Month: August 2011

Wounds, Needles, and Healing…

Published on by Sarah E. Cooley1 Comment

The Lord is so good.

I am writing this with 30 minutes left of my break for lunch during RA training. Everything feels busy right now. Life is whizzing by. My music residents move in on friday. Student Leaders moved in today. I have to have my hall done and decorated by tomorrow. The rest of my residents move in on the first which is in six days. We are in the process of finishing up the lobby decorations. Life is crazy. It is busy. But, the Lord is using all of this to shape me and mold me. That is for darn sure.

As I was walking back into the dorms after lunch, I had a wonderful conversation with my lovely “creative assistant” who is on staff with me, Tiffany. I had mentioned how things in my life right now are so uncomfortable. That my life just feels awkward and out of place. I am going through somewhat of an identity crisis. Losing who I was for the last three years of my life and gaining a new identity that Christ has given me (I like to think of myself before this summer Sarai and who I am now as Sarah HA-the Lord has given me a new name). Tiffany gave an analogy and I loved it. This summer, the Lord was slowly, but surely, patching up wounds that had been made on my heart. They were almost all the way healed before I got back to school. Certain circumstances have ripped them open once again; It hurts really bad and, sometimes, feels unbearable. My throat was tight and my eyes were welling up while she was talking. She said one day soon, the Lord will heal the broken-hearted and the crushed in spirit. He will heal the wounds that have been made. The Lord is taking the needle and piercing your skin to begin the healing process. And sometimes that is the hardest part.

As we walked into the freshly, decorated lobby, the word “unshaken” was posted in frames on the wall in front of me. I was stopped in my tracks. That word comes from Psalm 62:5-8 which is our dorm verse and theme. It says:

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah” (Psalm 62:5-8 ESV)

 This verse is probably the theme of my life right now. Life is hard. Life is so not a cake walk. But, the Lord is good. The Lord is shaping me and molding me into the woman of God he so desires me to be. He ALONE is my rock and my salvation. In him ALONE do I wait and do I place my hope in. I think my favorite line in that whole passage is the last one…we can trust in the Lord and he is our refuge, so we are able to pour out our hearts to him knowing that he will protect us, that he will catch us if we fall, that he has our best intentions even in the hard and unbearable circumstances, that he will save us, and that he is good. He is so completely and perfectly faithful, and through him we can be “UNSHAKEN.” 

To Be Continued… =)

The Help

Published on by Sarah E. CooleyLeave a comment

I have so much on my heart and mind right now, I don’t even know where to start. I’ll start with the most recent, I suppose. I went to see “The Help” tonight. Right when it was over, I knew I wanted to write about it. I wasn’t sure how it would come across. I don’t want to offend anyone; in fact, I want to do the opposite and empower others to begin to write, think, and speak more about this issue.

This movie was so amazing. I’m at a loss of where to start. This movie was just too good. I am just so glad that someone would make such a great and inspirational film. It seems as if it is not often that someone has the guts to follow through with a movie like this, but when they do, it is a great thing. I couldn’t stop crying. When the movie was over, I looked back at the crowd and half of the theater was wiping their eyes right along with me.

Living in Southern California my whole life, it is hard to understand how a world like that could even exist. I am not used to the idea of blacks and whites not getting along and, even a step further than that, hating each other. They were living in a world where whites (my ethnicity) hated the blacks. One of my best friends, Kayla, is half black and half white. She is amazing and I love her to death. It is unfathomable to think that I could be living in a world where her birth would be completely out of the question.

The Lord, in Ephesians 2, constantly talks about how there is no longer a wall up of hostility. All ethnicities and nations can come and worship him with freedom. He shows the same grace to me, a white girl, as he does to Kayla, my best friend. This truth is remarkable.

On the way home from the movie, my friends and I were talking about how racism still occurs around the world, but even closer to home, it happens right in the Southern States of America. This makes me so angry. It makes me so sad. It makes me want to cry all over again. Knowing that a person who only has a different skin color than me is treated with such disdain and hatred makes me sick to my stomach. If the Lord says that there is no difference in Christ Jesus, what makes it right for people to make faulty declarations about them.  My challenge for everyone reading this, if you haven’t already, would be to watch “The Help” ASAP. Once you watch it, think about how the Lord and how his grace has saved you. Think about how you can make a difference in someones life like the woman in the movie, Skeeter, did. Standing up for truth and having courage while doing so is difficult, but so worth it even if you don’t get to see the truth come full circle like many of these women probably didn’t get to see.

