Browsing Tag

Blessings

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

A B&B with Neither B nor B.

Posted on June 19, 2026

Yesterday. It was pretty crazy. Finally having launched on this trip to Jackson, Tennessee, we turned that car right around and went back to take care of a last-minute need that one of the grands had, back on Powell Street. We launched again. Finally, at about 10:30 pm, we got to the place where we’d reserved a room. It was a loft in a restored old building in the old and eclectic part of a small town. It was beautiful, but it had not been cleaned, Not at all. The used sheets were piled on the bed and the towels were in the bathroom floor. By the time we contacted the owner, it was very late and the owner was in Florida on vacation. 

My husband has probably never used this particular app before to find lodging. (For the record, even though I texted “Airbnb,” it was not that particular  rental company.) In fact, I know he has not used this app, because he dowloaded it as we “relaxed” there on the sofa, trying to figure out what we were going to do. This text to our daughter, Hannah, reflects his freshman B&B status. It was comforting to know we were providing her entertainment, even from across the miles.

Options were dwindling. The owner directed us to a closet in the hallway where the cleaning supplies and fresh towels were located and to a container in the bedroom closet where some fresh sheets were stored. He said he could send someone over the next morning at 8:30 am. Well, we really didn’t plan to wait till then to sleep. 

We changed sheets. We are sharing one towel and one washcloth that were still unused, while we are pondering the fact that our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, of late, have been sleeping on cold floors in their coats as they shelter from bombing. We are so, so incredibly rich. 

This morning, I am happily eating my protein bar and having a glass of water. I guess the last guests used the K-cups, too.

Tonight, with His blessings, we will walk into a little auditorium and watch Maggie, who is 8, deliver her one line in the play “Nemo”. She will, of course, be the brightest star on the stage.  We will burst with pride and replay “the line” for days. We are grandparents!

And then, tonight, we will turn right around and make the trek home. We will arrive late, once again. This weekend we will both begin events where we actually get to teach God’s word for a week—to people who have asked us to do it! No fear, no intimidation, no bombing going on outside these facilities, nor hunger happening inside them. There will be an abundance of all the people and things we love!  There will be  hospitality, hugs and harmony.  It is hard to believe that the prep work for what we do is spending time in the Word! We get to do our favorite thing to prepare for our favorite times of fellowship. (And sometimes, we call that “work”!)  All we need is unlimited time. And that’s coming up, too!

We just need rest and time…those two things. And heaven is the epitome, the ultimate, the infinite of the unlimited– in both! We are so so incredibly rich! 

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

By the Berry Bushes

Posted on June 2, 2026

Sometimes I think because it’s so easy to “like” something on facebook, we all start to think people are really interested in what we just spilled on the kitchen floor or that we’re having leftover kraut and wieners for supper or that our dog had to go to the vet. So let me preface this little post about berry-picking by acknowledging up front that I know you don’t really care that my blueberries are in and that Eliza Jane and I spent an hour last evening just before sundown with the firstfruits. It’s been really wet in our part of God’s world and Eliza was easily distracted by puddles and mushrooms.  She also really wanted to pick the “rainbow ones”. They’re completely unripe and inedible, but “they are so ‘beautiful’ and I love them.”… and who’s to say that aesthetics to the eyes of a child are any less valuable than aesthetics to the tastebuds of an adult?

At any rate, I probably need to get out more, but I’m going to write about the blueberries. It’s not profound, but if you spend enough time in the blueberry bushes, you start finding lessons even there. Some of this is review from another year in the berries.

This one’s about the firstfruits. I waited and waited for those first berries to ripen. Glenn and I traveled to speak in Mississippi and this very nice lady in the church there gave me a bag of blueberries–two weeks before mine got ripe! Now I know she thought she was doing something very nice and the berries WERE really good, but bringing that bag of berries home made me think when I got home, my berries would be ripe, too. I could not wait. But when I got home, my blueberries still were not blue–at all…and they were only as big as Dippin’ Dots. In fact, that’s what they looked like…vanilla Dippin’ Dots.

So I waited a few more days…until one night, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a torrential rain…I mean a real gully-washer. As I lay there listening to the pounding rain, I thought about those blueberries. “When it gets dry enough to walk out there to those bushes, I bet I’ll have ripe blueberries at last!”

