A Fresh Start Begins Now

April 11, 2026 Cathleen Zahradnik

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

It’s been a loooong winter! I’m ready for spring. How about you?

What do we love about spring? Spring is when the living things that seem to be dead show that they are alive. Light begins to overtake darkness as the days lengthen.

Easter and spring go together, don’t they? Easter reminds us that Jesus overcame sin by his crucifixion and defeated death by His resurrection.

Spring is when the world gets a fresh start. Easter reminds us that we can have a fresh start, too.

Where do you need a fresh start? What if this spring can bring new life to you?

When the calendar year turns, many of us are thinking of what we would like to change and how we want this year to be better than last year. We make promises to ourselves or to God about how we will change. Did you do that? Maybe you even made a list.

But as time passes, we often forget those promises, and we drift. Do you feel like you have drifted off-track? Are you where you hoped to be when you started the year? If you are, then kudos to you! How will you keep yourself on track? If not, what can you do now to re-evaluate and shift your attention so that you head where you want to go?

The God-centered goal-setting process I teach is a great tool for this. Ask, Aim, Act, Achieve.

Ask God. Aim toward what He says. Act on those goals. Achieve your goals and start again.

The beauty of a God-centered goal-setting process is that you can apply it at any time. Now is a perfect time to review, reflect, and restart.

Review your recent actions. Think back over the last few months. What have you accomplished? What tasks have taken the most of your time and attention? Ask God how He wants you to re-orient your priorities. What is important to Him? How does He want you to grow? Then draft one or two written goals that head in that direction.

Reflect on what made those actions important to you. It can be difficult to evaluate motivations. Thankfully, you don’t need to do that on your own. You have the Holy Spirit to guide you.

Ask Him to help you understand yourself. You don’t know what to change if you don’t know what caused the drift. Understanding what causes the drift helps you know what to avoid so you can stay on track. Understanding your motives, your why, helps you adjust it to a why that aligns with God’s purpose. Having a God-centered why helps you maintain your aim and act in a way that helps you achieve your God-centered goals.

Restart from this point forward toward the goal that is most important to God. You won’t know what is most important to Him if you don’t take the time to ask, but once you have done that, now is the time to begin. You don’t have to wait until the calendar year ends, or summer is in full bloom, or school starts. You may not fully reach your goal, but beginning now will help you make progress toward what is important to God. Isn’t that what is most important?

Ask. Aim. Act. Achieve. Today is the day to review, reflect, and restart. It isn’t too late to reclaim your year and become a new person by changing the way you think and act (Romans 12:1-2 NLT). Go for it! A fresh start begins NOW.

Key Question: What does it take to make a fresh start toward God-centered goals?

A Scripture to Consider: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

A YES Challenge: Set aside time this week to prayerfully reflect, review, and restart. Write down one or two God-centered goals that you want to focus on for the rest of the year.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for knowing me completely and loving me anyway. You know my weaknesses. You understand why I have drifted from what is most important to You. Forgive me. As I reflect, reveal my motivations. Help me make the necessary adjustments so I can make progress toward goals that are centered on You. My greatest desire is to live a life that pleases You. Amen.

Check out my book The YES Adventure: Transform Your Life with One Word for encouragement, inspiration, and more about God-centered goal-setting. Please leave a review on Amazon! That will help other people find the book and receive guidance and encouragement in their God-centered goal setting.

If you are stuck and would like a partner to help you process your next step, I’d love to help. Schedule a 30-minute complimentary coaching session here.

Where Perseverance Comes From

February 28, 2026 Cathleen Zahradnik

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”Hebrews 11:6 NIV

You’ve got goals. You may not call them goals. You may call them dreams or aspirations or desires, but you’ve got them. The difficulty with goals— or dreams or aspirations or desires — is that life often gets in the way of seeing them through. The storms of life arise, and you lose track of that destination because of the road conditions. You forget where you are going and get focused on just going. But does just going help you keep going?

How do you find the motivation to keep going through all the unavoidable challenges that life throws at you? Keep your goals centered in God and you will find it.

God-centered goals need God-centered motivation. God-centered motivation is found in God’s Word. Hope for the future grows as you spend time with God’s truth. Hope is an expectation that what you desire will happen. God-centered hope is found in a faith that God will do what He has said He will do.

I know that I don’t have that kind of hope in myself. But I find promises in the Word that build it in me. The motivation to keep going comes from faith that God will do so much more than I can ask, think or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20) I believe that He has begun a good work in me and will complete it. Philippians 1:6) Scriptures like these come to my mind when I am unfocused or unmotivated and either keep me on track or help me get back on track.

NOW AVAILABLE: The YES Adventure: Transform Your Life with One Word

July 26, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

UPDATE: As of Sunday, July 27, 2025, the book is now available in paperback and Kindle format on Amazon.

Get your copy here!

Any day now, the book will be available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle format! It’s been submitted to KDP at Amazon and is under review before publication. Check Amazon in a few days. I’ll do my best to let you know. Thank you for taking this journey with me!

The YES Adventure: Transform Your Life with One Word will encourage you and guide you through a God-centered goal-setting process: Ask, Aim, Act, Achieve. It’s been helpful to me, and I wanted to share it with you.

And once you achieve, the process continues. You begin to ask God and do it all over again.

What’s your next YES?

What’s my next YES?

Let’s find out together.

To Set God-Centered Goals: ASK

July 19, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5 NIV

How do you set goals? When I start the goal-setting process by asking God, I am more likely to complete the task and feel better about what I accomplish. God-centered goals start with asking God. We need His perspective. He’s the One who created us for His purposes. He chose you and appointed you to bear fruit that will last. (John 15:16)

When you begin by seeking God, you will set goals that are satisfying and fulfilling. Asking God for wisdom leads you to choices that help you become all that He designed you to be.

