The Cole Chronicles: August 2010

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Resting in Him

Morning and Evening is one of my favorite devotional books! At staff prayer this week my dear friend Missy read this one to our team. It was one of those moments in which I felt like the words were written specifically to me. It was exactly what I needed to hear, and I felt it could benefit many of you who are also walking through difficult trials. May we cling to the Father during the midst of our trials and trust solely in Him!

“On mine arm shall they trust.”

Isaiah 51:5

"In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust , and so he is compelled to cast himself on God alone. When his vessel is capsizing, and no human deliverance is at hand, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! Sometimes the multitude of our friends keeps us from God; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he runs into his Father’s arms, and blessed to be there! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so specific that he cannot tell them to anyone but God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives you to your Father! Now that you have only God to trust, make sure that you put your complete confidence in him. Do not dishonor your Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that your God is worth ten thousand worlds to you. Show rich men how rich your are in your poverty when the Lord God is your helper. Show the strong man how strong your are in your weakness when underneath you are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord your God will certainly, as surely as He built the heavens and the earth, glorify Himself in your weakness, and magnify His might in the face of your distress. The grandeur of heaven's arches would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the physical eye. May the Holy Spirit enable you to rest in Jesus on the closing day of the month."

A Shopper of Time

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:15-16

Well being that you just read about my top 5 strengths, you now know that I am quite a planner. If you know me at all, you know that I carry my planner with me everywhere. I have my entire day planned out from the moment I wake up until I turn out the lights at night, and I absolutely love to check off my list. However, even though I have the day planned, I can still fill my day with meaningless tasks, and not use my time wisely.

I read this book over the summer, and the principles shared definitely challenged me in light of how I use my time. I already loved these women because they have a wonderful blog called Girl Talk...go check it out! I love their blog, but this book is awesome too! They share five tips for becoming shoppers of time: Rise Early, Sit Still, Sit and Plan, Consider People, and Plan to Depend. I am going to be brief in what I share with you, because I really want you to read this book. The third tip: sit and plan was especially beneficial for me. They challenge you to take a personal retreat where you study, pray, and evaluate your life. Listing your priorities based upon God's Word, you assess how you are doing--what is going well and what needs to change. Then, you focus in on one priority, and develop a plan to change in that specific area. Brilliant huh? I have yet to take this personal retreat, but I hope to schedule this in very soon! They suggest taking 2 a year! I will share a few quotes from the book in hopes that it will intrigue you to read this one. I promise it will be well worth your time, and help you make the best use of your time.

"We can accomplish everything God has ordained for us to do in this life. (Hint: It's probably not half of what's on your to-do list."

"The human heart does not replenish itself with sleep. The body does, but not the heart...We replenish our hearts not with sleep, but with the Word of God and prayer."

"The purpose of getting up early is to make the most important priorities most important."

"We must sit before we do."

"Remember this: even if you only change in one area, you will be doing more than if you hadn't sat down to plan at all."

"For in order to be wise shoppers of time, we must not only look carefully at how we walk but with whom we walk."

"Sitting for a few minutes each morning can considerably affect the trajectory of our day."

"Only God gets his to-do list done each day. We are not God. We are finite creatures with serious limitations."

Monday, August 30, 2010

What are Your Strengths?

Do you know what strengths you possess? Well if not that is quite okay! This book will definitely bring you the answers. Over a year ago, one of my co-workers, Baldwin Smith, had our staff team purchase this book and take the test. Of course, I immediately thought it was just another one of those books. Basically the principle is that if you focus on your weaknesses and try to fix them, you can only improve so much. But, if you focus on your strengths, you will continue to improve and excel. "When we're able to put most of our energy into developing our natural talents, extraordinary room for growth exists."

I quickly realized this book was different. It seems my entire life I was always taught to try to improve my weaknesses, and this book was teaching something completely different. Upon taking the test, the results reveal your top 5 strengths. This test nailed me to a tee! The book also gives you a description of each strength, a list of ideas for taking action, and how to work with others who have the same strength. This book is awesome! I not only learned more about my strengths and how to improve them, but I also learned more about my team mates and how to tap in to their strengths. I highly recommend taking this test!

