We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hadassah Treu a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Hadassah , thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Risk-taking is important and life-giving. I’ve always thought of myself as someone who is too cautious and avoids risks. In my teenage and youth years, this led to the sensation that I was not truly living but somehow staying on the sidelines and watching my life as an observer, not as a participant and owner.
This had changed. Interestingly, the first major risk I took was motivated by love. Only love could make me risk everything and leave everything familiar behind. This was the story of meeting and marrying my Austrian love and moving from Bulgaria to Austria without even speaking the language of this country. At this time, my job in Bulgaria was to write and submit project applications for international educational projects. In one project we won, with the abbreviation FATE!, the partner organization I found in Austria sent my future husband Thomas at our first project meeting. He needed to send me a presentation before we met and there was his photo and name at the presentation. This was the first time I heard a voice from above speaking to me, but I dismissed it as nonsense. I felt drawn by the photo and heard in my mind my first name and his family name. He stayed one week, and at the end of this week, we admitted we had feelings for each other and started a distance relationship that ended with a marriage. I never believed in love at first glance, but this was actually what happened to us. Also, this was the first man with whom I could imagine being the father of my children. It was definitely God’s hand that brought him into my life and bonded us.
I never regretted taking this risk and leaving everything familiar behind to start a new life in a foreign country. Was it hard? Yes. I needed to learn the language, to find new friends and community, and to overcome unexpected challenges. But it was all worth it.
The second major risk I took in my life was more vocation and work-oriented. It was preceded by a dream and a vision that grew and took shape in me.
The dream was hard to describe, but I would never forget the feelings it evoked. I was standing on the shore of a lake. The water was transparent and I could see that beneath the water’s surface was a rich and beautiful life, vibrant with multiple colors. Then, I felt a push in the back and somebody pushed me on the surface of the lake. It was a push but also a hug because I felt embraced and steadied all the time. To my amazement, I found that I was not sinking, but actually I could glide on the surface, which had turned into something harder, like a gel. I will never forget the exhilarating emotion of joy and freedom, gliding across the surface held and directed by the invisible arms, and enjoying the amazing life under the surface. The one thing that scared me had miraculously turned into a source of joy.
Shortly after this dream, I embarked on the next grand adventure–launching my writing and speaking ministry and career. My insides were full of seeds–ideas, visions, and words that wanted to grow and be birthed. I felt curious and nervous about this step outside my comfort zone. I left my well-paid job as a marketing and project manager to start what I felt I was called to do. I took the risk and wrote my first poem after nearly 25 years of break. I wrote my first blog articles in English and Bulgarian, purchased a domain, and launched a blog. It was the birth of something risky, without guaranteed results, but I knew this was the right thing to do, and I took the plunge into the unknown. A vast territory, an uncharted land stretched before me, but I had rediscovered a passion. I had a new goal and a new mission: to empower and equip people to advance in their faith and to put their hope in God.
Taking risks has taught me that this is a path to growth–personal, spiritual, and growth in courage, confidence, and freedom. We find genuine, abundant life outside our comfort zones when we face our fears and decide to move on.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am an award-winning international author, blogger, poet, speaker, motivator, and translator, holding a master’s in international relations, living in Bulgaria, Europe. I am the Encouraging Blogger Award Winner for 2020 and the Literature Award Winner of the Municipality of Pazardzhik, Bulgaria for 2024. My mission is to encourage and motivate people to stand firm in the faith, and to grow spiritually by applying biblical truths in their lives.
I am a regular contributor to the faith-based platforms Devotable and Koinonia, COMPEL Proverbs 31 Ministries Blog writer, and Freelancing Community Group leader. My writing has been featured on The Upper Room, (In)Courage, Proverbs 31 Ministries, Her View From Home, Living by Design Ministries, Thoughts About God, Aletheia Today, Today’s Christian Living, and other popular sites.
I am also a contributing author to over a dozen award-winning devotional and poetry anthologies and the author of two poetry books in Bulgarian: “A Guarantee for Another Life” and “Memories Keeper.” My first solo book “Draw Near: How Painful Experiences Become a Birthplace of Blessings” with Calla Press Publishing was released on March 15, 2024.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When I think about resilience, I imagine a tree. The wind blows, and the storm rages around the tree. It bends in all directions, but it stands. It is not breaking. When the storm is gone, the tree is still there—bruised, having lost leaves and branches, but still standing.
I picture a house, too. This house is planted on a rock on a high hill beside the sea. The waters of the sea are dangerous and unpredictable. They can be calm and soothing, sparkling in gold and offering a feast for the eye. Suddenly, they can turn into a raging monster: dark, powerful tsunami waves attacking everything on the way, carrying losses and destruction.
But the house on the rock stands. It may lose a roof or a few walls, and it may be covered with mud and debris, but it still stands.
I have experienced many violent storms in my life, but the one that shattered my heart came four years ago with repercussions stretching into the present. The year 2020 brought the greatest tragedy, various losses, and multiple painful transitions in my life. A hurricane of intense grief, anguish, hopelessness, and disillusionment in faith swirled around me and shook me to the core. My heart and world fell apart with the unexpected death of my husband, best friend, and greatest supporter.
How was I supposed to survive this shaking without being destroyed in the process? I didn’t possess the strength to do this—a finite, feeble human, a jar of clay.
But God. He was my source of infinite strength, my perpetuum mobile.
These words in Isaiah became my daily manna and the assurance that I would survive and overcome.
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31, NIV)
Placing my hope in the Lord daily and expecting His provision was the key to renewing my strength. I fell and failed multiple times; I was on the verge of giving up countless days and nights, but His eternal arms sustained me.
They held firmly all the shattered pieces of my heart. I was disintegrating, but He knew intimately and held all the atoms of my being. God knew when and how to restore me to a new shape—more resilient, stronger, and more mature.
This is, in fact, the most powerful testimony: I should have been destroyed, but I am not. The God of resurrection and restoration carried me through the darkness and the fire, purified me, and restored me to greater strength, faith, and knowing Him.
Resilience is a blessing, but it has a price. To become resilient, we need to pass through hardships, storms, and shaking. We will endure pain and suffering. We will fall, so we can learn to get up. We will fail, so we can learn not to give up. We will be at the bottom, so we can rise to the sky like eagles.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Being authentic and vulnerable has turned out to be one of the most helpful ways to reach more people and minister to their needs. I had to overcome the fear of being embarrassed or awkward and honestly share my struggles with a “me too” attitude before offering a solution or advice.
Also, being consistent and persistent is another key to growing my audience. Showing up every day and investing in my writing was essential. Persistence is especially critical when we don’t see the results we expect. It is exactly then that we need to continue making all the steps forward on our path and push through the discouragement and the fear of failure.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://onthewaybg.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hadassahtreu
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onthewaybg/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/onthewaybg
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hadassahtreu-author
- Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.at/onthewaybg/
Medium: https://medium.com/@hadassah.treu
Gumroad: https://hadassahtreu.gumroad.com/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/hadassah-treu
Link to my book DRAW NEAR: https://a.co/d/gWfmBE3
Join my community: https://subscribepage.io/joinmycommunity
