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.
The Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living
Psalm 27:13 New American Standard Bible "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Hope that life here on earth will be better as God's will is worked toward completion provides hope to continue....... Galatians 6:9 "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."
Deep Or Wide
Deep or wide...... I have transported glass enough over the years to know first hand that it should be borne in a vertical position, resting upright on its thin edge and braced against shifting rather than spread out lying down flat. As safe as that horizontal position may appear, the forces it is subjected to while in motion are more that can be trusted for safe transport. Glass transported lying down flat has its large surface area subjected to a lot of force that it cannot bear. When the broad, thin, flat surface is spread out horizontally, its thin surface gives way under uneven bumps...
Prodigal Wisdom FromCharles Stanley
satan always blinds your mind to the facts and consequences of your circumstances AT THE MOMENT..... Rev. Charles Stanley (From a January 13, 2019 sermon on the prodigal son) living in the moment..... the next step after such a life will always be downward. Wherever you are living today without God, it's a hog pen. The Prodigal Son: willed his own way wandered wasted wanted woke up walked back was welcomed home
Vulnerability
From Diane Langberg, PhD "Our response to another’s vulnerability tells about us and only us. What comes “out of us” in the face of vulnerability was there all the time. The vulnerability of the other has merely exposed the truth about ourselves." If someone else's authenticity and vulnerability makes you uncomfortable, look inside yourself for why you wear a mask and lack honesty, empathy, compassion, understanding, etc.
Life Lived Well
From my reflections on 1/15/2017: "Few things are as satisfying as coming to the end of a day and having the sense that it has been a rare day in which life has been lived well. One of the joys of growing older is that, if one is living with intentionality to live each day well, then there are generally more of those kinds of days than not. I am blessed to come to the end of most days with that satisfied sense of having known God's presence, having seen opportunities that have come from God's hand, and having said "yes". January 15, 2022: It's been that same kind of day today. Ms. Bernie's...
Trashy, But Fun
From January 15, 2019: Seen, post- Hurricane Michael: Hanging on the back of a debris hauler.......ha ha. The energizer bunny? Or signaling that we’ll still be dealing with the trash til Easter? (Maybe he's holding the Easter Bunny hostage and we won't have Easter til it looks all green and blooming and Easter-y around here!)
Not So Little Things….
Could we, as Christians, strive to be biblical instead of always deferring to culture in our use of language? The culture exalts the physical and its reference to the triadic nature of mankind reflects the culture's priority- body, mind, and spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 gives us what I believe is a rightly ordered view of mankind- spirit, mind, and body! Come on, folks, let's speak of things in the order that God would have us prioritize them, not the way the culture does. "As a man thinketh......." Just, saying...... I've been writing about and attempting to sensitize people to paying...
It’s The Little Things….(Zzzzzzz…)
Small luxuries.... 42 years ago I had purchased flannel sheets, two queen sets- one pink and one blue for our children's beds- and a soft gold colored king set for our bed. We had bought a 1920's frame home in an historic district of Montgomery, AL and were remodeling it ourselves. We were using a wood stove and floor furnace before the central unit was installed. I discovered that a flannel flat sheet made a great year round light weight blanket on our bed and it became standard fare for bed dressing through the years. After we no longer had a king size bed, but a pair of adjustable twins...
No Enabling Allowed….
What in my demeanor or conversation or stated and lived beliefs would ever give anyone the idea that I would continue to give aid and comfort to someone living a double life of deception, keeping secrets, and being unaccountable to others and ungrateful to God for the time, resources, and relationships extended on her behalf? I'm hoping anyone who knows me would say: "Nothing!" Being a Christian does not mean I will enable you or make it easy for you to live a life that defies the very things to which I am called and for which I stand. One might get the benefit of the doubt for a while and...
Language of Flowers
We didn't get to visit with our Birmingham children over Christmas, but yesterday, a package arrived from our daughter. In it was a lovely "Stitches and Petals" necklace. It is a hand stitched flower on fabric mounted in a silver charm on a neck chain. It is beautiful and a card was included describing the Bell Flower as representing Gratitude. In 1990 a friend had given me a little book entitled “The Language of Flowers”. She was a Victorian era antiques enthusiast. This little book detailed the Victorian’s passion for using flowers to “speak” their emotions. It lists the Lily of the Valley...