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.
Linda Vickers: Goodbye To Our Friend
Service of Celebration Linda Vickers 11/13/23 Good morning and welcome to this celebration of the life of Linda Vickers whose membership in this congregation of Christ's church has been transferred to her new place of fellowship and worship in the Church Triumphant in Christ and with Christ forever. I'm Cathy, one of the care ministers here and I had the privilege of journeying with our friend Linda during recent months. We watched Hallmark movies and favorite old TV series, read morning devotionals, talked about...
Harry Giles: Eulogy For A Friend
One rarely sees good in any day in which a loved one is surrendered to death. Some people find it difficult to find good in most any day at all. Harry Giles was not such a person. How does one become a person who can see good in almost every day or, even harder in nearly every person? For some it is undoubtedly the result of an innate positive-focused personality, of being able to generally see a glass as half-full instead of half-empty. For others it may be the blessing of generally having had favorable life experiences. Then there are those for whom a positive...
In Christ for the World
I dreamed all night about the difference between being "in the world for Christ" and "In Christ for the world"..... I can't remember specifics ......I just know that paradigm shift was setting up in me like freshly poured concrete. It reminded me, too, of our call to be in the world but not of the world: John describes the “world” as “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” (1 Jn. 2:16.) “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the...
Changed “Connection”
From 11/8/17..... Everything has changed since this post... "Connecting with others helps us live out our faith as we allow God’s love to bring us together as one body of Christ. Embrace the opportunity to connect through prayer, community, generosity and outreach." (From UMC) A lofty thought....one that requires those in the "connection" to actually share common definitions of "community", "generosity" and "outreach". And also to agree what "God's love" means and allow that to be the common uniting factor instead exalting individuals' preferences, agendas, biases, and assumed...
Digital Scream
"The Scream" From post on 11/8/21....... Nothing has changed. "May I just say I abhor government websites that are necessary to do any transaction at every level- city, county, state, and federal. My chest tightens and I hyperventilate trying to negotiate their lengthy “secure” and tedious online systems. I’d rather spend money on postage for certified mail or drive 30 miles to an office to see a person. And government automated phone systems are equally a nuisance. Computerization was supposed to make life easier and simpler. For whom? Government? I do not find that it has done either one...
Yes, Sheep
When I see the degree of spiritual bondage some people are in as I talk to them and discover how spiritually immature and incapable of helping themselves they are, I realize why Jesus likened people to sheep. One can almost hear it in the voice of some who are desperately in need of a Shepherd: "Baaaa.....baaa". And it is true, the Enemy of one's soul prowls around stalking, tormenting, and waiting to pounce. Seeing how vulnerable some are and how the Enemy has left his marks makes me both angry and sad. Teaching, discipling and equipping such women to hear, know and follow the Good...
Taking A Risk
"How often is God’s heart broken by our insistence on “playing it safe”…. As if not getting hurt is the most important thing in the world.”. Taking a risk, stepping out on faith, being obedient and trusting God when something seems contrary to what the world expects of us or is out of one’s comfort zone can require courage, knowing God is good, and loving the Lord and His people more than one’s comfort, convenience, reputation, even life itself. There is a cost to discipleship. But one will never have given more than has been received.
You Know When It Is Time to Get Serious
I have lost 30 pounds in the last few months, but it has not been the agony that diets through the years have been. It has been about reorienting my thinking, not so much about the food itself, but about my relationship to food..... what longing I seek to satisfy with it, what hunger felt in my body is telling me....... It has been about slowing down, asking myself why I do the things I do and how I do them, especially around the issue of food choices and eating....... like where, how, when, what, why, and with whom I find myself eating. I have discovered some wrong thinking, some bad...
Heart Under Construction
"Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping. (Rule 2) There are a trillion things to pay attention to. Almost all of them are irrelevant. I would argue there's no better use of time than understanding your own personality and the personalities of those around you" (promo for Jordan B. Peterson's Discovering Personality course) The Lord has been working on me the last few weeks, in terms of showing me some things about me... Every once in a while He seems to shake things up and carry me through a time of introspection. Not morbidly so, or with regrets..... just calling me to...
Church Expectations
The problem with the church, any church, is not the church. It's the expectations that people bring to the church.... In other words , the ecclesiology of individuals, or what they believe about the church. I worked through my personal ecclesiology in the 90's as I experienced individuals' hypocrisy (including my own), a church's rejection of a pastor and his family, another church's process of self evaluation and change and the extraordinary blessings of God that resulted, and my own evolving expectations (or attempts at reducing them) of people and institutions directed by people. I have...