Amazing.

I suppose I am not going to write about anything else. I am fading fast…I am so tired…

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1 ESV).

“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”
(Ephesians 2:14-16 ESV)

Week One of Training – Check!

Published on by Sarah E. CooleyLeave a comment

So I feel as if I have had such little time to spend blogging or even journaling in the last 3 weeks. My heart starts to grow really weary when I don’t get a time to let it all out. So here I am blogging on a nice Saturday off of the normal RA (resident assistant) training.

A few updates since I last blogged. My good friends the burns’ are moved into Lancer Arms…Such a relief for me, I can’t imagine how it feels for them. So now we are neighbors. So nice!

Two really sweet and super cute volleyball players moved on my hall. I am excited to get to know these girls a little better! So now I am no longer alone on this longgggg hall!

My staff is really awesome. I love the other women I get to work with so much. It is different than last year, which it most definitely should be, but getting used to this transition will be good and the Lord will work and move through that experience.

Other areas of life are interesting. I am in a different time of transition and it is a little harder than expected (to be quite frank). Not that it isn’t good, cause the Lord is definitely providing lots of learning experiences, but it is hard, still. I am looking forward to time passing because I keep hearing that ‘time heals all wounds’ and that ‘as time goes by it gets easier and easier’–Here’s to that being true. I am thankful for the days that the Lord has provided for me and looking forward to seeing Him be glorified through this time. The Lord is so good and so faithful and that hasn’t ceased since all of this began. That is so refreshing to remember!!!

Onto another subject, the dorm wide theme will be “unshaken” derived from Psalm 62:5-8. my hall theme has been decided and it stems from this video (if you haven’t seen this video, watch it NOW!!!). I am using muted colors like pink, tan, champagne, white, etc. Flowers every where. Beautiful verses that depict the Lord and his goodness and his life and freedom giving gospel every where! I am so looking forward to sharing with you all the finished product. Keep tuning in to see more updates about the hall decorations.

Looking forward to also sharing about what the Lord will be teaching me and drilling into me while I embark on the next year of my life…my senior year of college (whoa. weird to write.) 

~~~

Here are some recent pictures! Enjoy:
 



To Be Continued… =)

Bare Walls

Published on by Sarah E. Cooley1 Comment

So, since I haven’t posted in a long time, I figured today would be a great day to do that.

What is new in my life, you ask?

~My ‘Welcome to Simmons Hall 1C’ gift from my RD, Janelle~

Well, right now I am sitting in my dorm room, 147C, and enjoying the quietness of the hall after an amazing night of bon firing with the 2011-2012 Res Life family. It is my first night here and it hasn’t quite hit me yet that my summer is over and the school year/training has begun.

I am sure at 7:30AM tomorrow, it will hit me.

I am so excited for this opportunity. The Lord has blessed me with an incredible staff and new RD and I am thrilled to see what he is going to do!

It is almost like the hall is a clean slate. There is nothing in the walls, no one in the rooms, nothing in the desks or dressers, no clothes in the closet…nothing. There is so much potential. There is no where to go but up. There is nothing to do but to improve.

In some ways that is so comforting, but in another sense that scares me to death. What the heck have I gotten myself into signing up to be the RA of twenty-something girls who know nothing about CBU and might not know anything about Christ. I am supposed to be the person who gives a good presentation of both of those things. I feel no where near qualified.

BUT, in my fear and anxiousness, I remember that Christ is good and that Christ is sovereign. He always has and always will provide. He died on the cross to bring me life and to rule in my heart. That is no light thing. He is the Lord of the universe and he is residing in my heart. If I allow him to rule in my heart and guide my life, there is no telling how far I’ll go and how high I can jump. That is not to say there won’t be trials, because there will be. But, the Lord is going to walk me through each and every one of them and is going to use all the experiences I go through-like living in the dorms with twenty-something girls-to grow me, stretch me, expand my view point, break me, teach me, encourage me, love me, guide me, and so much more. The Lord is on my side, and if I obey him in this new experience as a freshman RA, he will provide the fruit. I need not worry, be anxious, or be fearful. He will provide.