Pain is a Gift: Lessons From the Hospital

April 6, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NLT

In the dark of early morning Tom stood at the bedroom door clutching his side and said, “Cathleen, we need to go to the hospital.” I scurried to throw on the clothes I had set out the night before in anticipation of this possibility. And so, this journey began. It’s been a week!

It all started with pain. Intense, breath-robbing pain. Pain led to the flurry of hurry-up-and-wait in the Emergency Department and the discovery process of blood work and scans that led to one diagnosis, a prescription and release. But there was still pain.

Pain led us back to the ED for more hurry-up-and-wait, more blood work and scans and an additional diagnosis that led to in-patient treatment. That is where we are a week later. Perhaps by the time you read this, he will be home. Thank you for your prayers!

But that isn’t why I write now. I invite you to consider with me the gift of pain. It is human to avoid pain. We often try to ignore or minimize pain in any form. It would be crazy to seek out pain. There is a good chance you are experiencing some kind of pain at this moment. What would it look like to accept that pain as a gift?

I don’t know what kind of pain you are facing. But, if you can receive it as a gift, I know that it will lead to healing, because when we let it, pain leads us to God, the healer of body, mind and spirit.

What’s Your Response? Grumbling or Gratitude?

November 25, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Be persistent and devoted to prayer, being alert and focused in your prayer life with an attitude of thanksgiving.” Colossians 4:2 AMP

Are you getting weary of all the gratitude talk this week? Well, don’t check out on me yet! Do you catch yourself grumbling instead? There are certainly many reasons why being grateful is important. I’ll bet you think you’ve heard them all. But I don’t know if you’ve considered this one. As I have been mulling over the idea of gratitude, I found a connection I hadn’t considered before. I am hoping that you get something out of this, too. Stick with me!

Here’s the idea: Giving thanks in every situation gives glory to God. Have you ever thought about that? If you want your life to bring glory to God, then you can start by being thankful. And — oh, by the way — being thankful is a choice, not a feeling. You can do it regardless of how you feel. Just saying.

So, here’s some motivation for giving thanks even when things are tough.

Gratefulness is what gives us the power to persevere when things are not going well. Gratefulness helps us see God when He is hard to find. Gratefulness helps us go to God when we need answers and help. Gratefulness reminds me that God is good and trustworthy. Why would I go to a God I don’t trust? Thank You, Lord, for ALWAYS being faithful!

3 Tips for Waiting Well

October 21, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Hebrews 10:36 NIV

Are you in a waiting season? Yeah, me too. Sometimes it feels like forever when you are waiting for something. God has made us to crave resolution. Maybe it’s so that we long for heaven. Whether it’s an unresolved chord, a fractured relationship, an incomplete sentence, or a situation in progress we naturally bend toward the resolution. We want to skip to the end, play the chord, fix the relationship, finish the sentence. But life doesn’t work that way, does it? You and I are in good company, though. How many times do the psalms ask God, “How long, Lord?”

So, what do we do while we are waiting? We persevere. We keep living. We keep hoping. We keep looking to God. Easy to say. Not easy to do, right?

So, here are a few tips for waiting well. I need them just as much as you do!

Where Will Your YES Take You?

August 12, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

'Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”’ Luke 1:38

Do you ever feel stuck? You know what I mean. Your life becomes predictable. Comfortable. Mundane. Routines are a valuable tool when they are designed to help you accomplish what is necessary and important, but if you aren’t careful, they can just suck you into the same-old same-old. Rise, routine, repeat. Right? That’s not what you want!

What do you want? You want a life that zings with meaning, purpose, passion, and potential. You want to know that you are discovering more—all the things that God created you for. You want your life to be a fulfilling adventure, not simply satisfying. Full. Even a little bit exciting. Am I right?

I totally get it and I have been there. What I’ve learned is that every day holds the possibility to discover some of that MORE. The key that unlocks potential is a three-letter word: YES. If you can allow yourself to think in terms of that three-letter word you will find yourself on what I like to call The YES Adventure. Yes by yes you discover the more you were meant for. You discover your MORE when you give God your YES. Are you ready?

The Peace Formula

July 29, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42 NIV

There are certain memories that become anchors for our souls. I’ll bet you’ve got a few of those. As I look back on a particular time in my life, I remember a key lesson that I learned. One that has anchored me through so much. At that time, my soul was an angry sea, but now, when I apply what I learned then, I don’t experience the same kind of turbulence. I’d love to share my secret with you. It’s a formula for peace. Interested? Here goes!

In 1991, Tom and I, and our two children under 3 years old, moved back to New York after two years in Pensacola, Florida. Because we were just waiting for a call from the FAA for Tom to begin training as an air traffic controller, our plan was to live at my parents’ house until he finished training and then move to wherever he was placed. Simple plan. The only wrinkle in the plan was that the U.S. government put a freeze on all hiring, so no new air traffic controllers were being trained. There was no call coming from the FAA in the foreseeable future. Time for a new plan. Tom found a job and eventually went back to school to finish his degree. I struggled.

We ended up living downstairs at Mom and Dad’s for over three years. That was not the resolution I wanted! My heart yearned for a place of my own and for many months there was no personal space at the end of our tunnel.

Clear Goals, Clearer Purpose

March 11, 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

Movies. They entertain and inspire, right? Tom and I enjoy watching movies to relax. We like Hallmark movies because they are predictable. I am not ashamed! You always know there will be a happy ending and that there will be no jarring surprises in the process of getting there. We enjoy classic adventures like Star Wars, but we also enjoy inspiring true-life stories. One of our favorites is Chariots of Fire.

