Take A Deep Breath And Take The Next Step

December 28, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

Time to take a deep breath and turn into the future!.png

I followed my friend’s directions...I thought. But here I am at a “T” in the road. Now what?! Right or left? I am not really sure which way is correct, but I know what I can’t do. I cannot stay here with a line of traffic behind me. I have to make a choice. I have to go somewhere! I take a deep breath, put on my signal blinker and turn. Here goes!

Maybe you’ve been in that kind of situation as well. You might be right there at this point in your life. The end of a year. The beginning of a new one. Which way do I turn now?

We all ask the same questions. Which is the right way to choose? What is the right thing to do. Which direction should I head in? How is this all going to turn out?

You and I have things that we want to do. For those of us who are believers, even nominal believers, we want to know God’s will. We often get stuck because we feel like there is only one right way to go and if we mess it up we will have ruined our whole life and God’s plan. That is a pretty big failure, messing up God’s plan! Who wants that kind of responsibility?! Maybe you say to yourself, “I guess I will just make no decision. Stay where I am. Change nothing. Isn’t that safer? Isn’t it better to stay where I am than to mess everything up?”

Tribute To A Brave Heart

December 21, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

I had a plan. I had a plan for what I was going to write about this week. I had even begun to write it. Then something happened that changed my plan. Something totally unexpected. Something world-altering. My friend Christine lost her valiant battle with cancer, but, through her faith, she won the ultimate victory.

She didn’t want to be known as a victim of cancer, so I want to emphasize what she has won over what she lost. But I have lost a great deal, and you have, too, even though you may not have known her. She is one of those people who made the world a better place just by being in it. Her friendship made an impact on me and who I am, so if I make an impact on you at all, Christine is part of that. Even though she has left us, her influence continues, so she makes the world a better place by the legacy she leaves. She left a legacy of passion, courage and love.

Passion defines how we face life. What we are passionate about influences our words, our decisions and our attitudes. Christine was a woman full of passion. When you spoke with Christine about anything at all there was an intensity in her eyes as she intently listened and responded. She didn’t do anything half-heartedly.

Look Beyond The Surface. God Is With You!

December 14, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

So, what was it you really wanted to accomplish this year? Way back in January, you probably had some idea of what you hoped would happen and how you hoped to grow in the new year. Something about the new year makes us feel like a fresh start is in order. And here we are now at the end of the year. Something about the end of the year makes us want to look back and evaluate. I have begun to do some evaluating. How about you?

As you look back on this year, what kind of progress have you made toward your goals, written or unwritten? This year, I feel like I have made some progress, but I don’t always feel that way. It’s easy to come to the year’s end and feel that you have made zero progress. You haven’t accomplished what you had hoped. You are still struggling with some of the same flaws. Circumstances are just not where you’d like them. But is zero progress really accurate?

I want to encourage you to look deeper and look further. Look beyond the surface and see God, not what looks like your failure.

Look Around. How Is God With You?

December 7, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

As I listened to the preacher’s story, I had the same questions. But how would God answer me? He shared a time of sitting in a chair feeling alone and abandoned by God and saying to God, “Don’t You care? Don’t You love me?” The story continued with the man’s little child coming to him at just that moment, climbing into his lap, putting tiny hands on either side of his grown-up face, looking directly into his eyes and saying, “I love you, Daddy!” In that moment, the preacher recognized the love of God coming to him in the form of his child. I had the same question, “Don’t You care? Don’t You love me?” Later in the service, God used that preacher to answer my questions in a way that I recognized as God sending His love to me. How is God sending His love to you today?

There are times in life when we feel absolutely alone. Rejected and abandoned by the people we most hoped would be there for us. There are even times when we feel rejected and abandoned by God. Key word: FEEL. It often seems like He is not there as we walk through difficult circumstances. You may think, “Where are you, God? Don’t You care? Don’t You love me?” Maybe you are in one of those times right now. I am so sorry that this time is so tough, but let me encourage you to look around and recognize Immanuel, God with you.

Does All This Busyness Really Matter?

November 30, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

You are standing in the middle of a busy mall. People are rushing past you, their arms are full of purchases, but their wearied demeanor makes it clear that their shopping task is far from complete and they are not heading for the exit. You recognize that look because you are right there with them. You stop and watch the chaos. Listening to the hum of activity, the occasional scream of a tired toddler reaches your ears. Music fills the cavernous space. You realize that as full of activity as that space is, it’s empty at the same time. “What is all this busyness for anyway and why am I here in the middle of it?”

When I have allowed the tornado of the holiday season to envelope me, I have had those kinds of moments. But questioning isn’t all bad, you know. Questions like that reveal our desire for more, more life, more meaning, more purpose. You don’t want to just do what is expected. You want to do something that has value. So, in the middle of holiday obligations is it possible to connect to life, meaning and purpose? Absolutely!

