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.
Heaven: Now and Not Yet, Here and Still There
Consider this: If heaven is coming to earth, as we are told in Revelation and Matthew and for which we pray every time we pray as the Lord prayed, and, in fact, ALREADY the Kingdom of Heaven IS coming on earth, then what God’s people tolerate on earth is already being tolerated in the Kingdom of Heaven.....HERE...A sobering thought. And it is preventing the second coming of Christ and the eternal reign of Christ on earth OR our neglect of unrighteousness and our complacency in defending good against evil is hastening the full blown appearance of the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by...
Judge, Judge Not: Thoughts On When and How
"When should a Christian try to correct another Christian?" "Answer: This can be a delicate subject. It is wise to spend time in prayer first, to check our motivation and ask for guidance. There are times when Christians are called upon to "talk to" or try to correct a fellow Christian. Assuming we are talking about a matter of sin in a believers’ life, our motive and intent should always be to bring about repentance and restoration to the erring brother or sister in Christ. First, our attitude is very important. "Be kind and tender to one another. Forgive each other, just as God forgave you...
Church Militant To Church Triumphant
Some people's senses are seriously offended by militaristic imagery (spiritually speaking) in religion. "Onward, Christian Soldiers", spiritual "battle", the whole armor of God", fighting an "enemy", etc. They believe it fosters an aggressive and violent mentality that is incapable of living at peace in the world. A few years ago some individuals in positions of authority within a Christian education environment told a young lady who had written some children's lessons on Ephesians that used the "armor of God" theme that such violent and aggressive themes had no place in children's Christian...
Asking Questions of God
Genesis 25:19-24 Pregnant after a lengthy struggle with infertility, she finds herself with a womb in turmoil. Fearful? Anxious? Seeking answers, she asks “why THIS?” Not “why ME?” “People who say such things teach us another valuable lesson about the struggle of the life of faith. Here’s her question: “Why is this happening to me?” Note she’s not asking, “Why me?” That is the helpless question of a hapless bystander at best and a victim at worst. She is she asking, “Why this?” Rebekah, who tried for twenty years to have a child, accepts that life is struggle and difficulty. She’s pressing...
The Necessity of Enemies
Content Warning We, as Christians, all look for the Jesus in one another, but when we find aspects of one another that do not fit our expectation of Jesus, personality attributes that shock or annoy us, we reject the person altogether, as if we are assuming that it cannot be Jesus we see. Maybe we expect the Jesus who is in the world today to be something that not even Jesus intended. He intended to be human….and he was, including having enemies who didn’t like him simply because he wasn’t what they expected. The Return Posted on February 9, 2017 By Dave Barnhart - Junia UMC, Bham, AL...
Looking Toward Lent: Putting Off
As Lent looms over the horizon, think about what God wants to root out of the soil of your soul.... what sharp stones, what loamy lumps of clay, what weeds, what limbs or debris.... even buried garbage needs to go. And since spiritual nature, like physical nature, abhors a vacuum, what of his own character and attributes does God wish to plant in the prepared and tilled fertile soil that remains in your soul. Growth is putting off the old to put in the new ..... perhaps another metaphor is like molting.... something that constrains, is dry, dead and lifeless has to go so new growth that is...
FULLNESS of The Gospel of Jesus Christ
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word." Psalm 119:9 "A child delights in what he has. A youth delights in what he does. An adult delights in what he is. The more mature you are, the more you will desire to be something, not just to have something or to do something, but to be something. What do you desire to be today? Someone who is known for the way they dress? The deals they close? The house they live in? Or do you want others to know that you have a pure heart-a heart that is utterly devoted and surrendered to God. Matthew 5:8 says,...
Pat’s Dream: A Short Summary of 48 Years of Marriage
From: Pat Sabiston <patsabiston@irawriter.com> Sent: Monday, February 7, 2022 11:15 AM To: 'Cathy Byrd' <cathybyrd1212@hotmail.com> Subject: Here You Go! Dear Cathy: It’s weird. As I began to write about what I remember, other little minor elements came out. So glad this blessed you this morning. Love, Me THE DREAM Acts 2:17 “In the last days, God say, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Quite frankly, I don’t think this is gender specific, because...
Proverbs 31 Woman’s Mother-In-Law
If his mother didn’t teach him respect for ALL women, you may eventually have to do it or live a life of subjugation or diminution. Some mothers teach sons to respect, honor and trust only her and that all other women are suspect. This is the heart of a woman whose emotional need is so great that she wants not to be simply loved, but cherished, perhaps even worshipped. If he conforms to her demand a wife and other women in his life will never have a voice. If he does not, he may actually diminish the worth of ALL women. This begins as a boundary issue in childhood that fails to adequately...
The Whole Armor: “Working Out” Salvation
Justification is a solitary covenant with God. Sanctification is a communal process of shared covenant to encourage, spur one another on, and live out the "one another's" lived and taught by Jesus Christ. Justification occurs at a point in time, individually, with God, as Christ's new garment or mantle of imputed righteousness is placed upon us. Sanctification progresses over a course of time in Christ and in community with others. The problem is that in community we can get distracted by comparison of ourselves one to another, unable to see that the garment of imputed righteousness we wear...