Loving the Way God Loves: A Story About Carol Cool
Carol Cool was walking down the hallway at work when her coworker Cyndi randomly asked her an unexpected question: “So what is it that you believe in anyway?” Carol and Cyndi hadn’t interacted often at work, but now, as Cyndi’s life had fallen apart, she wanted to know what made Carol’s life so different from hers.
It was no accident, though, that Cyndi had approached Carol with her question. Carol had been praying that God would send someone into her life who wanted to hear about Jesus. So when Cyndi asked Carol about her beliefs, Carol invited Cyndi over to her home so that they could talk about her Christian faith.
As their conversations continued, Carol eventually invited Cyndi to join her at church. Every week, Cyndi would march into Carol’s formally dressed Baptist church, wearing the clothes of an eccentric artist, and sit next to Carol in the second row. Cyndi kept going to church with Carol, and after many conversations and lots of love, she finally called Carol one night and said, “You’re right, I need Jesus.”
In a world where Christians struggle to connect with those who don’t know Jesus, Carol’s life stands out; not because she’s some evangelistic savant, but rather because she shows others the same love that she’s experienced from God.
Figuring out the road ahead
From a young age, Carol knew that she wanted to use her life to minister to others. She grew up in greater Philadelphia during the 1960s, hearing stories of her grandparents’ ministering with the Salvation Army to the New York City bread lines during the Great Depression.
While Carol’s parents weren’t in full-time ministry, they encouraged their children to use their lives to serve God. “We were raised,” Carol said, “To believe that there was nothing better we could do with our lives than to serve Jesus. It was the tenor of our home; even if you were a layperson your goal was to serve Christ.”
When it came time for college, Carol chose to attend Northeastern Bible College in nearby Bloomfield, New Jersey, hoping to use a Bible degree to go into youth work and eventually become a missionary. Some missionaries from her home church had attended the school, and she was drawn to the school’s small size and emphasis on studying the Bible.
As Carol went through college, she wasn’t sure what direction her life would take. She spent a summer abroad in Sweden exploring missionary life but found the experience incredibly isolating. This caused her interest in mission work to end, but since few churches were hiring women on staff, she wasn’t sure where God wanted her to serve.
During her senior year, though, Carol met a new transfer student named Leslie Cool. Les had started college at a nearby state school, but when he became a Christian during his freshman year, he felt God’s call into ministry and left his full-ride scholarship to transfer to the Bible college.
As Carol and Les’ relationship progressed, they decided to get married after their graduation. While Carol was happy to be engaged, she couldn’t help but wonder, how was she going to use her life to serve God now that she and Les were going to have bills to pay and real life to worry about?
An opportunity in retail
After their wedding, Carol found a retail management job at Bamberger’s, a Philadelphia-area department store that was owned by Macy’s, while Les went to seminary and worked as a meat cutter on the side.
Carol began to work her way up at the department store and was soon promoted to assistant store manager, before eventually becoming a buyer in the corporate offices. While Carol still had full-time ministry as a goal, she and Les were both so involved in doing youth work in their home church that she was okay with her retail work.
Soon, without her even realizing it, God started to carve out a unique ministry for Carol at her job. “I really found God using me in the workplace,” Carol said. “I always joke that I’m the kid who never had a rebellious phase, never smoked or drank, but God has ended up using me with people who were on the far edge of hating Christianity.”
While it might sound obvious, Carol ministered to her coworkers through her relationships with them. When Carol’s coworkers shared their challenges with her, she would write them down on Post-It notes and stick them on the edges of her computer monitor. When her coworkers asked her what the Post-It notes were for, she told them that they helped her remember to pray for them and their concerns. Her coworkers really appreciated this and it gave her opportunities to talk about Jesus without them feeling uncomfortable.
God particularly used Carol in the life of one of her bosses, Barbara. Barbara was a confident and successful businesswoman who had embraced polytheism and the occult, proudly telling her team about her many out-of-body experiences.
One day, though, Barbara’s mother died unexpectedly, and she asked Carol and another Christian coworker to pray for her. Carol and her coworker prayed for their boss and shared some Bible verses about the peace that was possible with God. Barbara left work and went on bereavement leave, but after she came back, she sought out Carol and told her, “Your God answer prayers!”
