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.
NEWSFLASH: Progressives Coming Around To Biblical Worldview!
Progressive humanists/educators once opined that children were “Tabula Rosa”, NOT bigoted, but loving and accepting of one another and that prejudiced behavior is learned through the corrupting influence of culture. Consider this: Now, with “new and improved theology” they are coming around to the Christian view of the brokenness of humanity at the level of systems and institutions, even all creation, at the level of genetics, and world views…. NEWS FLASH…. It’s not just people with white European ancestry who are marred by such human corruption…. brokenness is the universal human condition....
Holy Communion, Holy Consecration, Holy Commission
I and others have observed that religion is about belonging and behaving….. about affiliation with others and embracing the values and practices of the group. Life in Christ, Christianity, is about believing Christ is God and becoming Christlike through receiving the power of His Holy Spirit. I recall having begun to feel like I didn’t “belong” by the age of 10. My sense of “place” was disturbed when we moved at the end of my third grade year. We moved again in March of my fourth grade year. I had trouble finding my “place” among kids who had been together since preschool. I did find a...
Choking On Tears
Because I planned to spend time teaching at Titus 2 this afternoon and then stay for Bible Study at LHUMC, I started my morning a little later than usual. After an early morning ZOOM meeting I watched a live-streamed worship service on my computer and it spoke so much to something on my heart. As the service moved to Holy Communion, I had to get up for a few minutes. As I walked away from the screen I was reminded of a time when I had come to a special communion, kneeling at a rail for what seemed like the 100th time in repentance, tears and brokenness. There at the altar that day I asked...
Miracles of Healing
In 1980 I made my first trip to my pastor’s office seeking counsel. I cried as I told him about my boss, a married man I had known for 3 years in my workplace who was flattering me, courting me like a love struck adolescent boy…. I was tempted. And I was ashamed. But my heart was breaking, as well. I told the pastor that I was longing to see that desire and hear words of appreciation and for that kind of attention from my husband. I yearned to feel cherished. That was my lament. His word to me was, “I hear you saying that you want to be affirmed by your husband.” Yes. That’s what...
Words Matter
Words spoken reveal the beliefs of the speaker and influence the beliefs of the hearer. Anytime I hear the cultural iteration of “body, soul, and spirit” spoken by a Christian, I cringe….. like fingernails scratching a chalk board…..1 Thessalonians 5:23 Paul articulates God’s order, “spirit, soul, and body” and urges sanctification using that order….. until the church begins to distinguish itself from the culture by getting aligned with God’s order, seeking first the kingdom of God, and recognizing that all renewal and healing is first and foremost a work of the Holy Spirit in us, we will...
Opportunities and Sifting
If satan had to ask to sift Peter, then he would have also had to ask permission of the sovereign God to sift Judas, as well, it seems. Peter endured the pain of his shame and lived to see himself restored when he encountered the Risen Christ. Judas, expecting a different outcome, a political and military victory, was crushed by his shame and did not learn the lessons of Jonah’s rescue or Lazarus coming out of the grave or wait to see the victory. He listened to the condemnation of the enemy and became a scorned vessel of dishonor, in contrast to Peter who surrendered his shame to the loving...
Eulogy For A Vietnam Veteran at Barrancas National Cemetery- Sept 30, 2021- Gary Huff
Gary Huff was 5 years older than me and he and Fran and Bill and I shared an era of coming of age that affected our generation significantly….. the 60s and 70s. Music, family life, education, the assassination of a president, the moon landing, and the Vietnam War. My favorite Uncle was an 82nd Airborne Master Sargent. Some of my most fervent prayers as a teen were for the safety of him and other deployed US military during the 60s and 70s. When my uncle volunteered for a third tour in Vietnam, I heard my Daddy ask his brother in law why he was going back again. My uncle responded that...
Looking Back at 2016….
(CBB-written in Jan 2016) There are some, I expect, who wonder why I, at 62, continue to explore new "vistas", pursue new goals, and continue going after ministry activities and opportunities with passion and energy.....because that's who God made me to be. God's not done with me yet. I'm not done with life yet. "Retirement" is not a word that fits easily into my vocabulary. Moses was 80 when God called him to his greatest and God-chosen work! For many of us, the opportunity to do the things in life that we really love and have been prepared for come only after years of working in...
“Bummer Lambs”
"Bummer lambs"...…..A lot of people feel that way in life and need the tender one-on-one care of The Good Shepherd to experience the feeling of being truly loved! I’ve often felt that God creates some of us with a profound depth of loneliness in our souls to draw us more closely to himself. Perhaps this is how God crafts some of his most devoted disciples..... simply by his choice of our family and how we feel nurtured within them or do not......Only God, who is called in scripture The Lifter of My Head can fill that deep cavernous void that some try to fill with so many other things of this...
Good Old Days
Sept 28,2020 Word for today from Ecclesiastes 7:10: “Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.” Keep your focus on today. Each day is a gift. Open it. Enjoy it. Be blessed by it. Be a blessing to someone else through it. Thank God and make some memories to carry forward into tomorrow. But for those who live The Awakened Life, we know that if tomorrow does not arrive to us, only the hands of the clock will have been stilled. Everything else of value about who we are continues in the Timeless Eternity that is our true home in fellowship...