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.
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...
Holiness and Truth
In working with a friend in preparation for co-teaching in a small group on the book of Esther starting later this month, I was introduced to her prior engagement with a book by Maxie Dunnam on holiness, She showed his list and descriptions of "holy, catholic, apostolic, and charismatic" aspects of pursuing righteousness. The two of us had been having a conversation about moral development through several stages from life in the flesh (which is embracing the culture's self-interest based ethic) to the pinnacle of life of virtuous character exemplified by Christ, and passing through through...
It Wasn’t Supposed To Be This Way
Colossians 3:1-4 "Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." I've read and heard these verses many times, but today as I read them, the plural condition of "minds" leapt off the page...... this is a directive to the community of faith, the Body of Christ, not to...
Remembering January 6, 2021
Reflection on current events from Jan 6,2021: Dan Bongino made an interesting observation tonight.... What happened when BLM/Antifa were raging in Washington, vandalizing and setting fire to a church next door to the White House and rampaging against the White House security barriers? Hmmmmm..... that's right. Nothing. Media laughed at Trump for being taken away by his security team to a secure bunker. Now its the Congress getting a taste of the political unrest. Neither activity should be tolerated. Left against right or right against left..... We are two wings of the same eagle and it's...
Turning Around Point
I've always loved this story of how pilots out of Eglin AFB use the Blue Lake Camp crosses near Andalusia, AL as a landmark! And how once, when they were turned out to conserve energy and money the Air Force contacted Blue Lake and asked that they be turned back on, reportedly even offering to pay! By Walter Matthew Albritton 1/1/2015 Turning Around Point: There's a great story about the two crosses that are lit up every night at Blue Lake camp. Because these crosses can be seen at night from the air they're the turning around point for Air Force jets flying out of Eglin Air Force Base. In...
Dangerous Choices
One of the things about an ENTJ personality like myself is that they are basically rule followers. And they hold others accountable to follow the rules. If I have been told what I am to do by someone in authority and I understand it and have the means to do it, I am going to do my best to do it. Now that hasn't always been the case. There was a time, in my young adult years, when I was living in selfishness and rebellion against some things that I would do what I wanted to, often times denying my values and without consideration of the impact to myself or others. But having submitted my life...
Steadfast Love and Intimate Fellowship
Evening meditation: The Lord has had me for several days reflecting on the dual nature of one's relationship with Him....captivated by His steadfast love AND enjoying intimate fellowship through living in righteousness. And the reality that we can know that we are continuing in His love even when we have compromised our fellowship with Him through sinful behavior. Tonight as I read, I saw this confirmed in Psalm 130.... Psalm 130- A song of ascents. 1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, Lord, kept a record of...
Angels Rehabbed, Repaired, Recycled, Restored
It is the imperfections that reflect our history and experiences. Since God is present with us even in our difficult times we have no reason to hide them or feel ashamed because of them. Christ retained his scars in the resurrection so our Lord clearly believes that such marks on our lives are part of our witness and can be celebrated for the healing and redemption we now know! In the Japanese culture they embellish cracks in pottery with molten silver or gold to repair them and to create beautiful accents on the pottery. It is restorative art worthy of note! This little rustic angel with...
God’s Love Language
Jesus also told them to "go and sin no more.." If they continued sinning he didn't love them less, but they were not included in the fellowship of followers or given the keys to the kingdom.....There are two parts to relationship with God.... his unconditional love (without a doubt) and also his requirement for hungering and thirsting for righteousness in order to enjoy his fellowship and the blessings that come from close communion..... We cannot lose his love, but we can forfeit his fellowship...... Godly love is unconditional positive regard AND accountability in righteous fellowship....
Therapeutic Interpersonal Learning
Why we include emotional literacy, values education, sharing our lives as well as our testimony, and the importance of interdependent living at Titus 2: The Most Private is Often What Resonates the Strongest The pyschologist Carl Rogers, a person who would know quite well the interior lives of others, has this to say of our inmost thoughts: I have most invariably found that the very feeling which has seemed to me most private, most personal and hence, most incomprehensible by others, has turned out to be an expression for which there is a resonance in many people. It has led me to believe...