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.
Sin Hidden, Pain Multiplied
3/10/2017 A young man with whom Bill and I had some personal experience in our work with the Rescue Mission 4-5 years ago and who later continued his efforts in substance abuse recovery through another men's program was sentenced to 30 years in prison yesterday for the suffocation death of his girlfriend's baby 10 years ago....9 years after the fact of the baby's death, his conscience was apparently softened and his guilt no longer bearable and he confessed. In most cases substance abuse is not the issue.....trying to avoid the pain....either inflicted on us by others or that which we have...
Tree Grief
3/10/2019 In addition to a huge pine tree ( to which I say good riddance!), the numerous oaks and the palm tree we lost in Hurricane Michael, I lost a nice sized English dogwood, 2 cedars, several sago palms and azaleas, a crepe myrtle, several bridal wreath shrubs, a Japanese maple, and a flowering plum. Then numerous other potted plants and landscape items- pacific juniper, dwarf yews, confederate jasmine, and more. ***sigh****. We’ll be 4-5 years getting the yard back in shape. 3/10/2022: As God would have it, Bill went home to the Lord the next summer, August 6,2020. I moved away from...
Harbinger of Spring
Three years ago, March 10, 2019, I noted these first blooms on the flowering almond shrub at Deerpoint Lake. Last year on the same date I stopped by the our then vacant house to check on this shrub and enjoy the signs of spring........ An old fashioned shrub that made it through the storm! Flowering almond. Tiny pink flowers are an early harbinger of spring. Happy happy! This week I will return there and ask for a small cutting from it. It was transplanted from my grandparents' home in Clayton, Alabama.
Authentic Christianity/ Christian Authenticity
Long-term and continuing topic of discussion.... Quotes of note: "Christian authenticity is likewise other-focused. We live transparently, not to unload our own burdens and thus walk more lightly alone, but to intentionally share the burdens of others and carry them to the same grace that liberated us." "...the godly life is not merely a pooling of experiences; it is the confident application of God's truth to individual circumstances. " "authenticity" . Gotta be real. No denial. Willing to admit one's own faults. Another valuable theme for Lent, it seems to me. A blog worthy of note:...
When Asked: “Does God Exist?”
I wrote this in response to some back and forth about whether or not God exists: Some will see and not believe; others will believe though they do not see. Each has a measure in his own heart that must be met. For some, they have observed, experienced, and heard more than enough to meet that measure. For others nothing but standing before the throne of God themselves will bring them to faith in God. They have faith, but in things other than God. Their own strength, power, intellect, wealth, relationships, others' strength, power, intellect, wealth, or the comfort and security found in...
Short Take: Apple of God’s Eye
Apple of His Eye: A phrase used by many to imply favor and delight in another. Psalm 17:8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings (The Psalmist beseeching God) Pr 7:2 Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. (The Lord instructing his people through King Solomon’s wisdom.) Deut 32:10 In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, (The Lord’s behavior toward his people represented by Jacob) Zechariah 2:8 For this is what the Lord...
Lent Thought: Eye of God
Eye of God or Sight of God- Some thoughts for Lent Luke 16:15: He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. 2.Acts 4:19: But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 3.Hebrews 4:13: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. As children in Vacation Bible School or in other venues where crafts were being made, we...
Lenten Reflection on Nouwen’s Wounded Healer
The Wounded Healer- more Lenten thoughts stirred by Henri Nouwen from 3/9/2014 by CBB I read this some years ago at the recommendation of a friend, The Wounded Healer, by Henri Nouwen, was required reading again in the last year. This is a book that has been part of my personal bookshelf for about 8-9 years. My own experience of "woundedness" affected my view of myself, my ministry, and my life. This book helped me when I first read it. I had felt that what I had experienced somehow would be detrimetal to my Christian witness, an obstacle that would keep others from relating to me. Through...
Heart-To-Heart Communication
One After God’s Own Heart ..... Recently I was teaching a class from 1 Samuel 22-23. This is the point at which Saul has allowed his jealousy and paranoia to overcome him and he has begun his persecution, indeed his murderous rage against David, and David is on the run from one place to another. Sometimes, in his flying by the seat of his pants, David engages in deception (The Gath king, the priest Ahimelech, and others). His deception ultimately gets Ahimelech, 80+ other priests, and all the residents and livestock of Nob slain by Saul's henchman, Doeg the Edomite. As I 'm reading this I'm...
Socializing
Random thoughts, time in study, a teacher's calling from God, belief that any where we can spread the uplifting and sometimes thought-provoking word of God is a good thing.....some of the reasons I post on facebook. "Small bites are pinched out of the Word and placed before each starving soul with a blessing over each one. One must reach for it and take it, if she is to be fed. I cannot put it in her mouth. In putting these breadcrumbs before her I hope to woo her away from the margin of the spiritual life and toward the more densely populated, interdependent, abundantly-resourced place of...