Say YES to Perseverance

October 8, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

'We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. ' 1 John 4:16

So many tragedies. Watch the news for two minutes. Look around at the lives of your friends and acquaintances. Look back over your own life. No matter how hard we try we can't avoid the pain of life in a broken world. We hurt for others. We hurt for ourselves. How do we handle it? How do YOU handle it?

Most of us are not self-aware enough to recognize our own self-protective strategies. We can look at someone else and see how they are turning to work, or addiction, or TV, or shopping, or food, or anything else to avoid their pain. Yet, we don't recognize what we do to avoid dealing with the biggest of questions: Why does God allow pain, in my life and the lives of those around me, and why doesn't He stop it when He can?

I can't answer that question. Oh, I can give you answers. I've done it many times in the past. That is part of my self-protective strategy. If I can explain my pain, or someone else's, to some extent, if I can convince myself that in some way it makes sense, then it becomes easier for me to deal with. But it doesn't really answer the question of why God allows it. It just avoids truthfully bringing the question to God. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try to make sense of tragedy, it just doesn't make any sense at all.

So then, how do we handle this huge question of pain and tragedy? How do we acknowledge the question we can't truly answer and still maintain our faith? How do we keep saying YES to a God who sometimes allows hurt to come to us and those around us and doesn't give us satisfactory explanations?

Connected or Exhausted? What's Your Plan for Replenishment?

October 1, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

'They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. ' Colossians 2:19

On Sunday you take a look at your calendar for the week in order to mentally prepare for what is ahead. As you look at the week you see a lot of writing and hardly any white space. You sigh and shrug your shoulders. Here we go again!

On Monday you get up, get yourself ready, get the kids to school, go to work, pick up the kids, get dinner, then off you fly to a church activity. You get home and fall into bed. Then you get up and do the same thing all over again. If you get a shower in the morning, you are lucky!

How’s that going for you? How do you feel? I have been there and done that and I can sum up how you feel in one word: EXHAUSTED!

To be exhausted is to be “completely or almost completely depleted of resources.” It is to be drained of physical and mental energy. It means that you have got almost nothing left to give anyone. You haven’t cared for yourself properly, so you haven’t protected your resources or refilled your reservoir. The pool is just about empty.

You know it isn’t supposed to be this way. You know that Jesus has more to fill you with, but when do you even have time to connect with Him? If you did have white space in your calendar, what would you do with it?

I’ll bet you have one word in mind. SLEEP! Sleep is a holy thing. No joke! God has made us to need rest, so don’t deny yourself sleep. But rest and sleep are not exactly the same thing. Rest is a time of replenishment. In rest, you refill that reservoir. In rest, you re-establish your connections with yourself, with the people you are close to, and with Christ. How are you replenishing your reservoir? Are you staying connected to Christ?

A - C = P: Anxiety - Control = Peace

September 24, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

'Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. ‘Philippians 4:6-7 MSG

I was listening to a podcast when I heard a quote that brought so much clarity, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Here it is: “Anxiety results from wanting to control something God has not given us to control.” I didn’t remember the name of the person or why she was on the podcast, but what she said made so much practical sense. (I looked it up later. So, if you are interested, it was Joanna Weaver’s podcast, The Living Room, and the guest was Sharon Hodde Miller, author of The Cost of Control: Why We Crave It, the Anxiety It Gives Us, and the Real Power God Promises Us.) As I pondered her statement, a formula took shape in my brain, “A – C = P,” Anxiety – Control = Peace. Easy to remember and a goal worth aiming for.

Anxiety is something we all experience. Anxiety steals peace and commands focus. Whether it’s something personal about your family, or a job, or something broader like politics and the world situation, anxiety creeps up behind us, leaps upon us and gets us in a stranglehold. Ever feel that way?

Your brain goes in circles, trying to resolve something you are powerless to resolve. You can’t sleep and every waking moment is consumed with mental and practical fruitless attempts to solve the problem. Suddenly, it seems like nothing else is happening in your life. What started as a thought becomes a huge shadow. What do you do?

Do You Know What's Going on in There?

September 17, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

'O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. ' Psalms 139:1

There’s a lot going on in my life right now. What about you? We all have stuff happening, right? How are you feeling about all that you are experiencing? Do you really know?

The truth is that most of us don’t slow down enough to be in touch with our emotions. We serve others. We take care of our families. We work. We pursue personal goals. We keep so busy that we don’t have time to really feel anything. But all the emotions we don’t process still exist below the surface of our lives. Without realizing it, what we don’t know about our own emotions spills over and affects our relationships. Like a jar of salad dressing that is continually shaken, everything is all mixed together. You can’t notice the individual ingredients, but each ingredient flavors all the others. What happens when you stop shaking the jar? Some ingredients rise to the top and others sink to the bottom, right? As life slows down, those feelings that have been mixed in with everything else start to rise to the surface.

Maybe you are having trouble naming what you feel. Maybe you are unsure of how to process it. Maybe you are among the many who, as social media proves, are just continually busy. Part of the unconscious motivation for that is to keep the jar shaken up and push all those feelings back down.

What about you? How are you handling what is rising to the surface?