Just for fun I will share my top 5:

1. Achiever: a constant need for achievement. Each day starts at zero, and by the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself.

2. Responsibility: utterly dependable. You take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion.

3. Communication: You like to explain, to describe, to host, to speak in public, and to write. Ideas are a dry beginning. Events are static. You feel a need to bring them to life, to energize them, to make them exciting and vivid.

4. Discipline: Your world needs to be predictable. It needs to be ordered and planned. So you instinctively impose structure on your world. You set up routines. You focus on timelines and deadlines.

5. Activator: "When can we start?" This is a recurring question in your life. You are impatient for action. Only action can make things happen. Only action leads to performance. Once a decision is made, you cannot not act.

Sounds just like me, does it not?!?

Wonderful Things

"O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name,

for you have done wonderful things." Isaiah 25:1

In the fall of 2009 a Pre-Greek Bible study began within our men's ministry. It was a unique time as freshman boys gathered to hear from the fraternity guys and the staff. Awesome relationships were formed, and these guys were growing in their knowledge and love for the Lord. Once these freshman pledged a fraternity, they already knew Christians within it, and immediately got plugged in to the bible study in their respective house. It was so amazing that we staff girls were a little jealous! Without any hesitation we decided to have a Pre-Greek bible study for women this year. Kailey Kemp, a precious student who attended Greek Summit this summer, stepped up to lead the women's study. We actually have twelve leaders who have committed to teaching over the next seven weeks prior to rush. Last night was our first Pre-Greek study for the women, and we had 75 girls come to the study!!! I was so humbled as girl after girl poured in to this tiny room in the common area of Martin and Stockard. It was unbelievable! What an answer to our prayers! God is so faithful, and He is doing wonderful things at Ole Miss! Please pray for these freshman girls! The world is throwing so many things in their faces, and our prayer is that they would make wise choices, and trust in the only One who can bring true joy and happiness. Over the next few weeks, we will be meeting one-on-one with all 75 girls, so pray that we can speak truth into their lives, and lead them to the Savior!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

800 REBELS

The students are back on campus!!! Monday was the first day of classes, and we passed out 1,000 plastic cups to let students know about Campus Crusade. Tuesday night was our first weekly meeting of the semester, and we had over 800 students in attendance!!! That is 800 Ole Miss Rebels that were given a clear presentation of the gospel, and had the opportunity to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior!! Praise the Lord for the work He continues to do at Ole Miss year after year! We are so thankful that God would choose us to serve here, and we are blessed beyond measure to be a part of what He is doing!

What's Left of Me

Hello friends! It's definitely been a while! Kyle and I took an extended vacation up to the Northeast, and then school started back this week so things have been rather busy! I have so much to share with you, and of course lots of pictures from the trip! Those will have to wait though because I want to start with a question so many of you have asked me recently. How are things going for you? What is the next step for you and Kyle in trying to conceive? I have dreaded sitting down to write this post because in doing so I really have to face the facts, which can be quite difficult. I could have answered these questions about a month ago, but just did not have it in me. Thank you for being patient, and in the process still praying for us.

In the beginning of August, we had about a two hour appointment with our doctor to discuss our situation. In January the doctor had told me he hoped to have me pregnant by July, and that did not happen. Kyle and I really wanted to discuss next steps with him. He was so kind to spend so much time with us, answer all our questions, and give us a plan. He must have flipped through our chart more than a dozen times to evaluate what has happened thus far. Through this he shared with us the percentages we had in getting pregnant with the past three IUI's. The first one in which I did get pregnant I had a 12% chance. The second time it decreased, and I had a 4% chance. The third time it decreased even further, and I had a 2% chance. I certainly wish I had known this when I left the clinic because I would not have fretted during the two week wait. Kyle and I were stunned as we sat there and listened to these percentages. In fact, I told Kyle we have a better shot at taking everything we have and putting it on red in Tunica! It literally felt like to me we had taken a $1,000, and watched it flush down the toilet. That's just me being completely honest. You might be curious as to why the percentages change. Several different thing are factored in to the number from the husband and wife that can change each round of treatment. What do you do when given numbers like these? That is the big question! Of course, I would like to stay hopeful, and trust that the Lord is infinitely more powerful than a number. But, there is a fine line there, because you have to face the facts too.

