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.
Hurricane Rebuilding and Kingdom Building
it's been 3 1/2 years now since Hurricane Michael. If is even now a topic of conversation, as grief over losses associated with season continues. From 2/21/2019.... 4 months after Hurricane Michael... Over Simple Supper last evening at church Bible study some of us were comparing progress in storm recovery and celebrating small victories for various families. We were also observing that, now four and a half months into this process, many are feeling very tired. The adrenaline immediately after the storm has long ago been depleted. We can see progress, but we can also see how much...
Waiting On God
I am in one of those weird spots in which I know God is doing something.... I can feel it in my bones...(Yes, I've gotten old enough to feel things in my bones!) There are definitely some things stirring. Can't put my finger on it, but I'm paying attention, Lord. And praying.... It's not like mid summer 2020 when I put before the Lord in prayer my urgency about the furious pace of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping through our world and how it was bringing some people to absolute brokenness, others to absolute insanity, and others death. I cried out for relief .... "Isn't there a point at which...
Emerald and Diamonds
Years ago Daddy bought Mother an emerald ring. As I recall it was 1973. He mailed it to me in Montgomery to our home on Moye Dr. Billy was a newborn. When it arrived I had no idea what to think. Recently, she gave it to me. It's a bit fancier than what I usually wear. It is a beautiful natural emerald. I guess I'm going to have to get earrings and a bracelet to go with it! I've got jewelry fancier Pat Hall on the lookout for some coordinating accessories! (2/20/2015)
Love Thy Neighbor
"When you’re willing to wade into someone else’s troubles to help that person hold up under the weight, two things happen. First, he or she receives desperately needed blessings in the form of aid, support, and love. And second, you fulfill God’s command to love a neighbor as yourself." -- Dr. Charles Stanley
Remembering Aunt Betty (1934-2016)
The graveside service for my Aunt Betty Bryant in Tallahassee today was well attended by family and friends. from Alabama, Georgia, and the North Florida area. The skies were blue and the sun was warm, with a gentle breeze. A canopy of old oaks hung over the site of her family's burial plot. Those in attendance and other friends from her home in Ackworth, Ga had written cards of farewell or fond memories that were tied together with a ribbon and placed on the table beside the urn that held her ashes. I was privileged to conduct the service. Through prayer and times of reflecting on my...
Permit to Carry
2/20/2018 True story as heard told by a pastor about his wife....She almost didn't marry him when she discovered he owned guns, he said. it was so totally contrary to the way she, a pastor's daughter, had been raised. Until a night when she was home alone with small children and her pastor husband was out of town. Someone on the back screened porch rummaging through boxes and rattling the door knob sent her running for her husband's gun and calling 911. Although she'd never wanted to touch it, she found that having it for defense of herself and her children gave her a sense of not being so...
Ebenezer: A Stone In My Pocket
Ten of us were at the Women's Grief Gathering at Lynn Haven UMC today. This was our 4th monthly meeting. We explored ways in which we think about the presence of our grief with us through the lens of metaphors..... similar to the ways in which the Bible talks about God's Presence, the Kingdom of God, being with us in metaphors, too, as a house built on a solid foundation, a plowed field prepared for planting, a vine pruned and bearing fruit, a tree planted by a river..... The essay I shared was adapted for our particular group from one by a blogger named Jessica, who had first written it in...
Freedom In Christ
Freedom in Christ.....Not freedom FROM, but freedom TO exercise wisdom and godly choices. The higher responsibility to which grace calls the faithful is the Spirit of the Law, which is much higher than the Letter of the Law. This is what Christ means by saying He came to fulfill the Law, not eliminate it!! He tells us again and again, "You have heard it said...... BUT I TELL YOU...." He's not dismissing the Law, He is applying a more stringent and demanding obedience to the Law that incorporates embracing obedience in LOVE and going to a greater heighth and depth and width and breadth of...
Neurobiology and Sin
2/18/2019 i attended a theology and science workshop sponsored by Hope Hull UMC at which Dr. Curt Thompson talked about brain development. He describes the initial neurological development in humans as "reptilian"....it is the basic. elemental "lower" brain stem that controls autonomic reflexes- breathing, heartbeat, etc. and establishes our ability to survive physically. The tempter in the garden is described as a reptile. He appeals to the basic "lower" instincts to survive, to control one's own safety and exercise control over one's self without thinking about it more reflectively or...
Divisive Political Witness
".....while Christ teaches us the value of love over violence, the power of life over death, he never strayed away from necessary conflict. Disciples rebuked, Pharisees chastised, a temple cleared of money changers...these are also pictures of Christ. Sometimes, a political witness is divisive. We must do our best, as a Body, to reconcile when the political things Christ has called us to do cause tension among believers; but that does not mean we can avoid doing them..... When we realize that our own foundation as a community of faith is built on the political, it becomes very hard, even...