What I’m Learning: The Challenge is Not Mine Alone

June 1, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.” 1 Corinthians 12:26 NLT

So, here's this week's update. I am recovering well from the surgery on my right wrist. I am still very limited in what I can do, but I am feeling better, and I know that after my follow up appointment this coming week I will be able to do more. My left wrist is healing. As it has been the only hand that I can do anything with, at times it feels a little strained. I can do what I need to do, like eat as long as the food is prepared for me. I can’t handle carrying any weight. But we are moving forward. Thank you for your prayers!

I am keenly aware that what I am going through, this challenge, it’s not just my challenge. My challenge presents challenges to others. This challenge is also my husband’s challenge as he cares for me and helps me with the many things I am unable to do for myself. It’s my church’s challenge as my care pastor works to help us through it with meals, rides and other support. It’s my family’s challenge as they navigate their own feelings about my injuries and recovery. I may be the one with broken wrists, but when I fell a whole bunch of other people fell with me.

I once heard a message by Elisabeth Elliot in which she defined suffering as having what you don’t want or wanting what you don’t have.

So…Surgery next

May 25, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Psalms 103:13-14 NLT

Hello friends!

Here is an update on my situation. You remember from last week that I fell, and God miraculously protected me from cracking my skull on the cement floor of my basement. However, as I told you last week, I had a cast on my right wrist and my left wrist was injured, but I expected it to get better within a few days. My situation has developed, shall we say. After my visit to the orthopedic doctor, it was determined that there is a crack in my left wrist. So, I now have a brace on my left wrist. I am OK with that because now it doesn’t hurt the way that it did. However, that leaves me with no 100% working hands.

The orthopedist also determined that I need surgery on my right wrist. Although the cast had immobilized my wrist, the bones were not staying aligned. Therefore, by the time you read this, the surgeon will have added screws and a plate in my wrist.

As you can imagine, that’s a lot to take in.

So, a thing happened this week…

May 18, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.” Psalms 37:23-24 NLT

Hello, Friend!

So, a thing happened this week. I took a wrong step and fell backward onto my basement floor. As I struggled unsuccessfully to regain my balance, I called out the name of Jesus. He answered me in this miracle. Somehow, as I was falling my hoodie transformed into a cushion for my head, so I did not bang my head on the cement floor. As I was at home alone, that would’ve been a really bad day. I am praising Jesus for his great mercy and kindness!

However, my right wrist took the brunt of the fall.

Who Are You Working For?

May 11, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24 NLT

Do you ever feel like you are just going through the motions of life? The alarm goes off. You open your heavy eyes and reach your finger to tap it silent. You stare at the ceiling and wonder, “Is this all there is? Where is the more I was meant for?” You drag your feet to the floor and stagger to the bathroom, then the kitchen…and so it starts again. Another empty day of just going through the motions. But is it really empty? Your feelings are loud and strong, but are they true?

Dear Friend, I have learned that in those seasons of wondering “where is the more I was meant for?” I was on the path to more even though I didn’t feel it. And you are, too. The course correction begins, not in your routine, but in your thinking. Here are a few reminders to help you make the shift. Ready?

The signature on your paycheck is not the point. If you don’t get a paycheck this is still for you. Whether or not you get a paycheck the question remains the same. Who are you working for? Your work serves someone.

YES Changes Everything

May 4, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” Luke 5:5 NLT

I opened the large manilla envelope with excitement and amazement. I knew what was inside. The evidence of my YES to a ministry calling. The proof that I had obeyed God YES by YES through years of classwork, application, testing, and interview. I slid out the certificate bearing my name as a licensed minister of the Assemblies of God. As I held that hard-earned certificate, I found myself praying, “Okay, God. I obeyed You. Now what?” Now that I had that certificate, I had no idea how God wanted me to use it. So, I began to seek God for my next YES and another season of YES by YES began until He opened the doors He had planned for me.

Where has your YES taken you, my friend? Your whole life is a compilation of YES and NO.

When Peter gave Jesus his YES and threw the net on the other side of the boat, he began to compile a different set of YES and NO. That one act of obedience set the stage for a life he had not imagined. Much like pursuing ministry credentials changed my direction. What about you? How has your obedience made a difference? Why does YES change everything?

Ordinary Day. Extraordinary God.

April 27, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” Luke 5:5 NLT

Have you ever missed a message from a good friend? Sometimes the days get so busy that I don’t check my messages, or I miss a phone call from someone I really want to hear from. Does that ever happen to you? It’s easy to get caught up in our everyday life and miss what’s really important, isn’t it?