But, alas, they were still not blue. I mean, a few were starting to turn blue, but now most of them were pink strawberry colored and the size of an English pea. I could not resist, so I tasted one. That was a mistake. I thought about what James said about being patient:

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains (James 5:7).

I guessed the torrent in the night had been the early rain and that we’d just have to wait for the late rain. What I’m saying is that by the time those blueberries were blue enough to eat, I was way past ready for some blueberries in my cereal!

God knows how farmers feel about the firstfruits. The first tomato is the very best one, because anticipation adds flavor. The first watermelon seems to take forever to ripen because we’re watching that vine so closely. We prize the firstfruits.

Did you know that God wants the firstfruits? He wants the first because they’re the best. Listen to a couple of many passages in which God instructed the Israelites to bring him the firstfruits:

Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce (Proverbs 3:9).

For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things (Ezek. 20:40).

And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy unto the LORD (Ezek. 48:14).

The scriptures also speak of Christ as the firstfruit from the dead (I Cor. 15:20), because he was the predecessor of all who will be resurrected. Christ, the firstfruit, was the long awaited one…the sweetest…the best.

Now, if you are one of the three people who got a bag of those first berries, I really love you a lot. Those were the long awaited ones, the sweetest, the best. Frankly, they were the hardest to give away.

That’s what God requires of us. He wants the sweetest. He wants our best. He wants what means the most. Do we give Him that? Do I give him the top spot on my “to do” list? Do I make His offering my first budgeted monthly expenditure? Do I elevate the spiritual above the material? Does he really get the firstfruits of my oblations?

Finally, The redeemed righteous are described as the firstfruits to God:

These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. (Rev. 14:4,5).

The only way I can be a firstfruit is through redemption; the freedom from sin and guile that comes through Jesus. But, for those of us who are the redeemed, the firstfruits, God is waiting. We are His best, not because of any human merit, but because of the very nature of redemption. He made us perfect and complete in that redemption process. He’s begotten us in His word of truth. He brought us forth (NASB), so that we could be his precious firstfruits.

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures (James 1:18).

I hope you get to eat the first tomato or the first melon or the first peach or even the first squash this year. (Squash firstfruits are really good, but then, once you’ve had eight casseroles with mushroom soup, and you’ve had it boiled six times and fried 7 times and stuffed three times and sliced on a sandwich five times, and tossed in a salad twice, it’s just not AS good as it was that first day.) When you’re savoring the firstfruits, I hope you’ll take the time to read over the thirty Biblical references to firstfruits. I hope you’ll thank God that He’s redeemed us for His firstfruits. I hope you will determine in your heart to always give God the firstfruits of all you are and have. I hope you’ll also share your garden’s firstfruits with someone in the kingdom. “Inasmuch as you have done it for the least of these my brethren, you’ve done it unto me,” (Matthew 25:40).

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

The Blessing Trail Again…Tenacious Women!

Posted on September 23, 2025

This past weekend I spent 14 hours in airports. That’s about 12 more hours than I spent sleeping.  Someone cut a couple of fiber-optic cables and the Dallas area airports were without radar and communication signals, for a long period of time. I don’t know what a fiber optic cable would even be, but I know that it was a very sad eventuality for thousands when one was clipped. 

Somehow, unbelievably, my little 1/100,000th of the problem scenarios was remedied and I walked in there, at the last minute, and spoke for the sweet ladies of the Howe church in Howe, Texas. I was sleepy, but I was really glad to be with those sisters, after fully believing, at several different points that my presence would not be happening. After all, when, after many hours of hearing delay after delay, and cancellation after cancellation, you finally get almost to your destination and  you hear a pilot say, “I have bad news and good news….The good news is, we picked up a lot of fuel in Huntsville…”, you kind of know what the bad news is going to be. 

I want to thank the sisters at Howe for being patient and persistent as we tried to figure a way to make the plan work. (I wish I’d taken some pictures of the women of Howe!…This is how you roll when you are this sleepy!) They were a tenacious group of women. I also know that, if I had not been there, one of those ladies would have stepped up there and done a better job than I could even approach. But more thank all this, I see His MORE in all the workings of the weekend. Here are just ten examples.

  1. The first six-hour delay, that ended up in total cancellation, brought good news to me, as I waited. Someone dear to me responded that she’d been unexpectedly granted, by God, what she’s been praying for, and that she had decided to do our Digging Deep study with us. She needs this. I praise Him!
  2. Someone sitting beside me on the very last flight put my phone number in her phone for contacting about the church. She has a five-year-old who needs to be in a Bible class, and she said she would definitely be checking out the West Huntsville church. She lives just a few minutes/miles from our building. 
  3. I had to get my daughter to come and get me from the airport on Friday night, so I could try to sleep a couple of hours before getting up again to try for the Saturday red-eye flight. I asked her to let me run in a fast food place on the way home, because I was starving. I was sad that my husband was not available to shuttle me. In a coincidence I could not have dreamed up, a man opened the door for me as I was exiting the McDonald’s. It WAS my husband. He did not know I was there when he stopped. I surely did not expect him to be there. It was a fun moment. 
  4. Just as I was about to abandon all hope, for the third or fourth time, of making it to the ladies day, I was pretty tired, discouraged and grumpy. Then I had a conversation with a lady beside me who was trying to get to her niece’s funeral. Her niece was young; a victim of cancer. Sometimes the attitude adjustment reminders are unavoidable and potent. 
  5. The lady who picked me up at the airport in Dallas was wonderfully encouraging. She had been at the ready to drive from Dallas to Shreveport or Oklahoma City to pick me up—just wherever I could make it. I’m humbled at the tenacity and hospitality of so many on this trip. This particular sister was very good at making me feel like she actually enjoyed traveling a long distance to spend time with me on Dallas freeways. 
  6. A sweet sister took me into a private part of the building when I arrived, where she showed me my personal prayer quarters. I loved having that little space in which to collect my thoughts. After arriving at the building, I had just a short moment before speaking. This sister took my hands and prayed with me. That was the exact thing I needed in that moment. God is so very good!
  7. While there, I met some people from my past—people I love very much—and I met a new sister, just born-again in baptism a few days ago. She wanted the Digging Deep book and she’s already texted me her address since I have been home. This is the best!
  8. I also met victims—victims of rape, of adult children who have left their moorings, and of the devil working in their own personal lives. I was reminded, once again, of the power of the devil in our lives and of the Victor over His death and darkness. 
  9. I spoke with a lady who is trying hard to get a congregation back into full hospitality/fellowship mode following the exhausting and divisive national experience of Covid. She’s planning game nights and meals for elderly and outings and devotionals; and she and her husband are doing all of this without much encouragement from the rest of the family there. Those who are still recovering, in spiritual ways, from Covid are one more testimony to the power of darkness. It was a blessing to me to see her perseverance in making this recovery, for this church, her personal goal and business. 
  10. I got up on Sunday morning and sang “No other name but the name of Jesus,” with people who sang it with fervor and who are living their lives to the glory of that holy name. 
Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Intersections of Lads to Leaders

Posted on April 21, 2025


I’m pretty sure I heard 30-plus speeches this weekend about Joseph and how his brothers meant the pit, the slavery and the bloody coat, for evil, but God meant it all for good. I heard a lot about Job and even more about the intended and massive eternal good that God meant through the abuse that happened at the cross.  

And I never needed to hear any message more. It was THE powerful balm for my weary soul. His timing is always perfect! He meant this weekend for my good and, yes, of course, I can claim the promise of Romans 8:28 (that I heard quoted several times) in all the things that occur in my life. Events, occurrences, schedules and mishaps are not all about me; but of course they ARE all about Him IN me and in you and in every faithful child. How can He take every single one of His called children this weekend across multiple convention sites and make the paths of our lives converge into one good thing? It’s because we are called according to His purpose and we claim that promise from an infinitely resourceful God. As one of my grandchildren said in her speech, “Like I said, I can’t even imagine it. But it’s no wonder I can’t even imagine it. God said He can do exceedingly, abundantly more than I can even ask or imagine.” 

It strikes me on reflection that we are blessed in His family with so many intersections at a big event like Lads to Leaders. This (Nashville convention, this year) was the biggest convention in the history of Lads and it was full of wonderful cross-over reunions for most of us. 

