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.
WHEN THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST PARTICIPATES IN YOUR FRIENDSHIPS….
Monday, Jan. 6, 2024- Conversation with a friend: I texted my prayer partner and friend: “Hope you slept well. Bitsy and I had a disruption. I accidentally pushed her off the bed at 3 am while dreaming. I didn’t hear a peep! Thought I’d killed her. My bed’s high. I turned on the lamp and she was sitting there looking dumbfounded. It took her a minute to get it together. Nothing seemed broken. We snuggled back in bed and I listened for a while making sure she was breathing.” My prayer partner friend replied: “Oh my GOODNESS (to it ALL!) Bless Bitsy’s little heart. She may have thought SHE...
Healing Tears
7/21/23 Notes after recheck at doctor’s office following partial thyroidectomy weeks previously: Strange..... after today's Wake Up Call devotional and prayer several people and situations came to mind..... more prayer. Then this...... tears on my pillow. tears of repentance..... tears of intercession and petition for some difficult situations and hope that today I walk in humility as God directs my steps and just this phrase rising in my spirit "tears on my pillow, pain in my heart caused by you...." I have felt such pain.... today my tears were a prayer for someone...
Purpose of Tears: A Gift of God
Tears are a gift from God, part of the "fearful and wonderful" way He created us! They serve useful purposes not only in protecting our vision, but also in protecting our hearts and bodies from some of the toxic effects of excess hormones released under stress. Have you ever experienced a stressful experience and because of the demand of the moment you couldn't cry? But later tears came in a sudden flood, like released through a spillway? And the weeping may have continued until you felt exhausted and were able to finally let go of the stress? That is part of...
Home Making
My little home’s fireplace damper has some wear and tear and is very difficult to close. I had a chimney specialist over to check the gas line and logs before using and he said replacing the damper would be pricey, He recommended using a fire box cover when not in use. So I scouted options on line and instead opted for my own solution. I used a wood panel cut out from the back of the entertainment center’s top that I scrapped due to its massive scale in my downsized space, having decided to use just its base going forward. I set a framed poster in front of it from a UMC annual conference...
Focused Coddiwompling
A word for 2025 for me…..FOCUS. It has been on my heart and in my mind for a couple of weeks. Then I was reminded of this scripture:Luke 9:51- “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus showed determination, (i.e., he “set his face”, he was steadfastly determined, etc) at the point at which all the conditions and the time were right for his purpose to be fulfilled on behalf of the Kingdom. Luke tells us also in Luke 4 that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit as he began his ministry to...
Circling Back
Funny how life works out. This is the house Bill and I rented for a year in May 1973 when we moved to Montgomery. Billy was a newborn. Bill had started work after graduation from Auburn with Proctor and Gamble. I have clear recollections of that little house and our time there. Now I live just 2 miles from it, after all these years and many moves. This is a poem I wrote early one morning sitting and looking at the pines in the front yard. I was very happy and content….. June Christmas Tree The pre-dawn rain startles the still night And thunder trumpets above the gentlef morning songs of the...
Larger Territory, Narrower Focus
Many people, particularly those with lives disrupted by chaos and trauma, have experienced spiritual encounters that invoked fear and confusion. Neither fear nor confusion are from the Lord. There are three spiritual entities one must learn to discern…. Holy Spirit, unholy spirit, and human spirit. Over the last 30 years the Lord God has been training and equipping me in discernment of the three, first in my own life, then in the lives of others who have had unsettling spiritual experiences. It has been increasingly evident within the Christian church and beyond it in the culture...
Convergence: When God Speaks Through Circumstances
December 24, 2024 Thoughts after leaving the candlelight communion service tonight at Christ Methodist Church, Montgomery, AL: Rev. Misty Barrett tonight related a story from the Christmas when her son, now 21 years old, was 6 and in a school Christmas pageant. She said that she didn’t expect the content to be anything explicitly religious, given the culture’s increasing aversion to all things religious, (but only if it is Christian religion, it seems!) Her son and his class members were to hold up cards with a letter on each card that would spell out “CHRISTMAS LOVE.” One...
Time and Place, People and Purpose
Sitting in my sunroom in the late afternoon I can hear Montgomery’s trains in the northern industrial area running. In a while the bugle sounds and National Anthem will signal the end of the day at Gunter/ Maxwell Air War College just down the road. Neighbors on my street ease their vehicles along our shared alleyway that adjoins our properties at the back of our houses. Several have stopped to introduce themselves and welcome me to The Timbers community. People watch out for one another, it appears. They notice who is coming and going. Many have cameras on their property as well as the...
The Fragrance of Home
When I was growing up there was a large tea olive tree that grew on the north side of our porch. Its fragrant flowers became a soothing balm for my adolescent emotions. In August I toured a garden home that I would soon purchase and to which I have now moved, When I walked in the front door it had the welcoming feel of “home.” By the time I had walked through the house and out to the back carport I was already imagining my furniture in its spaces and envisioning myself here. But it was walking out the back door that sealed the deal for me. Walking out under the carport I smelled a familiar...