Jesus showed up in Peter’s everyday life. After a normal night of regular employment, Peter didn’t know what would happen when he said YES to Jesus and cast his net. But that YES completely changed his direction. Peter desired something different after he said YES to Jesus. And he left the familiar seaside village, people, and nets to pursue it.

I didn’t know how my life would change when I said YES to Jesus all those years ago (more years than I’d like to admit!), but the trajectory of my life completely changed. Where I wanted to go was altered by my YES.

Do you notice how Jesus is showing up in your everyday life? How might He be inviting you to follow Him today? How might your direction change if you say YES to that invitation?

What Will Happen if You Say YES to God?

April 20, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” Luke 5:5 NLT

Do you sometimes struggle to say YES to God? I know I do. I want to see where my YES will take me before I give it. But obedience doesn’t work that way, does it? There is risk when we give God our YES.

Remember the story of Peter and his fellow fisherman? They had fished all night. The right time to fish. They were exhausted after a professionally exhausting and unprofitable night shift. Depressing daylight meant cleaning their empty nets and getting some sleep. Then, Jesus, the carpenter’s-son-turned-itinerant-preacher, gets into their boat, tells them to launch out into the deep water, and cast their nets IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY! Peter had every logical reason to turn down this teacher with no professional fishing knowledge. But Jesus’s obvious connection to God caused Peter to let the teacher become the fishing foreman. So, they launched out into the deep water and cast their nets in the middle of the day.

Something about Jesus’ character led Peter to say YES to an action that made no sense at all. And it worked. You know the rest of the story. They caught so many fish that their nets began to break. Peter’s obedient YES proved overwhelmingly profitable. But that was just the beginning.

Peter’s YES teaches me a few things. Maybe you’ll agree with me.

When you say YES you invite God into the situation. Peter’s obedience made room for God to get involved. The miraculous catch that followed Peter’s obedience opened him up to so much more.

What Will They Remember About You?

April 13, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” Deuteronomy 34:10 NLT

When people think about you what is the first thing that comes to their minds? What do you want them to think about? What kind of legacy do you want to leave?

I’ve been thinking about Moses. Moses was identified by his relationship with the Lord, not by all the miraculous things he had done or how he led the people. His legacy was intimacy with God. How’s that for a legacy? I want to be identified by my relationship with the Lord more than anything that I do. That’s what I want people to remember. Boy, have I got a long way to go!

Isn’t that the legacy of the “spiritual giants” who have done great things for God? They preached to large crowds but spent hours alone on their knees. They taught the principles that defined their daily actions to lead others into the kinds of relationships that they had with God. That’s why we remember them.

Brother Lawrence, Oswald Chambers, Charles Finney, Eric Liddell, Billy Graham, Jim Elliot, Elisabeth Elliot, Amy Carmichael, Mother Theresa, Joni Erickson Tada and so many others. I’ve read about them or read their words. What is it that attracts me to these people? Not their mighty deeds. It is the deep relationship with Jesus that motivated their works.

When people remember me, I want them to be inspired to spend their energy pursuing His presence in their lives. That’s all that really matters.

What can you and I learn from Moses about intimacy with God?

Pain is a Gift: Lessons From the Hospital

April 6, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NLT

In the dark of early morning Tom stood at the bedroom door clutching his side and said, “Cathleen, we need to go to the hospital.” I scurried to throw on the clothes I had set out the night before in anticipation of this possibility. And so, this journey began. It’s been a week!

It all started with pain. Intense, breath-robbing pain. Pain led to the flurry of hurry-up-and-wait in the Emergency Department and the discovery process of blood work and scans that led to one diagnosis, a prescription and release. But there was still pain.

Pain led us back to the ED for more hurry-up-and-wait, more blood work and scans and an additional diagnosis that led to in-patient treatment. That is where we are a week later. Perhaps by the time you read this, he will be home. Thank you for your prayers!

But that isn’t why I write now. I invite you to consider with me the gift of pain. It is human to avoid pain. We often try to ignore or minimize pain in any form. It would be crazy to seek out pain. There is a good chance you are experiencing some kind of pain at this moment. What would it look like to accept that pain as a gift?

I don’t know what kind of pain you are facing. But, if you can receive it as a gift, I know that it will lead to healing, because when we let it, pain leads us to God, the healer of body, mind and spirit.

Silent Saturday: Counting the Cost

March 30, 2024 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?

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.