Not Easy, But Satisfying

June 1, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

What is God up to? Do you ever wonder that? You are being as faithful as you know how, but it seems like nothing is going right. You look back on your life. You think about all that you imagined it would be. You had imagined a lane bordered with flowers, wonderful scents, glorious colors, bright sunshine. What you see as you look back is more like a grey muddy path lined with rocks and brush. Why, God? Did I do something wrong? Did I take a wrong turn? What do I need to change? This is not the life I imagined at all! What am I supposed to do?

Tell God all about how you feel. The best thing you can do is bring God your questions. I remember doing that behind the wheel of a car. It was a long drive. I can’t even remember where I was going, but the prolonged drive time was a welcome opportunity to ponder and pray. God and I covered many miles and multiple topics as I made my way closer to my destination. It had been a particularly difficult season in our lives personally and professionally. Our kids were young which carries it’s own brand of struggle and exhaustion. Driving a car where only the driver’s seat was occupied was a welcome oddity. I found a freedom in uninterrupted, unfiltered conversation as God and I traveled together.

I Can’t, God! It’s Too Hard!

May 25, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

Go clean up your room!” So begins the saga of distraction. The child drags his feet with each step as he makes his way to what would normally be his haven. He sits in the middle of the room and stares at the mess around him. Then, after a few moments, rather than cleaning, he picks up the shiny blue matchbox car just within reach and starts to play with it. The room is still a mess. Nothing gets done, but the child feels better because he has distracted themself from the overwhelming task at hand.

You and I do the same thing, don’t we? We distract ourselves when the task seems overwhelming. Not just with practical tasks, but with the things we know God wants to change in our lives. We do something that makes us feel better, but we avoid actually starting.

What is it that God might want to change in your life? Perhaps you feel God has called you to an area of service that intimidates you. Or maybe, and this happens most often, through His Word and His Spirit God has pinpointed an area that needs some character development. Ouch! I know that feeling! But the idea of changing a deeply ingrained habit or attitude seems too large and overwhelming, so, like the child in the middle of a messed up room, we sit and feel sorry for ourselves or distract ourselves from the enormity of the needed change. If you are like me you might pick up your phone and start researching “how to overcome” _________(fill in the blank.) I might even start reading Scriptures about it. I feel like I have done something about the issue, but take no further action. It seems hopeless so, consciously or unconsciously, I decide to do something else. There is the nagging awareness that I am not obeying God. However, my attention on other things dulls that awareness. I feel better, for a while, but have moved nowhere. Does that sound familiar?

So, How do we even get started on those big changes? Here are some tips to make the mountain of change scalable.

Where Will Your YES Take You?

May 18, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

I first told God I was willing to go and serve Him on foreign soil at the first missions conference I ever experienced. Tom and I were living in Pensacola, Florida and were in our mid-twenties. Yet, the opportunity did not immediately come for me to actually go anywhere. In 2008 I was praying and asking God for an opportunity. “I’ll go anywhere!”I said. When my husband received an invitation to go on a trip because of his ministry position I asked hopefully, “Can I go, too?” I was overjoyed when the answer was affirmative. Then I thought to ask, “Where are we going?” I was surprised to find that my desire to obey the Lord’s call to “go into all the world” had overshadowed any limits on where. I had given God my YES in advance.

I’ll bet you are wondering where we went.

Repost - 80 Years of Beauty: Four Things I’ve Learned From My Mom

May 11, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

I didn’t actually realize how much I learned from my mom until I sat down to write this post last October. It seemed appropriate to share it again in honor of Mother’s Day. Regardless of what kind of relationship you have had with your mother, take some time this weekend to think aout what you have learned from her and be grateful. If you are a mother, have faith that your kids are learning more from you than they realize. Dear friend, whoever you are, your life makes a difference.

Here’s the post:

There are milestones in life that need to be celebrated. Some of them are expected and hoped for. Others creep up on you and you shake your head, “How did I get here?!” Mom turned 80 last week on October 19. When I spoke with her on that day, it was clear that this is one of those milestones for her. I mean, think about it, Mom was three years old when Pearl Harbor was bombed and the US entered World War II. Imagine all that has changed in her lifetime! From the telephone to television, to space travel to computers to the Internet and social media. A lot has changed!

So, Mom, how did you get here? You kept going and didn’t give up. You have lived your life one step at a time. You may think of your life as small and unimportant, but I’d like to share a few things I’ve learned from you. You need to know that your life has made a difference. So, here goes!

Confessions Of An Invisible Woman

May 4, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

You work hard. You take care of your family. You help your friends. You serve at church.You do your best at your job. But it is rare that anyone says thank you. Others get recognized and advanced. Your coworker gets the promotion. The house already looks like a tornado blew through and you just finished cleaning an hour ago. The laundry hamper is full as soon as you finish folding the load you just washed. The dishes in the sink seem to multiply as soon as you wash them. You find yourself frustrated and empty. “What’s the point? Why am I doing this?” you wonder. “No one sees what I do. No one cares. No one appreciates me or my hard I work. I am the invisible woman. If I disappeared no one would miss me.” If that describes you, my friend, please know I have been there. I really do understand how you feel.

