Can giving up what you think you want actually set you free? From Lost to Found (W Publishing, Thomas Nelson) author Nicole Zasowski is on the show today sharing about how through a great season of transition, loss, and pain, she discovered that only empty hands are truly open to receiving transformative grace and that the beauty of being lost lies in the joy of being found.
We chat about:
- Her cross-country move
- Her multiple miscarriages
- The dangers of being comfortable.
- Learning to let go
- Holding on to hope
- Living a life of influence
Quotes
“I don’t believe life has to be hard to be worthy. Some seasons are challenging and some seasons are filled with harvest.”
“It was actually God’s grace that these behaviors failed.”
“It’s dangerous when self-reliance is the name of the game. I used to think the enemy only worked in our lives by trying to make us miserable, by attacking us in a really obvious way. But I think one of the ways the enemy works best is to make us comfortable without Christ.”
“I used Him as the power source to my own plans, rather than living surrendered to what He had for me.”
“I confronted something I could not change. We had an answer but there was nothing we could do about it.”
“It didn’t matter how hard I worked, how good I was, or how well I performed. It wasn’t going to change our situation. But I now see when we confront things we can’t change there is an invitation and an opportunity for it to change us. And that’s what started to happen in my own life.”
“Invite God into the feelings that you have instead of trying to have the perfect feelings for God.”
“There was a season where I thought if I can’t change the situation then I’ll just make God really proud of me so I wouldn’t have to keep going through these miscarriages.”
“Sometimes we’re afraid to approach God with negative feelings, but they are not negative feelings, they are honest feelings.”
“Joy comes with walking alongside God with all of our feelings, not just the pleasant ones.”
“I believe God is able, I know that He can, and I believe that He will. And even if He doesn’t I trust Him and His character.”
“I still have a complicated relationship with hope because it can feel like just another avenue of disappointment.”
“I wanted my work to matter. I wanted to make a difference in the world. But I realized that influence and impact do not happen by pursuing influence. It happens by pursuing God.”
“The magnitude of the moment does not determine the measure of the miracle.”
“I was on a roller coaster of only being as good as my last performance.”
“Though our feelings can be real, they are not always true.”
“I began to trust God’s provision over my own vision.”
“Practice takes it from the truth you know to the truth you trust. We can think and act our way to a new feeling but we cannot feel our way to a new way of thinking and acting.”
“God is too loving to waste our pain. On the far side of the pain we don’t prefer, we will find transformation we wouldn’t trade.”
“It isn’t about what we do but it is about what Christ has already done.”
“Our good life is not a result of our own goodness.”
“Hope only gets deployed when we face struggle.”
“Connect before you correct.”
Connect with Nicole:
Nicole is a licensed marriage and family therapist, writer, and speaker based in the state of Connecticut where she lives with her husband and two young boys. As an old soul who wears her heart proudly on her sleeve, Nicole loves using her words to help others find an enduring peace and joy outside of circumstance. Connect with her online at nicolezasowski.com.
