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.
Do Not Despair
Psalm 27:13 "I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living." The alarming increase among children, youth, and adults of depression, suicide, and a variety of other mental health dysfunctions is so sad...... and unnecessary. Feelings of alienation, isolation, and desperation grip many in our nation..... pessimism and fear about the future are rampant. Yet God is still present, sovereign, good, and personally engaged with those who love Him and who are sincerely aiming at living into His will. God's goodness in their lives and in...
How Does One Answer, “What Is Prayer?”
In my morning devotional the question was posed, "What is prayer?" I quiet my spirit and await the stillness that precedes awareness of the Presence of the Father, while I abide in Christ, as I have since my profession of faith in Christ, and with His Holy Spirit within my spirit and soul. His Spirit guides me into holy communion, that may include conversation, with the Divine. On an aside: there was a moment many years ago that I wrote about in my journal.... I don't know if I was awake or dreaming or praying in the Spirit.... but I saw an image of two men standing who appeared to be the...
Poem: Breathless
Breathless It is as though time has halted briefly, Allowing me to reach back and grasp That which I thought forever lost. A sensation of standing at a scenic lookout, High up a mountain road, Leaning over the edge, Enraptured by the view. With my full weight resting against the rail Aware that I can step -or fall- across the rail And become part of that which I see. Imagining that I can fly into it and avoid the fall, Yet drawn back to myself by a brisk wind That gives me back the breath Such a thought would take from me. 5/10/90 CBByrd
Poem: Games
GAMES There are games, played by children on schoolyards, Scratched with chalk on sidewalks, Made up as they go along With rules that change As often as the players. And games, played by youths on flat green fields, With gear and referees, Governed by associations Whose rulings are final In all rivals' disputes. And games, played by peers in boardrooms and behind backs, Who seek to best one another By shrewd and devious device Until none can be believed. And games, played by those all around us Who would have our hearts as their own, And who woo us to enjoy life with them For the game is...
Poem: Crying Out
A Cry for Help I sit alone at night And wish on cold unyielding stars As I’ve cried on cold uncaring shoulders And ask of myself and God -WHY? The cry of a homeless child Seeking a strong hand; A sharp, harsh voice penetrates my soul And again I ask only - WHY? A man beats his child in fierce anger, A drunken garbled tongue shouting Words of scorn and condemnation And the child becomes another national statistic- WHY? 1972 CBByrd
A Prayer
Grant us patience, understanding, and the wisdom to know when we’re foolish. Oblige us to put aside our own selfishness for the sake of others. Deliver us from the pride that keeps us from turning to you. 1972 CBByrd
Poem: Stages
Stages Time is moving onward toward some future I can’t see Faster every passing year, or so it seems to me. Hardly a season passes I don’t wonder where it went All the days now lost to me, unremembered how they’re spent. Yet I find no sadness in this fact, That time keeps marching on. I’m caught up in each moment And cast forward when it’s gone. There is no tomorrow As long as there’s today, No time for the sorrow Of a long-gone yesterday. The time will come When body’s gone But time will take The spirit on. 5/13/76 CBByrd
Poem: Surveying Property In Alabama
Surveying Property in Alabama Acres of yellow wild flowers carpet a field Soft and fragrant beneath the hooves of grazing cattle. A half mile further west, another is clothed in white. A pond mirrors the blue of the April sky As a single white cloud admires its own reflection. Along the roadside tentative buttercups Offer up the first of their spring churning While mounds of crimson clover, their blossoms waving Like so many pom-poms, cheer them on. Trees, recruited as volunteer sentinels, dutifully line a fence row, Obeying the order to stand guard As the freshly-turned red clay-laden soil...
Mentors Needed
I receive messages and calls regularly from people who have not found the comfort and guidance they were seeking through traditional counseling or from church leaders (or at a price for counseling they could afford to sustain!) When I hear some of the experiences, it is little wonder that families in the church and beyond are in crisis.. Some to whom people are looking for help lack the time or training for some of what is needed......old fashioned discipleship and mentoring. Someone I know had a spouse in counseling and when asked after several months with the Christian counselor how it was...
Ms. Bernie
I took lunch and visited with an 88-years-young friend of mine yesterday. We laughed and told stories for 2 hours. She showed me pictures from her youth...WOW! What a stunningly beautiful young woman! That doesn't surprise me at all as she continues to be a stunningly beautiful matriarch, too! She gave me a couple of vintage hats, a few small handbags for our Titus 2 ladies, and some other things. She told me about ladies at her church who have organized a "Passover Club"...."A What????????" , I asked! She said they gather up their nice-but-no-longer-needed items and they get together and...