But, Dear One, you are so wrong. There is Someone who sees and cares. You are not invisible. He sees you. He knows you. He loves you. He cares.

Very early in my Christian walk I discovered a verse of Scripture that has informed and motivated all my work since.

Know Who You Are Because of Whose You Are

April 27, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

The YES journey is the grand adventure of life with God. We often think of our life with God as what we do FOR God, our devotional activity, our acts of service. But what God really wants us to understand is that our life WITH Him isn't really about those things. What it IS about is knowing and living in our identity in Christ. God wants you and me to be defined by our relationship with Him rather than all the other things that we look to to tell us who we are.

How do you find out who you are? What criteria do you use? Is it what other people say or have said about you? Is it public acclamation or your accomplishments? Is it the opportunities that you may have received or not received? Perhaps you define yourself by your good behavior or religious activity. I can say that was my story. Yet, none of those things are what God uses to define us. Ephesians 1: 11 in The Message translation of the Bible says that "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for." As you consider what defines you ask yourself if that is the measure you are using. Are you finding out who you are in Christ?

Saturday: Contemplating The Cost

April 20, 2019 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?

Contemplate with me the cruelty before the cross.

How does one describe unimaginable pain? Physical and emotional suffering beyond what any of us has ever experienced?

Why To Be The Best You

April 13, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

Do you ever wonder why you are on the earth? Rick Warren starts his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here for? with this statement: “It’s not about you.” It’s jarring to pick up a book about discovering my purpose in life and see those as the very first words. “It’s not about you.” Some readers might immediately snap the book closed saying, “Well, that’s not what I want to hear! What about self-fulfillment? Doesn’t God want me to be happy?” Of course he does, but God’s definition of happiness and yours might not line up with each other. Warren’s point is that ultimately my purpose in life, and yours, isn’t about being happy. It’s about fulfilling God’s design for life. Self-fulfillment and happiness will be found in the midst of seeking that purpose. So, whose ideas about happiness need to change? Yep! Yours and mine.

Then what is God’s idea of happiness? What is His design for life? God is happy when His people fulfill His purposes on the earth. Jesus pleased the Father by making His goal to fulfill the Father’s purpose. “Not my will but Yours be done.”(Mark 14:36 ) Hebrews 12 describes Jesus as the author and perfector of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2) How did He do this? It says that Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him. (Hebrews 12: 2) What was that joy? Our salvation: The restoration of hummanity’s relationship with God. God’s goal has always remained the same. He wants to see people restored to Himself. So then, your purpose and mine is going to be wrapped up in His purpose. What is God’s purpose? To restore people to Himself. What is your purpose? To restore people to God. Our mission is to help people on their journey of restoration. (Mark 16:15) Wherever people are on their journey, your purpose and mine is to help them get closer to God. ..

How To Be The Best You

April 6, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

Road trip! I love a road trip! On our road trips I have usually been the navigator. Years ago a long road trip needed a great deal of planning. After the destination was decided I would pull out my road atlas and determine the best route. The Internet made it easier when I could search a mapping website and print out directions. Now, I pull out my phone, type in the destination and let my GPS speak the directions turn by turn. Definitely easier! Yet each method of finding the way starts the same: I have to decide where I am going.

When it comes to your adventure with God do you have an idea where you are going? Not specifics. None of us really knows that in advance. With God we get the turn-by-turn directions as we go. But God does want to give us an idea of what direction to head in. Have you asked Him about it?

When you know what direction He wants you to head in you will find yourself motivated to keep growing. Growth doesn’t happen randomly. It happens intentionally. Where do you find your motivation to keep growing? Are you looking to please other people? Are you looking for happiness? Are you looking to fulfill a self-made dream? How’s that going?

If You Don’t Run, You Can’t Win!

March 30, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

In the movie Chariots of Firethe runner Harold Abrahams has just lost a race to Eric Liddell. He sits in the empty stadium staring, depressed, despondent. He just can’t move on from the loss, reliving it in his mind. His girlfriend, Sybil, arrives and tries to encourage him. She tells him how marvelous he was in spite of the loss. He angrily tells her, “If I can’t win, I won’t run!” She wisely, and just as angrily replies, “If you don’t run, you can’t win!” Harold’s goal was perfection, to win every race. Up until that moment he had achieved that goal. Losing the race shattered his dream of perfection. What now?. Perfection was no longer an option. Why even try? In that moment he was paralyzed. He needed a different goal. But what? I totally get Harold’s thinking. I have often found that perfecionistic tendencies keep me from even trying. Could that be you, too?