The holidays illuminate an on-going problem in my life and, I expect, in yours, too. You and I often allow tasks to crowd out purpose.

Are You Really As Alone As You Feel?

November 23, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

Isn’t it odd that in our highly connected online society Isolation is epidemic? People often feel alone in a crowd, even though they have hundreds of Facebook “friends.” Many of us even feel alone in our church, a place that is called “the family of believers.” Maybe you feel that way, too. Why? How did this happen? Most importantly, what do we do about it?

How do we overcome our sense of isolation and aloneness?

Practice God’s presence. As believers we we start to overcome aloneness by remembering that if God is who we say He is, then He truly is always with us and we are never alone. You and I need to find ways to stay connected to God in the midst of our days and guard them with all our strength. When we focus on ourselves, our tasks and troubles, we lose touch with God.

I have found it really hard to stop in the middle of the day and just be in His presence, yet, when I do, I am reminded that I am not alone.

To Get Through: Give Thanks

November 16, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

I am sorry that you are going through such a hard time. I wish I could make it all go away. I really do. I wish I had the resources to just clear everything up and make it all easier for you. But I don't. Even if I did, it might not really be the best thing for you. There are always things that God is working on in us in the middle of the hardest times. It's been that way for me. Yet, in the middle of it, when things are hardest and you wonder how you are going to make it through, sometimes all you want is a little relief.

So, since I can't fix it for you, let me offer you some perspective. Through my hard times, and believe me, I have had a few, I have found an anchor to hold on to. It doesn't change the situation, but it can change you in the situation. Honestly, I have found that to be more valuable than an easy fix to a tough time. As I have changed, I have found the inner strength to make it through. My hope is that it will help you as well. Getting through with grace starts with thankfulness.

Be Thankful For Your Story

November 9, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

Testament and you'll see it over and over again. God's people forgot that they were slaves and God sent Moses to deliver them. They forgot that they while they were wandering in the wilderness because of their unbelief, God provided for them. They forgot how He split the Red Sea or opened a path through the Jordan River, or sent food they didn't have to grow or hunt for in manna and quail. It goes on and on.

The Scriptures bear witness that God's people continually, even habitually, forget what God has done for them in the past, complain about their present, and don't expect God to fulfill His promise for the future. As much as we hate to admit it, you and I are just as prone to such forgetting. It's not pretty. And, although we hate to admit it about ourselves, we most certainly will recognize it in our spouse or the person who sits on the other side of the church. But take a hard look at yourself and allow the Holy Spirit to convict your own pattern of repeated-history-forgetfulness. Once you've admitted it, you are in a perfect place to truly cultivate gratefulness. Remembering where we came from and what God has done in our lives will always spark thanks. Without exception.

The psalmists understood this. That's why a good number of the psalms are testimony psalms. So many of the psalms look at current distress through the lens of past deliverance. The writer builds future faith through remembering God's past faithfulness. There are even psalms designed to collectively God's people of what He has done for them, how He led them out of slavery and through the Red Sea, defeating Pharoah through plagues and a miraculous opening and closing of water. The psalmists understood their own tendency to forget as they observed the forgetfulness of all their ancestors.

God isn't put off by our tendency to forget Him. That's why He has built into our experience the ordinances of water baptism and celebration of communion, or the Eucharist, which by the way, comes from a Greek word that means "thanksgiving." The whole purpose of communion is to remind us of what Christ did on the cross so that we will be inspired to give thanks. The purpose of communion is to cultivate grateful.

Thankfulness Is Victory

November 2, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

Sometimes life feels like slogging through molasses. You pray and pray and pray and pray, but it feels like God isn't listening. I know that you have been praying hard about that difficult situation, the one that you are so hoping that God will do a miracle in. You may be asking yourself, “What else can I do? How else can I pray?” ‬‬You may be asking God, “What do I have to do for You to move in this situation?” Believe me I have been there. I have pleaded and pursued God in some of my most desperate times only to find the situation worse or, at least, exactly the same.

That loved one you are asking God to change isn’t changing at all. You know you are praying according to His will because you are praying for their salvation, but they seem to be moving further away from God.“What is happening, God? Why is this happening? Where are You?!!! Don’t You care about my pain? Why does there seem to be no... progress...at...all?!!!!”

Where is God in those times? What are we supposed to do?

Shift your focus: Times like these are hard. I know it. I really do!. But one thing I have learned is to shift my focus away from the person who is my problem, away from the unchanging circumstance and onto the never-changing God.

In a time when a loved one was severely struggling I remember kneeling by my bed pleading with God and asking Him to move in their life, to help them get past this. I prayed for an end to their struggle. All of that sounds good on the surface, doesn’t it? What could be wrong with pleading with God for a loved one? As I was in the midst of my fervent prayers I felt God telling me to stop. The Holy Spirit shone His light of conviction into my heart and showed me that my prayers weren't really for my loved one. They were for me! If their problem was solved, then my life would be easier. I wouldn’t have to walk through the pain their struggle caused me.