Seeking God first keeps you on track. Your time in His presence reminds you of what is truly important. God-centered goals grow a God-centered life. A God-centered life is the abundant life overflowing with joy even when circumstances are less than perfect.

Review and Celebrate

June 7, 2025 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

Goals are not set-and-forget. Part of the goal-setting and accomplishing process is review. It’s important to stop from time to time and recognize what you have done toward your goal. Even if you aren’t as far as you hoped you would be, it’s important to celebrate where you are.

Just as you set goals in the beginning of the year or season, schedule times to review and celebrate. It’s important to make this a regular rhythm. And here’s why.

Reviewing reveals progress. Throughout my book-writing process it’s been easy to get caught in the weeds. There are many, many details in any big project. Truthfully, I tend to get overwhelmed at the beginning of large undertakings. I see all the details at once and don’t know where to begin.

Then, as I find a place to focus and get started, I never lose the awareness that there is still so much left to do. Although, I am making headway, it’s hard to acknowledge because of what is yet undone.

Give Yourself Credit!

May 31, 2025 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

Writing a book has been on my goal list for a long time. Often it seemed like I was making no progress at all. Yet, I was. Truthfully, God was doing much in me to deepen the message before it was ready to write. I understood the concept I was writing about, saying yes to God is the secret to a satisfying and fulfilling life, but I needed to do more living before the message was “ripe.”

Now that I am in the home stretch, I am not saying I have achieved “perfection” when it comes to living out that message, but I know that God has released it into the long-planned book. Before the end of this summer the book will be published. It’s hard to believe.

Why am I sharing this with you? Like me, you may be experiencing discouragement along your goal-accomplishment journey. You may feel like you are not making progress. It was easy for me to feel like I was failing because there was no book to point to. No manuscript or cover design. Only an outline and a few chapters. I did not allow myself to celebrate what I had done. I felt like a failure because of what I had not done.

Dear friend, learn to celebrate what you accomplish, not how much. We can get bogged down in comparisons. We compare our accomplishments to someone else’s or to our expectations of ourselves. Is what you expect of yourself reasonable?

Here are some questions to help you evaluate your progress.

This Summer!

May 24, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

Final edits and formatting are in process!

Thanks for your patience. I can’t wait to share it with you!

Celebrating Small Step Victories

May 3, 2025 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

Are you a goal-oriented person? Maybe I am wrong about this, but it is my observation that goal-oriented people struggle to celebrate their progress. Do you?

If you are goal-oriented, you may be so focused on the end that you don’t recognize the milestones along the way. Here’s my advice: Learn to celebrate small steps.

Every forward step is a victory. That may be a big perspective shift for you, but it will be worth the effort. Recognizing forward steps as victories will serve to fuel your motivation. What happens when you’re motivated? You keep moving forward. Isn’t that what you really want?

Backward steps are still part of the journey. The overall goal is progress, not perfection. Backward steps are going to happen. Stumbling is part of being human. I don’t like it, and I’ll bet you don’t either. Accepting the limits of being human will ease some of your goal-oriented angst. Probably not all of it, but that’s okay. It’s helped me a lot. Why not give it a try?

Why Routines and Rhythms Help You Reach Your Goals

April 12, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” Ephesians 5:15-17 NLT

A morning cup of coffee is part of my daily routine. What about you? I don’t think about whether or not I will have a cup of coffee. I know that I will. I’ve already thought about it. That gives my brain space to just wake up and make other decisions.

That’s the importance of developing routines. I like to call them rhythms for growth. When you have already decided what is important and what you will do, your brain is free to be creative. I can’t quote science on it, but I’ve experienced it. Those rhythms are structures we have created unintentionally and intentionally that help us do the things that are important to us.

Structure guides growth and helps you achieve your goals. Why do you need structure to achieve your goals?

Structure keeps you in your lane. You know where you want to go. The structure of routines keeps you going in the right direction.

Have you ever thought about why there are lines on the road? They exist to help keep people safe. The white lines on the side of the road help drivers keep from drifting. The yellow lines in the middle help drivers remain on the correct side of the road but also give signals of what is safe or not in that area. Lined highways protect drivers from smashing into each other. I especially appreciate the dotted lines in turn lanes. Sometimes a lot of traffic is disorienting. Those lines guide me to turn into the correct lane amidst the busyness of an intersection.

Your personal rhythms, systems and routines can help you achieve your goals in the same way road lines help me make disorienting turns.

How to Set God-Centered Goals — The Word and the Spirit

February 22, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.” Ephesians 1:14 NLT

How do you set God-centered goals? If you are like me, you want your life to line up with God’s goals for you. You want to live for His glory. That means you want to set goals that honor Him and advance His Kingdom. A worthy desire! But how?

The key to lining up your goals with God’s goals for you is to know what His goals are, right? But how do you know what His goals are? He has provided all that you need. His Word and His Spirit.

The Word. If you want to set God-centered goals you must immerse yourself in the Word of God. His goal for your life will always line up with His Word. His word is one story from beginning to end. His Word helps you understand the big picture of God’s love for humanity and His plan for their redemption. God-centered goals fit into that big picture.

To know God’s goal for you, you must know His Word. You understand His desires as You understand Him through His Word. Jesus is the Living Word. God-centered goals glorify Jesus and always point to Him.

The Spirit. The Spirit is God present with us here and now. He is the guarantee that our lives belong to God, that we have a part in the inheritance He has planned for His family. What an awesome thought!