs was working in a travel agency because I loved the idea of travel.

Let me start off by saying that this particular business wasn’t a great place to work. The employees were not valued and cared for. On the first day, I was told I would be referred to by my middle name because they already had several employees who had a similar first name. Great start, huh? I never did more than help people book flights. “Why didn’t they just book them online?” you ask. Because at the time most people did not have computers and nobody had a smartphone. In fact, only a few of the agents working in this office even had a computer. The rest of us made phone calls to the airlines to book flights and hand-wrote tickets for customers who would come in and pick them up.

I didn’t work there long, but I did get an office “fam” (familiarization) trip to Puerto Rico out of it and fed my desire to travel to Alaska by fulfilling my responsibility to file brochures to places starting with the letter “A.” (Remember, no internet research. Beautifully printed brochures!)

Why am I talking to you about travel? Because going somewhere always starts with a dream. When was the last time you dreamed about where you would like to be in your life? What do you envision yourself doing that would satisfy your hunger to fulfill the potential you were born with? What do you dream of doing that would set you on the path to discovering the more you know you were meant for?

Where do you want to go in life and how do you get there? Here’s how to get started.

One Key to Discovering Your Destiny

February 4, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

'Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3:12

Do you notice tiny distractions? Do you see the small truths that rise to the surface of your regular routines? If you do, what do they reveal about you?

I’ve never been a big fan of the fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, but if there was a pea under my mattress I wouldn’t notice it, would you? That little thing wouldn’t bother me. I probably wouldn’t even know it was there. Yet, for the princess in the story, the pea kept her awake. It revealed who she really was.

Underneath all the layers of distraction that this world throws at you is the tiny kernel of who you really are and what you want most. That kernel contains the truth of your deepest desire and dearest hope. How aware are you of that desire? What do you really want out of life?

August 8, 2026

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

'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?