Resist The Resistance

September 10, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:12-14‬ ‭MSG‬‬

I’ll bet you wouldn’t peg me as a Star Wars fan. True, I am more partial to the original trilogy and have had a harder time warming up to the newer offerings. But if a Star Wars movie comes out I want to see it. I want to know what happens in that universe. I want to see how the story progresses. Let’s be honest here, as long as the Star Wars franchise is making money the story will never actually end. That’s okay with me. So, what is it that grabs me, and so many others, into spending a few dollars to watch this crowd of familiar and fresh faces flying through hyperspace? What catches us?

There’s a moment in The Last Jedi, one of the more recent Star Wars films (not a spinoff) that I think says it all. Finn and Rose (Don’t know who they are? Ok, “The good guys”) are on a mission to defeat the First Order (The bad guys) and they need help. They meet a few kids working in a stable and earn their favor with the acknowledgment “We’re with the Resistance.” The kids’ faces light up and they are in. There is something in all of us that wants to be with the Resistance, we want to be with the good guys defeating evil. That’s why we stand in line and buy tickets.

In Star Wars being with the resistance is a good thing. But resistance isn’t always good, is it? Sometimes resistance is the thing holding you back from accomplishing what you know God has called you to. Sometimes resistance is the force opposing you rather than the force opposing evil. So how do you handle that kind of resistance? What do you do when the resistance is fighting against you?

Accept the Unexpected: A YES Lesson from Mary

September 3, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

'And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38

Mary went through a lot in her lifetime, but we never get the sense that she strayed from her trust in God. The evidence of trust in the young girl who said, "Be it done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38) remains until the last mention of Mary in Scripture, gathering with the first group of believers in Jerusalem, praying and waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 1:14). We can draw the conclusion that she was there and experienced the birth of the church with Peter and the others mentioned there.

So, what would be the secret to her staying power? How did she live the YES life through the ups and downs of so much change and challenge? Since Joseph is not mentioned past the time when, at twelve, Jesus was found in the temple talking with the teachers, it's likely she lost her husband at an early age. She witnessed her son straying from the normal life path for people of her community, becoming an itinerant preacher who gained a large following and stirred up strong opposition, until eventually, she stood at the foot of the cross and watched him die. And yet, if she was praying with the early believers she must have also accepted and experienced the joy of his resurrection. What was her secret? What can we learn from her about living the YES life?

In all these things Mary learned to accept the unexpected.

Setting Sail for the Next Leg of My Journey: Honoring My YES Adventure

August 27, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 NIV

The YES Adventure. That’s the name of this website and blog. Following God becomes an adventure the moment we say YES to Him. When you say YES to God, He will take you places you never expected to go and enable you to do things you never expected to do. He will do more in you than you have ever expected and more through you than you ever imagined. My challenge to you: Discover YOUR more when you give God your YES. That has been my experience and it’s what I want for you.

This week my adventure included a milestone birthday. Milestones always inspire reflection for me. They are an opportunity to look back and celebrate how far I have come. But they are also an opportunity to dream about where I am going next. Do you do that?

As I have considered this milestone, I have wanted to honor the adventure God has taken me on. From my first YES, He has led me from a scared, self-centered girl to a confident, caring woman who spends her life serving others. My girlhood dream was to be a famous actress. My grown-up dream is to fulfill God's purposes for my life, which included becoming a minister and serving His people. That’s a journey I never expected to take! My life is so much more fulfilling and satisfying than I ever dreamed it could be. And at this juncture many people would be looking toward retirement, winding down. Tom and I are in the process of preparing to gear up for a new season of service and are training for new adventures. I shake my head. How did we get here? One YES at a time. YES by YES. And more to go!

Let's Pray!

August 20, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

Greetings, Dear Friend! Let’s pray some Scripture together!

Father, I am Yours. I will seek You and Your strength. I will seek Your presence continually. (Psalms 105:4, 1 Chronicles 16:11)

Lord, I thank You for being present and active in my life. Help me to acknowledge You in all my ways trusting You to direct my path. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Help me to listen for Your voice behind me saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)

Lord, I know that I am unable to fulfill Your purposes without Your power. Apart from You, I can do absolutely nothing. (John 15:5)

Do Your work in me so that You can do Your work through me. You give me the want-to and the ability to do what pleases You. (Philippians 2:13)

My Shepherd, And Yours

August 13, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

Psalm 23

Because the Lord Himself is my Shepherd. I will always have all that is essential for my life.

He brings me to places of abundance and peace. He soothes my inner struggles and renews the hope of my heart.

He leads me to walk in the paths that please Him. He guides me to go in the way that honors Him because He calls me His.

When my path unavoidably passes through the evils of earthly life and the darkness of death dims the way ahead, my heart is at rest because I know You are present in the pain. You comfort me with your correction. You lead me within the loving limits of Your long-proven pathways.

Celebration

August 6, 2022 Cathleen Zahradnik

Today, Lord, I celebrate You:

In the sun and the heat,
In the cold and the chill,
When the sun rises over the mountains,
When the sun sets beyond the ocean.

I celebrate You:

In the voices that I hear,
In the songs of the birds,
In the faces that I see,
In the colorful variety of flowers.

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.