Once I recognized the selfishness of my prayers I didn’t trust my motivation to pray for them anymore. I had to stop praying for my loved one and start looking to God for what I needed in order to make it through the time of trial. I had to keep my eyes on Jesus and stay as close to Him as I could in order to make it from day to day.

Remember the promise. Here is the promise from Jesus that we don’t like to think about. He said in John 16:31 that we WILL have trouble in this world. We WILL. There is no getting around it. The preachers who make you feel like everything will be wonderful if you just surrender to Jesus are skirting what they know is true. It is more popular to avoid the reality of problems. I am not saying that they are intentionally lying, but they are doing what we all naturally want to do. They are avoiding the reality of trouble. But Jesus promised it. He PROMISED it. “Well, that isn’t what I wanted to hear,” you say. I understand, but with the promise of trouble is also the promise that He has overcome the world.

What does that mean? It means that His victory on the cross over sin and death is the ultimate victory over every circumstance in our lives that is the result of sin and death. The unkind co-worker, the wayward child, the terminal illness, your loved one’s dementia. All of those things are the result of sin and death in this world, but Jesus has overcome them. Hallelujah! The difficulty for you and me is that we don’t always see that victory in the way we want it, and when we want it. We have to take heart in the fact that the victory HAS been won. We may not see it this side of heaven, but WE WILL SEE IT.

The issue with my loved one lasted much longer than I ever imagined, more than a year and a half. As I shifted my focus away from them and onto receiving what I needed from God I found my perspective changing. The dark time hung on and I began to wonder if my loved one would ever return to a normal outlook. I wondered if this was what I would be living with for the rest of my life. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, but I had been receiving the grace I needed to learn to function as normally as I could, even with my loved one’s altered perspective. I had been able to laugh again and enjoy life, in spite of the continued difficulty. I found that I had many things to be thankful for, and even though my life was not as I would wish, I told God that if this was what life was going to be like, then I would learn to be satisfied in Him. He was overcoming the world in me. That was victory.

Thank God for His victory in that situation, even though you aren’t seeing it. Remember, the victory is already won! It is! Whether we see it or not does not change the fact that Jesus is victorious. In the situation that I have been telling you about there came a day when everything turned around, the cloud lifted and that struggle was over. I saw that victory. But there are other circumstances in my life where I am still waiting to see the breakthrough. You are, too. How can you and I handle it when we don’t see the victory?

At the beginning of this year I felt God telling me to start thanking Him for the victories that I am not seeing. To thank Him for being at work whether I see it or not. I have been doing that. I’d like to be able to say that I’ve seen a change in those circumstances, but I haven’t. The change has been inside of me. As I have thanked Him for the changes that I can’t see, I have grown in hope. I have become more aware of my need to trust. I look toward the future and truly believe that I will see the victory. In the end, He wins and because He wins, I win. And, by the way, you win, too!

Dear One, what you are going through is hard. There is no doubt about it. But as you shift your focus off the struggle and begin to thank God for the day when you will see the victory fulfilled, whether in this life or in the life to come, you will begin to experience victory within. As your perspective changes you will find yourself able to persevere with hope.

He is victorious. That is the truth. Whether we see it or not, does not change the truth of His victory. We live in victory when we focus on His ultimate victory, not the apparent defeat we see. Be thankful, Dear One.. That is victory.

Key thought: Thank God for the victories you can’t yet see.

A Scripture to consider: “Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” ‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5:16-18‬ ‭MSG

A YES challenge: Take some time to intentionally thank God for the work He is doing in your current situation, even if you can’t see it. Set a reminder in your phone each day this week to take time to be thankful. At the end of the week, evaluate how thankfulness has affected your perspective.

Prayer: Lord, I choose to thank You for the victory that I am not yet seeing. You promised that in this world we would have trouble, but you also promised that You have overcome the world. Overcome the world in me. Change my focus and my perspective so that I can give thanks to You no matter what. You are my hope and You are my joy. Amen.

Who Is Praying With You?

October 26, 2019 Cathleen Zahradnik

There is something I really need to work on. It’s asking other people to pray with and for me. As a pastor I am always, always humbled when people say they are praying for me and my family. I know they are; I know we need it; I know that is an expression of God’s goodness. How amazing He is to touch people’s hearts to pray for ME!

But when it comes to asking others to pray for me, I just don’t think of it. In a prayer circle I will always share something, even if it is the same old thing. Why? I know that I need the prayer and others really do want to pray for me. So, why don’t I think of asking others for prayer when I am going through it? Maybe you are asking yourself the same question.

Here in America we lift up the individual and especially the individual who doesn’t need anyone. For many of us, our first response is to try to do it alone. How’s that working for you? In contrast, the Scriptures give many, many examples of people praying together. In fact, even though we see Jesus praying alone most often, if you keep your eyes open as you read I think that you will notice that most other references to prayer are TOGETHER.