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.
Mentoring Toward Work-and-Worship Ordered Lifestyles
1/2/2021 reflection What am I doing today? THIS: Mentoring women into work-and-worship-ordered lifestyles. Today and everyday. One of today’s take aways: You are not what you do. God desires that you would DO what you ARE. What does the world say you are? What does God say you are? God has created you perfectly, with all the talents, gifts, passions, and personality for what He has intended....for a purpose. You are called to live into that purpose in all you do. Chip ingram’s parenting class today at Titus 2. Theology of work: Teach them to work ‘unto the Lord’, Included in the 5 smooth...
Pain of Change
Notice how undergoing these transformational processes requires enduring intense pressure, persevering through chronic irritation, and patiently awaiting the change......
Seeking Christ in the World……
Sometime in the last decade or so, someone had given me a photocopied page of a story. I do not know the source. It has the page number "166" and the top of the page says "A Gentle Thunder". I do not have a copy of Max Lucado's book by that title, but it sounds like something Lucado might have written. I am going to reproduce this one page story here on my weblog page with this note that it is believed to be from that book. . If you can confirm that, please do. It seems an appropriate start to the New Year for those who wish 2022 to be different from recent years..... Once there...
“You Hold the Stone”
One cannot disconnect the New Testament from the Old Testament or one verse from another. It comes to life in our hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit of God in us only as we embrace it in its entirety and begin living obediently to God in it. I have been coming gradually to that conclusion most of my life. In my childhood I studied the Word of God in Sunday School and in youth activities, doing "sword drills" to find and memorize scripture texts. They lived in the recesses of my soul even during years when I didn't recall them or seek to apply them to my life. However, eventually,...
New Year Wisdom
Resolution for the New Year: Daily hosting Christ in my heart, inviting God to be The Transcendent, The Immanent, The Intimate Indwelling One according to all that THE GREAT I AM desires to be in me. There was a time when I signed personal correspondence with this- "Expecting the BEST!" I was driven by a desire for excellence and had high expectations for myself and others (which, I suspect, was more than a little burdensome to others!) Then after a particularly holy communion experience during which the pastor said to me, "God's BEST has been given for you!" I realized that my expectation...
Flashback
Adolescent reflection at age 17: "To say that one is wholly and undeniably happy is to lie. For how are we, such shallow beings, to determine those things which have gone to the utter depths of our souls and left them scarred with sorrow? Does not every singular happening that we perceive affect us? There is no way to sort those affectations into bundles and say which ones we shall one day be forced to recall- and regret! Did not God impart to each of us a bit of himself? It may be so encumbered by human actions and thoughts that it is quite unable to be seen. But it is there, even...
Moving from Advent to Epiphany
Suffering for the gospel is not an elective class in the school of discipleship, but a required course. Dr. Stephen J Lawson It’s also the main tool God uses to grow our character and to teach us to live out the Grace we have been given. Adversity is the forge of our character. Ryan Russell ( on Twitter)! God gave you the honor not only of believing in Christ but also of suffering for him, both of which bring glory to Christ. Philippians 1:29 Mary and Joseph experienced suffering in being invited into knowledge of and acquiescing to participation in God's extraordinary plan to save the...
Court Prayer Session
9/16/2018 "According to Stephanos Bibas, a professor of law and criminology at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the criminal-justice system has become a “capacious, onerous machinery that sweeps everyone in,” and plea bargains, with their swift finality, are what keep that machinery running smoothly. Because of plea bargains, the system can quickly handle the criminal cases of millions of Americans each year, involving everything from petty violations to violent crimes. But plea bargains make it easy for prosecutors to convict defendants who may not be guilty, who don’t present a...
Attracting and Abiding
How personal and concerned is God about assuring that we understand how much we are loved? God used close parking spaces during a holiday season years ago to show me that HE was in charge. I had a prime spot from before Thanksgiving until after my birthday in February every time I went anywhere. Then it stopped as suddenly as it started! It was clear to me that only God could have orchestrated such a lengthy run of parking place preferential treatments! It didn't occur to me that he might be testing my selfishness at the time! It seemed we were engaged in an ongoing demonstration of "how...
Kingdom Economy in Operation
I had the opportunity to consider and discuss this a couple of times this week: Ephesians 1:17: “[I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know….. (Then he mentions three things) “What is the hope to which he has called you.” (to behold and become the likeness of Christ in the world to fulfill God’s will.) “What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” **** “What is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward...