Browsing Tag

Faith

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Peter and James…and Ellis

Posted on December 18, 2025

The profundity of the comments that children make in Bible discussions never ceases to amaze me. Last night, at my son’s house, there was a discussion of Peter and James in Acts 5 and 12; how that God saw fit to deliver Peter from prison in Acts 5, but did not deliver James in Acts 12.  Instead, He allowed his execution. Maggie, who is seven, thought it was interesting and began to think of reasons why that would be the case. Together, they thought of all kinds of reasons God might have had, in His sovereignty and complete knowledge, to allow this disparity. I’m sure they listed reasons having to do with the spread of the gospel and reasons having to do with the strengthening of those left behind. But Ellis, who is four, said, in a trembling and weepy little voice “Wait! God didn’t save James?!!”

But, in the end, their mama and daddy pointed out the important truth that James was happy in his death because He got to go to be with the Lord and all of his suffering was over, for good. “See? James was happy that he got to leave prison and go to be forever happy. It actually made him happy that he was chosen to get to leave this world.” 

Ellis, in a trembling little voice responded “Well, maybe it made James happy. But it doesn’t make me happy.” 

Sometimes I fail to look at things through the eyes of God.  Often, I’m looking at death and suffering around me and, with trembling voice, I say “This doesn’t make me happy.” Like Ellis, I am full of compassion toward God’s people and I wonder why the evil and death is all around. 

It is through the words of Peter that I take comfort:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:3-9).

I love the word outcome. See, the ultimate outcome for James and Peter was the same. It was the salvation of their souls. Something was being kept in heaven; reserved for each of them. In the grand scheme of things, their entrances into the realm of glory was separated by only the briefest moment in time—just a few years in the vast sea of eternity. 

But I would not have those words in this epistle of suffering if Peter had not survived the imprisonment of Acts 5 and gone on to write them later. And, perhaps, the Holy Spirit could then use Peter to write them, in part, because Peter had witnessed and survived the early Jewish and Herodian persecution, even in the death of James. Remember, James was one of his fishing buddies in the early days, before they made the huge life-change there in Capernaum, by the sea of Galilee. The loss of Peter, in James’ death, was the ultimate gain for James. Death is no thief to the faithful, for his sting has been taken (1 Corinthians15:55). Peter was learning that through every trial and loss. He was getting ready to write 1 Peter and give comfort and courage to many generations of Christians to come.

We are grieved by various trials. As Ellis says “They don’t make us happy.” But one day they will.

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

This Card!…and this Little Light of Mine!

Posted on December 8, 2025

I love this painted card submission by Shirley Ginter. In fact, it is practically perfect in every way! Love for Digging Deep, for the season, for all of you, and for the Lord shows through in every stroke!

I love the season. Little lessons pop up all over the place. My husband keeps saying, “There’s a blog post in that!” Earlier this week I was putting up some lights by the front door. I had to try and light up a bush and then a wreath that was a couple of feet above the bush. You know you really never want the lights that are in between your illuminations to show (when it’s a decoration on your house). I mean you want those stray lights that are not really outlining anything to be hidden. Sometimes you just start a new strand on each thing you’re illuminating. But sometimes you run out of outlets or your strand of lights is just too long not to use somewhere else. So you end up with a little row of lights just dangling in the air here between the wreath and the bush.

As I was putting black tape around those stray lights, a little light (no pun intended) went off in my head. It was next to impossible to completely hide those little lights with black tape. I’d think I had it and then back away and see that the brightness was escaping through some tiny little crack between two pieces of tape. I’d see a little sparkle coming through a spot of adhesive.

That’s the way it is with our Matthew 5 light. “We are,”  as Jesus said,  “the light of the world.”  There is blackness all around us. It’a a blackness of sin that’s hard to penetrate and the entities of blackness stick together. Like that tape, they try to extinguish the light. But it’s hard to hide the light when it’s Christianity. Because of the boldness, the brightness and the beauty of Christ, His light in us penetrates that blackness in which the world tries to envelope us. The little bright light, that you are, escapes the black tape, and someone sees you in the dark void.

You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

 

This little light of mine…I’m going to let it shine.