But Barbara was still skeptical of Christianity and especially wary of Christians. “If I never accept this Jesus of yours,” Barbara asked Carol, “Will you still be my friend?” Barbara had had previous run-ins with Christians who only saw her as a project and disengaged from her when she didn’t immediately convert to their faith.
Carol, though, developed a genuine friendship with Barbara, and over several years, found ways to share the message of the gospel with her, while at the same time refusing to base her love for Barbara on the condition of her becoming a Christian. Carol has remained friends with Barbara decades later and is still a part of her spiritual journey, encouraging her towards God.
Carol never set out to make her work a major place of ministry, she just prayed that God would give her opportunities to talk about Jesus. “Most of my evangelism has been people that I’ve just loved and cared about their lives and invested in,” Carol said. “And sometimes years later I’ve learned that they’ve come to know Jesus and that their lives have turned around. God has always used me at work in ways to make a difference in people’s lives for His kingdom.”
Using her words to serve
As Carol’s friendships with her coworkers grew, she and Les began adopting some of them into their home. A few came to live with the Cools for weeks or months while they were going through a tough time, allowing Carol and Les to love them and become a family for them.
Eventually, this spirit of inviting people into their home led to Carol and Les taking in two teenage girls, one of whom, Joy, they ended up adopting. With two teenagers at home now, Carol needed a job with more regular hours. So after 18 years in retail, she started to look for, in her words, “a mindless part-time job.” But God had other plans for her.
When a friend heard that Carol was looking for a part-time job, she asked Carol if she’d ever want to pack boxes at a print shop. Carol said sure! One of the tasks at her new job was to check to make sure the books were printed correctly before they were shipped. But much to her boss’ chagrin, she kept finding mistakes in the already printed books.
One day, four months into the job, Carol’s boss told her, “Come with me,” and walked her to his office. While Carol was sure she was about to get fired, her boss told her she was getting promoted! “We’re going to make you a proofreader,” her boss said, “Because we’d rather you find the mistakes before we print things than after.” And so Carol was introduced to the world of writing and editing.
When her husband Les was asked by their denomination to plant a church in Delaware, Carol found a new job proofreading and writing advertising copy for a large bank. Impressed by her writing, a coworker encouraged Carol to find more ways to write. So Carol attended a Christian writing conference, where she met a mentor who showed her how to write for Christian magazines. Soon, Carol was writing articles for a variety of Christian magazines throughout the country.
After Les took a call to pastor a church in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Carol transitioned into being a freelance writer and editor. At this time, a friend told Carol she was interested in becoming a Christian speaker. Carol suggested that the friend attend an upcoming conference for Christian speakers and volunteered to go with her for support.
While Carol was just there to encourage her friend, she went through the speaker training too and found that she loved it. She got all kinds of positive feedback from the other participants, so after she got home, her friend gave Carol her first speaking opportunity at a women’s retreat.
Now, Carol speaks at Christian conferences and retreats throughout the Northeast, helping her audience to understand God’s love and purpose for them. Through her speaking, she’s been able to tell others about God’s work in her life and minister to a variety of people. She has also written and published two books, “Finding Balance in the Circus of Life,” and “The 29 Cent Baby Jesus,” and continues to write on her own website at CarolCool.com.
What moves Carol’s heart
While Carol thought her life would involve more official ministry with a Christian group, she’s used the places that God has put her, whether in retail, publishing, or speaking, to serve God by loving the people around her.
That’s why Carol’s bohemian coworker Cyndi could march up to the front of Carol’s traditional church and sit next to Carol, even when she didn’t fit in. “Cyndi knew that she was loved,” Carol said, “That’s what makes the difference.”
Even now, forty years later, Cyndi still calls Carol her spiritual mom, even though they’re the same age, to recognize how Carol’s love for her has changed her life forever. “You have to love people where they are and trust the Spirit to move in their lives when they are ready for that. That’s what I’ve tried to do,” Carol said. “It comes back to loving the person the way God loves them.”
