What is Your Highest Calling?

June 17, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

What would you say is your highest calling? Is it to evangelize or preach or provide for your family or raise your children? Are you sure that is your highest calling? Let me propose a higher one, and I admit it is as much of a challenge for me as I know it will be for you.

Whatever else God has called us to do and to be can be summed up in this: As believers we are called to be like Christ. Now that is a high calling! But what does that look like and how do we do it?

Are we called to speak with authority over demons because He has given us authority? Well, yes, but is that where you spend your life? Are we called to be like Christ in the working of miracles? Well, yes, but do you and I make miracles happen? Are we called to be like Christ in a life of self-sacrifice? Well, yes, but what does the cross look like in our lives?

Called BY God FOR God

June 10, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2: 10

It is an overwhelmingly profound thought to realize that I have been called by God Himself and that His first calling is that I should be His. Even as I begin to absorb that truth and structure my thinking around it, I am still aware that in that calling God has a purpose for me to fulfill. A purpose, a calling that is not the definition of my significance, but an outflowing of the significance I possess because of Who has called me. He has called me to be His and to accomplish His purposes through me. I am not only called BY God, I am called FOR God.

This whole calling business isn't really as complicated as we make it out to be. We spend so much time trying to figure out what we are supposed to do. We ask the questions:

What did God make me to do?

What do I like?

What am I good at?

What can I make money at?

Will I be successful?

What will make me happy?

Will what God wants me to do make me happy?

What if I make the wrong choice?

We get so focused on our own self-fulfillment—our own success or failure—that we kind of miss the point. You and I haven't received a calling so that we can be fulfilled or happy, although those things are likely to follow as we answer the call.

Who is Calling You?

June 3, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

Live in a manner worthy of the calling you have received, you have been called by God. Ephesians 4:1

Imagine that your phone rings and when you answer it you realize that the call is from the White House. Regardless of how you feel about the current occupant of the White House, the fact that you have received a call from the seat of our country's government would catch your attention. You would know that the call was important, and you'd do whatever you could to give the call the honor it deserved based on where the call was coming from. You would follow whatever instructions were given to you and you might even feel kind of important. After all, the White House is an important place. Doesn't a call from an important place or person make you important? It does!

You have received a call from an important place and an important person. You have been called by the King of Heaven Himself. He knows your name and has identified you as His own. How does that knowledge permeate your life? Does a desire to honor the One who called you motivate your decisions?

Think about it. YOU have been called, not by the White House, but by God Himself. GOD. Called YOU! Called ME! When such greatness and goodness reaches out to such smallness and weakness it's hard to fully comprehend all the implications.

What Defines Me?

May 27, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Ephesians 1:11 MSG

What criteria do you use to define your own existence? That’s a big question! Do you know the answer?

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.

In this grand adventure of life with God, we often think of our life with God as what we do FOR Him— our devotional activity, our acts of service. But what God really wants from us is to understand that our life WITH Him isn't really about those things. What it IS about is knowing and living in our identity in Christ.

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." God wants you and me to be defined by our relationship with Him rather than all the other things that we seek out to tell us who we are.

As you consider what defines you, ask yourself, “Am I finding out who I am in Christ?” What criteria are you using to define yourself?

Called? Me?

May 20, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3 NLT

You want to say YES to God, right? Saying yes starts with hearing God say something, right? YES is a response. We don't say it for no apparent reason! So, what are we saying YES to? A calling? You might say, "Isn't that only for pastors and other spiritual leaders? God hasn't really called me, has He? And if He has called me, then what am I supposed to do?"

Let me affirm something. God IS calling YOU! He is, has, and will continue to call you. As a person who wants to say YES to Him, you need to firmly fix that into your belief system. God IS calling YOU. Once you have that firmly fixed in place, then it's time to consider the other question: "If God HAS and IS calling me, then what am I supposed to do?" That can be so intimidating!

The truth is that every single one of us feels ill-equipped for a calling from God.

Still There

May 13, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. Psalms 145: 18

When Tom and I travel we love to take long drives and explore, especially when we are in a new place. On our first trip to Rhode Island, we found ourselves on such a drive. We would have been at Misquamicut Beach soaking in the sun and breathing in the sea, but the clouds were obscuring the sun and the fog blurred out the sea.

We planned our route by map. Remember maps? Those paper things people used before phones could access GPS and give us turn-by-turn directions? We planned to stop at the lighthouse near Point Judith and then drive up the coast to Narragansett. According to the map, we arrived at Point Judith. We didn’t see the lighthouse anywhere. In fact, we couldn’t even see the ocean, the fog was so thick. After a while, we realized that we were in the right place, we just couldn’t see the lighthouse because of the fog. So, we drove on up the coast. The rock wall along the road was the border between us and the ocean. According to the map, the ocean was there. According to our eyes, there was only a wall of grey, cloudiness. We reached Narragansett and looked around a bit, then returned to our hotel.

The next day greeted us with clear skies and sunshine, so we decided to retrace our tire tracks and try for the lighthouse again. We were amazed to see just how close we had been to it the day before without even a hint that it was right there! Not only that, but the location opened up to some breathtaking ocean views that were totally invisible the day before.

The ride to Narragansett was equally astonishing.

Take The Next Right Step

May 6, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” Isaiah 30:21 NIV

Are you living a life of adventure? Adventure involves risk and uncertainty. You might think of adventure as bungee jumping or rock climbing. But what if you applied that definition to everyday experiences? Then every day takes on an element of adventure, right? And you know what? God is in the middle of our little everyday adventures just as much as the big ones.

My daughter lives in Brooklyn. She's lived in New York for a number of years and knows her way around the New York public transportation system well, so when we visit, we trust her to guide us from one place to another. But on a recent visit, a power outage somewhere in the system turned a routine trip into an adventure! It was full of risk and uncertainty.

Are You Crossing the Rickety Bridge?

April 29, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24 NIV

It was a terrifying moment. I remember exactly where I was. I can clearly see the room around me in my memory. I was about to do something that could potentially rock my world, but I knew that it had to be done. The consequences of not following through outweighed the risk of taking the plunge, so I did it. I prayed Psalm 139:23-24 and meant it! “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”

I had begun to ask God to show me who I really was. It was like setting out to cross a rickety bridge. It didn’t look safe, but it was the only way to get to the other side. Reaching my goal required absolute honesty. The destination was more important than safety. I knew that to become the person that God wanted me to be I had to be willing to give up the comfort of staying the same. I had to risk Him showing me faults and patterns that I didn’t want to see so that I could move forward. I took the risk of praying the prayer. Then, I prepared myself for the awful things that I was sure God would reveal to me. I steeled myself against the pain of self-revelation. I imagined the worst.

But it never happened the way that I imagined it.

He's Got It Covered!

April 22, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

There’s a whole bunch happening in my life right now. What about you?
Isn’t it good to know that God isn’t surprised by any of it? He’s got it all covered because He made you and me and laid out every day from the beginning. Be encouraged, Dear Friend!

Psalm 139
(New Living Translation)

O Lord , you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do…

Every Goal Needs A Tune-Up

April 15, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. ' Philippians 3:13-14

You’re on the road and realize that the road signs and landmarks don’t line up with where you thought you were going. You don’t want to waste time and gas by heading in the wrong direction. What do you do? You pull over, figure out where in the world you are, and check your navigation to make sure you are on the right track! Then you fine-tune your directions and get back on the road.

So, where are you on your journey toward fulfilling your divine destiny? Where are you in fulfilling the goals you have set? One of the most important things you can do to keep making progress is to stop and re-evaluate your goals. Every goal needs a tune-up!

Here are some reasons why.

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.