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

The Rock that is Higher

Posted on November 5, 2025

I’m not sure exactly how I’m this many years old and have lived in Gurley, Alabama for exactly 1/3  of those years and have never heard about or hiked this trail till yesterday. I’m so glad I found the Bethel Springs Nature Preserve, thanks to my sister Sami, who sent me a link with a beautiful photo of a waterfall and she just asked “Have you ever been here?” This amazing gorge is just fifteen minutes from my house and, if you hike to the top, you feel like you are even closer to God’s house. (But wear a good tread on your feet and take some water for the arduous part of the trail prior to the top. If you take kids, be prepared for yellow jackets, slips and slides, and be sure someone knows where you are going, just in case. Also, if you have kids along, give yourself a good three hours before dark if you intend to see the falls. You do not want to be in this beautiful place after dark, but your cell phone internet will likely work throughout the trek!) 

The most basic, most important lessons, for kids, seem to most frequently be learned outdoors. Sometimes in the frenzy of getting all the workbook pages done, we forget this. The lessons for little hearts were everywhere yesterday. Here are a few that come to mind. 

1. Empathy. Character and success require (absolutely demand) empathy. It’s not a big deal when someone else is getting stung or sliding down, or getting blisters on her feet, but when it gets personal, it’s suddenly urgent. Apologies came when the personal moments prodded them. “I’m sorry I said ‘You just have to stop that screaming when that bee stung you.I know you were hurting.'”

2. Sharing. I thought …”nature preserve”—like Green Mountain or the short swamp trail kind of thing. I should have done a little more research. I did not prepare for what came close to a rock climbing challenge for many yards and, with three kids, you can’t just jog back to the car for more of whatever you need.  I didn’t bring along nearly enough water for that sort of obstacle course. But Colleyanna did. And she and Ezra had a good bottle for refilling at the waterfall. And we all survived on their happily shared provisions. 

3. Perseverance. There are four great trails in the preserve. One is a baby trail, a little loop that I’d recommend for anyone with a stroller. The next is also a short little hike down to a manmade landing where you view an 1800s spring house “refrigerator”. The third is a slow but arduous climb to the falls. This one was a commitment. It took a couple of hours of climbing over rough terrain.  We came to points when some of the kids thought, “We just can’t keep going.” Someone else would say “But we’ve come so far that, now, that the closest route back to our car is to push on and connect to the other trail that descends. “But we can’t.” …”I think we can.”…”But what if it gets dark in here?”…”We still have a couple of hours…”But we don’t have much water.”  But we had reached the point of no return. Heading back down without reaching the falls was now going to take longer than getting there and descending on the other trail. So we learned we had to persevere.

4. Goodness. The word is in the Bible some 50 times and it most often refers to the goodness of our God. When you look at giant boulders placed by God, to which it’s so very difficult to even ascend, much less impossible to move, and you realize that His springs of sustenance flow over and from those rocks, you stand amazed at His goodness. You think of words like these from the Psalmist: 

O my soul, you have said to the LORD,

“You are my Lord,

My goodness is nothing apart from You.” 

You feel your own smallness and sinfulness in the presence of a mighty and good God who allows you to call him”Father.” 

5. Guidance. The signs on the trees marking the trail were teeny…easy to miss; about four by four. They were minimized to prohibit distraction from His beauty, I’m sure.  But as the darkness began to loom in the late afternoon, and, still there were no sounds except the leaves rustling beneath little feet, I began to have a better eye for those little signs. I had to be SURE I was on the right path. There were no other cars in that parking lot, by now. That meant there were no other souls in that giant forest gorge except for me and my three little ones. I started to think about preserving water and cell service. I took off my socks and gave them to the child whose feet were blistering. She had to keep coming. We could not sit down and nurse the sting, the blisters or the slightly sprained wrist that had “caught the fall”. The kids started to be eagle-eye watchers for those little signs and they even started a game of “How-many signs-will-there-be-before-the car?” (Ezra won. There were ten more and he had guessed exactly ten. But passing ten signs is almost a “forever.” ) There were occasional  mini-celebrations when we discovered a marker that proved we had taken the right turn at the giant rock that seemed to be inviting us in more than one direction or that we had opted correctly at the sign that seemed to be putting us back in a circle to the same point. Guidance became key. Words on a sign on a tree, instead of how we “felt” about our direction, were everything. That’s how it is with the printed word of God. There’s no successful navigation for lost souls without the WORD of life. 

But the climax of the climb, of course, was at the very tip-top of two converging trails. I have honestly never heard kids so excited as when we actually heard the water…except for the squeals when we actually saw it. “I see it! I see it, Mammy. Oh Mammy it’s beautiful!” Those exclamations were loud and exuberant cries echoing in that canyon. I’m thinking that’s a little microcosm of what it’s going to be like after the arduous climb that is life. And, in that case, there will not be a descending trail. There will not be the sad “Mammy, do we have to leave already? I want to stay here. Let me get one more drink.” We will get to stay. No darkness will loom. No fear of misdirection or of running out of water. We will get to stay—where the Lamb is the light of endless day and the waters of the river of life flow freely. All fear will be forever eradicated. 