What is the next step for us? The doctor would like to do one more IUI which will be our fourth one. Yes, I feel like it is a waste of $1,000! His reasoning is that most women conceive within 3 to 4 IUI's, so common sense says do one more. After that he suggests that we move on to IVF. This was the part of the conversation that became extremely difficult. As the doctor stepped out of the room, I looked at Kyle with tears just swelling up in my eyes. It was like I saw in fast forward the last year and a half of our lives, and I never ever thought the Lord would bring us to this point. In the early stages of trying to conceive, I never thought this would be me. I thought the movie would end long before this point. The doctor shared so much information with us about IVF, and much more than I could ever recount to you. I am extremely blessed that we have a doctor that is a Christian, and will answer our questions with that in mind. What really shocked me is that with IVF I would have a 65 to 70% chance of conceiving...that is a drastic difference! I hope and pray that we will conceive before this process, however if we do not, we are confident that the Lord would want us to try IVF. I could share lots of specific details about this procedure, but I will wait until we know we are moving in that direction.

How am I doing? This question is somewhat difficult to answer, because I have really good days and really bad days. I truly feel like I have been sifted over and over, brought through the fire again and again, yet the Lord is still refining me. To an extent I feel like I have been stripped down to my bones, and that is what's left of me. After the last IUI failed in July, I was just done! I have never been so frustrated with the Lord in my life, and that was a scary place to be. I was speaking with my director and he mentioned when David says, "Awake from your sleep and hear me Lord." This is what I wanted to scream to the Lord too. Kyle and I, and hundreds of others are praying, and it feels as if the Lord is not hearing us. This can be extremely frustrating, but I was so encouraged when I read this excerpt from the blog, Practical Theology for Women.

"Married woman experiencing infertility, I encourage you with similar words. People can be callous with their words, especially in the church. But believe in confidence that God in this very moment loves you with a deep love. You may feel estranged from Him, knowing that He has the power to give you that sweet infant that He has given so many around you. It seems like He is dangling a desire in front of you, teasing you with it. But understand that unfulfilled desire is a tool He uses to give you even better things – things of Himself that you cannot know in easy ways. Believe in confidence that this time of waiting is not just a holding pattern with no discernible value, but it too is a blessing, albeit in disguise, as it increases your strength to run and not grow weary and to walk and not to faint. Wait on the Lord, dear sister, in confidence."

The part in bold is greatly encouraged me. The Lord is not withholding anything from me. He is giving me even better things! I have to keep this ever before me, or I quickly drift into a mindset that the Lord is not giving me what He could so easily do. Yet, I know there is much purpose behind what the Lord is doing in our lives, and He is blessing us beyond measure in this time of waiting. I have shared a lot today, and I thank you for listening. I am so humbled that so many of you care so deeply for us. Thanks to each of you who have sent me texts, e-mails, and cards. These bring me much encouragement, and often come at a time when I really need it. Never think that I am tired of hearing from you, because there are days that just a simple note has given me hope and strength to persevere. Thanks for loving us so well, and for praying for us! We long for the day that you can rejoice with us as we bring home a child!

Monday, August 2, 2010

BHS Class of 2000 Reunites!

On Saturday July 31st, I celebrated my 10 year high school reunion. I graduated from Brandon High School in 2000. It was an incredibly fun night, and I realized just how much I love all my classmates! We truly had such a fun class, and it was just great to reunite again! I enjoyed catching up with lots of old friends, and taking a few trips down memory lane. It is funny how fast those ten years went by, yet when we are all together it feels just like yesterday. What a fun night had by all!