Cottage Bliss
Sherie Strong
Not long ago, two women were walking in picturesque Estes Park, one of Colorado’s most loved tourist towns. The women’s conversation turned to a mutual desire to start reading the Bible, and soon the two stepped inside Cottage Bliss, a store featuring gifts, quilts, and fabric. To their amazement, the charming store also offers a stack of free Bibles.
“So they came here and saw a Bible that is free,” recalls store owner Sherie Strong. “It really blessed them to think that God cared about them enough to know right where to send them.”
Sherie started giving away free NIV Outreach Bibles in Cottage Bliss last summer and is thrilled that customers eagerly take them.
“I just can’t tell you the joy my staff has had in giving away the Bibles. Most of the people who take them are not Christians,” says Sherie, who has a waiting list of customers who want the store’s new custom-cover NIV Bible. Adorned with the Cottage Bliss floral pink logo, the Bible with the feminine cover also features the Plan of Salvation in the back.
“I just believe when I get to heaven, I will meet people who are going to say, ‘You know those Bibles you gave away?’”
“God’s Word never comes back void. The Word is supernatural. So that’s why I think if customers pick it up it’s going to do supernatural things in their life.”
As for the husbands, boyfriends, and sons who sit outside Cottage Bliss and enjoy the complimentary lemonade and popcorn while their womenfolk shop? They can get a free, non-feminine NIV Outreach Bible with trees on the cover.
—Sherie Strong, owner, Cottage Bliss, Estes Park, Colorado
