About the Author
Cathy Boyd Byrd invites others to join her in considering topics of interest to those on the Christian spiritual journey…..discipleship, spirituality, mental health, Christian growth, and Bible study. Cathy enjoys working with others as they transition from emotional emergency and brokenness to spiritual emergence and abundant living! Many of the topics about which Cathy writes are interrelated as experienced in her own life and in the lives of those with whom she works in counseling, teaching, and case management, and in friendships. She believes that sharing our journey of Christian growth and spirituality helps us know God and ourselves better and connects us with others!
Cathy is a Christian Educator and Life Recovery Counselor, and an ordained deacon through Christian Leaders Institute. She serves as Community Outreach MInister at Lynn Haven United Methodist Church. She is a student (disciple) of the Holy Spirit and shares with her students (disciples) the things the Lord teaches her through Bible study and contemplation, incorporating experiences interpreted through the Word, cherished traditions of her faith, and reasoning that comes from seeking the mind of Christ in accountable community. She was widowed in August 2020 after 48 years of marriage to Bill Byrd, is mother of 2 and grandmother of 5. Her journey of faith has been lifelong and continues to be an adventure with the trailblazer and guide, Jesus Christ!
Cathy is the founder and program manager for a Christian women’s residential life recovery program, Titus 2 Partnership, Inc.(www.titus2.life) in Panama City, Florida.
Connectedness
The need for emotional literacy- to recognize, identify, experience, communicate and respond to feelings in a way that facilitates connectedness is a human need….. connectedness to self, others, and God. Humans have also been given an extraordinary accompanying, inherent capability to do so that is much more than animal instinct for physical survival alone. This need and capability for connectedness is not the exclusive domain of women and girls. Men have the same need and capability. God has given us the capability for life-long, satisfying emotional connectedness…for spiritual and...
Disappoint the Right People
If someone is disappointed in me, they were looking to the wrong source for their happiness or security to start with…. Look to God in Christ. If you see Christ’s fruit in me, go and let him do the same in you! Then we can celebrate our shared life in Christ! Affirm and encourage one another’s fruit of the Holy Spirit…. That’s different than simply affirming the person…. can! 10/3/21 If someone is disappointed in me, they were looking to the wrong source for their happiness or security to start with…. Look to God in Christ. If you see Christ’s fruit in me, go and let him do the same in you!...
Prevenient Grace
Salvation begins with our first wish to know and please God. It is Prevenient Grace that protects us and draws us there, to God himself. John 1:4John 6:44John 8:12Romans 1:20Romans 2:14-15 “God worketh in you, therefore you can work. Otherwise it would be impossible.” -John Wesley. “Stir up the spark of grace which is in you now and God will give you more grace. -John Wesley Practical effects of Prevenient Grace:1) Prevenient grace gives us awareness of God.2) It enables us to respond. We can choose right or wrong.3) It keeps the world in order, restraining evil.4) It becomes saving grace...
Being a Child of God
…”He is the Creator of our imaginations, our delights, and our interests. Positionally, before God and before the world, we are God’s child by covenant and union. But also embrace that you are God's child personally and experientially. Seek to live a life full of wonder, with a propensity to play as hard as you work, and with a ceaseless expectation that God’s goodness will follow you all the days of your life (Ps. 23:6).” “In Christ, we are God’s children. In the Old Testament, Israel was understood to be God’s child (Ex. 4:22). In the New Testament, John reminds us: “Yet to all who did...
”Good Day” or “Blessed Day”
What’s the difference between telling someone to “have a good day” and “have a blessed day”? Hmmmm…… A good day desires for another a day with favorable circumstances and a positive outcome. A blessed day desires for another the presence and protection of God upon their activities, regardless of what circumstances come their way. Just pondering…….. I think I’d fare better over time, day in and day out, seeking a blessed day over a good day. Good is open to a lot more subjective interpretation than blessed!
“Third Heaven” Revisited
“Isaiah received a vision. And it transformed his ability to see. It radically reordered the ways he viewed the past, present, and future. For a brief, life-quaking moment, the curtain was pulled back and he was able to catch a glimpse of the baseline reality of this universe—Yahweh is enthroned as the one and only God, unrivaled in his reign……… This vision gave him a way to perceive. And he was never able to see the world in the same way again.” SDT 9/24/21 Lord, give us a vision for our world, not just a view from our present perspective. pondering in the Word…. Third Heaven Since the...
Be The Answer
From journal 9/22/20..,,, For whom are you praying today? Is there something more God would have you do? Reminded of this: From 9:22/15…… “We'll be praying for you." Recently, someone shared with me her disappointment in circumstances after she made known some concerns about immediate needs she had among a group of Christians with whom she has been in weekly fellowship for a while. There was no offer of assistance, even though the need was not exceptionally difficult to meet. Our prayers, though powerful, need to be backed up with our willingness to be part of the ANSWER to the prayer in the...
Speaking Truth…
)journaled 9/22/20)We enjoy about as much of the Lord as we are willing to receive. “Discipleship requires staying power. We sign up for the duration. We do not graduate until heaven.” R.C. Sproul
Sweet Memories….
From My Journal… Remembering
Me: (Mar 20,1997, exclaiming in early morning praise) “Surely, Lord, you have created the beauty of this world for your glory and my delight!” The Lord: (in a rather stunning, but gentle reply) “Tell others.” Me: “What am I to tell? To whom? How? Where? When?” The Lord: (silence) Me: (Three months later,again). “I am yours, Lord. What do you want me to do? Just show me what it is.” The Lord: “Just get up each day and do the things I put before you. I will bring them to you.” Me: (9/22/22) “Here I am, Lord, just doing that which is before me this day. Use me as you will.” Me: (To others)....