Chariots of Fire is set against the backdrop of the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. It follows the development of Great Britain’s running team and focuses the story on two young men in particular, Harold Abrams, a Cambridge student who became a journalist, and Eric Lidell, a Scottish preacher who became a missionary to China. They are both runners and contenders for the gold medal in their event. Spoiler Alert: They both achieve gold medals, but their motivations for getting there and their responses to their challenges along the way differ. However, there is a similarity I want to emphasize for your benefit: They kept their goal in focus. They both had a clear vision of what they wanted to accomplish and devoted tremendous efforts to reaching that end.

Harold Abrams and Eric Liddell kept their goal in focus. That enabled them to go further, achieve more, and developed their character. What about you? How clear are your goals? Do they help you go further, achieve more and develop your character?

A clear goal helps you to focus your energy.

Where You Were Is Not Where You Are

June 18, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

'For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. ' Colossians 2:12

When I look back on certain times in my life, I can feel the blush begin to burn in my cheeks. No one else would notice it, but I feel like I want to crawl under my bed or disappear completely. Do you ever feel that way? I remember things I said or things I did that I would never do now. I wish I could go back and just relive that whole circumstance from my current perspective. I would have made completely different choices and saved myself a lot of grief. I would have saved the people around me some grief as well. What about you?

I hate that squirmy feeling! But when those memories surface, and they are going to surface for all of us, I need to stop and remember something. That old life is gone! I have trusted in the power of God through Jesus Christ and from the moment I did that, my life has been different.

So, should I completely forget my past? Should you? Then those blush-making memories would disappear, right? None of us like to feel that uncomfortable feeling! But what if you and I allowed those crawl-in-a-hole memories to lead us somewhere else? What if we actually took the time to recall and reflect? How can those memories lead us forward? What if remembering your old life could lead to compassion for others, recognition of your own growth and gratefulness to God for your new life?

Are You Listening For His Voice?

May 14, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

No words of my own today, but some words from the One whose Word matters most. Are you listening for the voice of the Lord? What has He been speaking to you lately?

Psalm 29
A psalm of David.
1 Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings;
honor the Lord for his glory and strength.
2 Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea.
The God of glory thunders.
The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.

Why Or What?

August 28, 2021 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭30:21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I'm not usually one to panic. I'm usually the steady one, but not in the story I am about tell you! How do you handle a season of unknowing? Do you scramble to figure out what is happening? I often feel like if I can understand why something is happening, then I can be at peace, but that is not always possible and it wasn’t possible in this instance. Maybe you have a had a similar experience.

Tom and I were on a cruise to celebrate our thirtieth anniversary. I know, a cruise sounds luxurious, but this was the first time we had ever experienced seas so rough that it was sometimes frightening. Not only that, the motion was making Tom feel so sick that much of the time all he was up to doing was lying in our cabin to rest or watch movies. This morning Tom was hoping to feel better so we decided to leave the cabin for a while and let the steward attend to it. I had to finish something, so Tom went ahead of me up to the relatively quiet lounge with a panoramic ocean view where we expected to find a place to read for a while. When I went up to the lounge a few minutes later, I couldn't find him.

Lessons From The Ocean

May 29, 2021 Cathleen Zahradnik

If your life is like mine, it seems to just whiz by. Even at the most mundane times in life the days seem to pass more and more quickly. It can be so difficult to grasp what is moving at light speed. A few days by the ocean is always a treasured time for me. The lull of the waves, the warmth of the sand and the shade of the umbrella as the breeze surrounds me all unite to bring me to a stop inside so that I can truly rest and so that I can better hear what God might be saying to me in the midst of my life. We all need some of that , don’t we?

So, here are a few things learned from spending a few days by the ocean:

The ocean is always moving. One of the most noticeable things about the ocean is that it is never completely still. Whether the waves are crashing violently or breaking gently there is never a settled stop. The vastness of the water make it far beyond any human capacity to control any of it’s movement. It just is.

Like the ocean, life never stops and there isn’t anything you or I can do about it. As much as we would like to stop the passage of time or the arrival of certain dates and events in our lives, we can’t. There is beauty in the constant movement of the ocean, just as there is beauty in the constant movement of our lives. As we learn to adjust to the movement, instead of frantically grasping and trying to stop it, we gain peace. Acceptance of things as they are allows us to transform how we respond.

September 12, 2026

This is Not Forever

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT

As I tearfully opened the sodden boxes of our stored belongings, wondering what was ruined, a verse came to mind,

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21 NLT

We were temporarily living with my parents, and our stuff was stored in Tom’s parents' garage. They had a plumbing issue in their bathroom above the garage, causing a leak that soaked several of our boxes and other items, including our mattress. We weren’t sure what was salvageable.

That period of time was already difficult. We were waiting for a job to open up and unsure how long that would take, how long we would be living with my parents, how long our stuff would be stored. Both sets of parents had been patient, loving, and gracious. There was no one to blame for the water damage. Sometimes things just happen.

But when that verse popped into my brain, it completely changed my perspective on going through the damage. The tears didn’t stop. There was some mourning and disappointment. But at the same time, there was hope. This was temporary. These things were just things. What really mattered was how I responded. I could choose an eternal perspective. I could choose to treasure Christ more than an earthly possession.

As it turned out, very few of our things were unsalvageable, and insurance more than covered anything that was lost. But the eternal perspective I gained is a treasure that I still carry. That simple shift helped me through the three and a half years of living in the in-between.