Lads is a physical family reunion for many of us. I got to be with all of my grandchildren except 3 week-old Lily. I got to hear them all speak. I got to hear them all lead a song. I got to see two of them teach with puppets and I got to see two of them achieve high scores in Bible Bowl. One of them got the Keepers award and a couple of them achieved the Good Samaritan Award.  I got to hug and talk with cousins and sisters and brothers-in law and nieces and nephews. I’m so thankful for family.

Lads intersects with Polishing the Pulpit. Hundreds of PTP friends reunited in corridors and ballrooms. It made us remember good times and it made us say “I’ll see you this summer!” I’m so thankful for PTP.

Lads is an intersection of people from every congregation I’ve ever attended. There were people  with whom I grew up and people from Henderson and  Pulaski and Collierville and Jasper.  Great memories of rich blessings of friendship in Him just overwhelmed me. I’m so thankful for His providence. 

Lads is an intersection of prayer groups. Sisters pray with sisters. We become extremely close as we beg God together. But getting to hug sisters who are pleading for various sicknesses and trials is a gift. I thank God for the praying sisters. 

Lads is an intersection of the sixties-something me and the six-year-old me. People I’ve known from the Adamsville church for all my life walked up and said “I’m ____________.” Then there were big embraces and fond memories just came pouring back. I’m so thankful for a childhood among His faithful people. 

Lads is an intersection of Christian camps. Teen girls, over and over, shouted “Mrs. Cindy!” We took pictures and we said lots of “Are you coming this summer?” And there were lots of “OHHH yes! I can’t wait.”s. I’m thankful for youth events that bind them (and us) together.

Lads is an intersection of Diggers. Digging Deep is a bond of Bible study and fellowship that I do not take for granted! And seeing one or more of you Diggers at an event is a priceless collision!  This weekend, I saw hundreds.

Most importantly, Lads is a great intersection with the future of the kingdom. Of course, I know that it’s not likely that every single young person who participated this year will be in heaven. (That’s the way the devil works!) But every single one of them has the individual power from heaven to get there! I’m still going to pray for every one to be there, because He is the God of more than I can imagine!  I’m also praying that they all take the skills they are learning and just keep on using them year ‘round, year after year, to bring other souls to the cross. I’m so thankful for the display of a bright future for the kingdom. 

Praise God for the children. Praise god for the Kingdom. Of such IS the kingdom. 

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

He’s Good on the Road…and Everywhere!

Posted on April 14, 2025

Shout-outs today to a few of the folks who for various reasons, made my heart happy in Oklahoma. 

  1. My husband! I don’t get to travel with him to lots of events. We are mostly crossing paths on the weekends. But this time, this great church invited him to come, since I was there anyway, for a ladies’ day. He did a men’s day and a preacher’s meeting and preached all day on Sunday. He, as usual, worked harder than I did. It was a bonus blessing to have him there!
  2. The Whinerys! We got to stay in the renowned Whinery B and B and it lives up to every ounce of renown. We love these people and what is not to love?! We’ve been twice around the world with them and we’d love to get to do it again one day!
  3. This troop from Tipton Children’s home. This sweet, sweet house parent, Sarah, has been my friend since she was about 14 and I got to be in her house and do a ladies day in her congregation in Sabetha, Kansas. I was beyond excited to see her standing there beside me with all of her little brood. What a great blessing! I love her. The youngest two are her own and how blessed are all these girls! They listened and learned and I hope I see them one day leading the women in their congregations. I’m going to start praying for that!
  4. Carissa! I love her from a way-down-deep place and I am so thankful we got bonus time with her. We go way back to early PTPs and a trip to Israel and sharing a suite in her parents’ Hot Springs house before she married. I thank Him for a couple of hours of catching up. She blessed us!
  5. The sweet Carters. Rose was about three last time I got to visit with her and look at her now! She decorated the tables for the ladies day! And they were exquisitely done.
  6. The girls I got to teach in the teen class this morning. When ever does a teen girl come up and actually request a lesson on modesty? What a sweet blessing! 