From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. (Psalm 61:2)

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Babies Have to Grow Up–(the conclusion)

Posted on September 25, 2025

It’s been a good reminder for me. In our local family, there are several “baby sisters” (women who are brand new Christians and have their own unique needs). In the past year, these young Christians have faced all of the “regular” issues: sick children, financial issues, home repairs, problems at school, and stresses of jobs. But often,  there are bigger issues that may come their way. Though some, but not all of these, may be the lingering effects of having lived years of their adult lives in the world and not in the Lord, they are real and traumatic, nonetheless.

Some of these very hard things may include abandonment by a spouse, spousal abuse, the abuse of children by an ex-spouse, immigration issues, necessary battles in court of many variations, and the inability to provide for children.  These women who are young in the faith  may experience terminal illness or death, of parents. The list of things that could shake a baby faith seems to never be exhaustive.

The final suggestion (#17) on my list is perhaps the biggest and hardest. I would urge you to rally around these sisters in their times of crisis.  Have you ever noticed that when people come through crisis together, they have forged bonds that have a permanency that was not present before the crisis?  It’s important, through times of despair that, while every bit of advice or comfort that we offer is grounded in Scripture, we are there for them. If all of the Christians around the struggling babies  are supporting and encouraging them to take steps that are rooted and grounded in the Will of God, they will often emerge from tragedy in their lives, much stronger and more stable than before the crisis.

I’ve seen this so many times. When a baby sister is on “life support” that involves mature Christians, (as long as that support is Bible-centered), she just may come out of the very difficult situation ready for consuming the milk of the Word and on her way to the meat!

Babies have to grow up! Let’s help them.

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

The God of More: 1…2…3…Go!

Posted on September 1, 2025

This is the day I’ve been working and waiting for since the idea for this study crystallized about six months ago. There are so many people to whom I owe a large debt of gratitude for helping me in various ways to get the study written, ready and distributed. It’s been a journey, already, but the best part of it happens now.

As I was contemplating this week and some of the new things we are hoping to do this year, I got a little audio clip in a text from my daughter, Hannah. It contains a portion of the bed-time prayer of five-year-old, Eliza Jane, last Thursday night. It’s exactly on theme and I think I could never have said it so well. She portrays perfectly, in five-year-old jargon, the idea of “more than we can ask or imagine.” She does it from the purest heart. Here are a few of the moments I loved most from her prayer:

I shared this recording earlier with my good sister, Tonja McRady and Tonja said “ Don’t we all need to keep that awe?”

That’s my hope for the study: that we could all keep the awe of His ability and His desire to answer the pleas of His children; that we can constantly ask “How do you do this, God? Can you do this with your hand?”

Yes, Eliza. He has given us all that we are and have with His hands.

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:2)

May we, in the next 12 months, study His greatness, with humility and contrition. May we tremble at His words. May we keep the awe! May we come to love the “more”!

Please join us for the first monthly podcast on September 23rd at 7 pm CST!

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

The List: Babies Have to Grow up. Part 2

Posted on August 25, 2025

Women who REALLY love their baby sisters @ PTP!

Here’s the second round of ideas for helping the baby sisters learn to crawl! You love them so much, but the nurturing has to be intentional! 

6. Call her when she is missing. Call or text and just say, “Is everything okay? Missing you.”

7. Surely you have a group of texting sisters who are constantly shooting one another those prayer requests. Put your new sister in your sisters’ prayer list. 

8. Put her in a prayer group, too. Pick out three strong people and tell her that they want to be praying for whatever she needs.

9. In our world, you are going to convert some single moms if you are reaching people at all.  Be sure to put the single moms in a group with other single moms who are stronger. The new sisters will feel much more incorporated and less isolated. Further, the seasoned and faithful single mamas in the group will have the most pertinent answers to the dilemmas faced by the new (and single) Christians. You really need seasoned Bible students in this group, if possible. In our congregation, thanks to Jen Crowden, the moms in this texting group also meet up frequently for lunch at the building, They are offered childcare while they attend seminars or while they have meetings with the elders. This group is golden in their development. And (this one’s important)…love on her children!

10. Don’t let sin slide, but be gentle when you approach correction. Find five things to encourage -things she is doing right–for every one word of caution or correction. Most often, she will thank you, saying, “I can fix that. I didn’t know that was wrong, but now I see.”

Look at these teens taking notes! I love it!

More next time!