“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future“ (Jeremiah 29:11).
My YES adventure began with my first YES to God. At sixteen years old, I sat on my bed reading a small pamphlet a friend had given me. The final paragraph asked if I would like a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. A personal relationship with Jesus? I’d never heard of such a thing! Everything in me said, “YES, that’s exactly what I want!” I prayed the prayer, signed the tract in the space provided, and put it in my wallet because that is where I put things I didn’t want to lose. I didn’t realize that YES had begun to change my life.
It wasn’t until a few years later that my YES became complete. I was a junior in college, walking home to my rented room at 16 Oak Street in Geneseo, New York. The cold January night echoed the darkness that had clouded around me for the previous months. I had never felt so lost and confused. In reality, the situation that had triggered the darkness was minor. But it had become the major impetus for all my emotions. Friends had encouraged me to speak with a school counselor, but I maintained, “I should be able to handle my own problems.”
That night, a random, startling thought shook me to the reality that I was not able. I stood at a crosswalk on Main Street as a car approached.
“What would happen if I threw myself out in front of that car?”
Shock and fear gripped me as the car sped by. What if I had acted on that thought? Where had it come from? What did I need to do to escape that kind of darkness? I hurried home, unlocked the door, ran upstairs to my room, and knelt by my bed. “God, I can’t do it by myself anymore. I need you to help me!”
I don’t remember all I prayed, but the next day, I made an appointment with the school counselor. Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, that night, I fully surrendered to God. He had my big YES. That was the day my adventure truly started and transformation began. That was the day I began to discover the more I was meant for.
What makes your heart soar? I mean really soar. That thing that makes you want to shout at the top of your lungs and burst with joy. Maybe you haven’t quite discovered what that is yet, but it is in there. God put it inside you even before you were born, and He wants to help you discover what that is. Maybe that is part of what you will get out of this book. I hope so. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were created with a purpose that will fill your heart with an exhilarating song that lifts you to hang-gliding heights. Really!
God has made each of us with an “adventure quotient.” What do I mean by that? Your adventure quotient is what makes your heart beat faster and feel like you are doing the most exciting and fulfilling thing in the world. That adventure quotient is different for each of us, but each of us has it. The key for you and me is to find it. You were made for adventure. You were! But don’t expect your adventure to look like someone else’s. Your adventure is uniquely your own.
Excerpt from The YES Adventure: Transform Your Life with One Word by Cathleen Zahradnik. Check it out here.