I loved every thing about it. People graciously offered to stay in prayer for my family. People bought lunches and suppers. People…God’s people are generous and good and I love His family!

Oklahoma…where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.  I did think we were going to blow away, but  the pink moon rose on Saturday night over those beautiful cow pastures and the sunsets were signature by my Father! He is so good!

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

A Few, Very Biased Thoughts…

Posted on March 14, 2025

She just keeps pushing them, putting in the effort to keep them going, switching hands every now and then, breathing deep and pushing them again. This morning Hannah  woke up with an achy throat and body and she asked herself if she could really adult today. Then she put in a day of school, took them to piano and karate and gave the meds to the one who is getting past strep. She talked with their doctor and she postponed her own doctor appointment to keep their “swing” going. I asked her last night about doing something fun with a friend. She said “What would that even look like right now?’ She spoke twice last weekend at a ladies day and is gearing up to go speak four times at a retreat where we both will speak (and Colleyanna will, too.) Somehow she got one ready for a 59/60 on the Bible bowl test and she has three who are, altogether, doing 13 events at Lads to Leaders. Her house sometimes looks like a tornado has hit (like mine) and, on most weeks, a big colony of ants could probably live a long time in her van. She had to go around the outside of her house for one of the kids and make sure every window was locked last night before bed. Tonight she is vigilant with one who is afraid of the storms outside. If they only knew how big are the storms from which she daily protects them. (All good parents do this!) She travels four-plus hours (in a day) every other week to get the kids to an important appointment. She stays an extra 45 minutes or an hour after worship services so her kids can play foursquare and Frozen with the children of other faithful people. She has struggled through some hard things to keep them in the best academic and social place. Most of all, she is doggedly determined to give them the best spiritual place. She holds them up before God every day and night and she holds it together when I think I would buckle under the weight. She is thankful when I might be bitter; hopeful when I might surrender. I do not tell her enough, so Hannah Colley, I’m telling you: You are pretty amazing and amazingly pretty to the biased ones down the street. Papa and I are utterly exhausted trying to keep up with your crew and we cannot imagine how you must feel when your head hits the pillow for a precious few hours at night. I know I am biased in the biggest maternal way, but sometimes I have to express the big bias. I also know that your  job could not be done without the children of God who rally around you in a myriad of ways  (but especially in prayer) every single week. We are so proud of the amazing work you are doing, with His  blessings, in the kingdom,  through the three little people we love so much.

There are three more little people we love just as much in Jackson, Tennessee.  It’s these further-away little people who give us joy just as BIG, without quite so much of  the BIG-tired.  We are infinitely and daily grateful for the parents God has given Maggie and Ellis and Lily. We love them deeply, and we are so thankful they are so sufficient in Him and in each other in their Jackson home. The bias, again,  is self-evident, but we cannot thank Him enough for the kind of man Caleb Colley is; for the depth of his spiritual focus, the selflessness that characterizes his leadership and for the loving way He proclaims the precious gospel. We love what he writes, the great logician that he is, and the way he does it all with humility.  We thank God every day for Rebekah, who walks faithfully beside him and is the embodiment of faithful motherhood to Maggie and Ellis and Lily. We are amazed at the Bible knowledge she has put in the two little souls she’s already been teaching. She is the best disciplinarian mom we have ever seen and she does all this while organizing the women’s lectureship at North Jackson and writing books that are valuable to the sisterhood and putting together curriculum for children all over the kingdom, and speaking to ladies groups on a regular basis.  (As an aside, we are equally amazed at the artistic talent that she has given the kids, because we KNOW it did not come through any Colley genes.) 

I know it may sound self-serving to reflect and write about the spiritual qualities of these children I love so much. But, just because they are mine, should I fail to thank and encourage?  Anyway, if that’s the case, I don’t see why, so there…I said it. I’m so thankful that He has given me the inestimably joyful gift of children who walk in truth.  I did not do anything to deserve this gift. It is HIS blessing and the product of HIS truth and the influence of HIS people, but there is no greater joy ( 3 John 1: 4).

We can’t wait to make a trip to meet Lily. Did you enter your guess about her weight and birth time? https://thecolleyhouse.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=19056&action=edit The time is soon and this mammy has a place reserved in her arms, lap and heart already.