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.
Perp Shaming Child Sex Predators
A couple of years ago after discovering that yet another child I knew had been molested by an "uncle", I was angry. I considered a solution, perp shaming.... TAJ- Tamars Advocating Justice #tamarsadvocatingjustice To make sure we wouldn't be culturally intruding on a foreign word that meant something too far afield from what we would be purposing that might connote something bad, I looked up "taj". It's actually a conical shaped hat worn by ecstatic whirling, howling dancing religious zealots. We'll try to have more decorum than that, but I might could even be whipped into a holy frenzy to...
Grandmothers Against Child Sexual Abuse
Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Multiple times God gives this instruction to Joshua before and during the campaign to take and occupy the Promised Land once Joshua assumes leadership after Moses' death. It won't be quick. It won't be easy. It will require preparation. It will require obedience. It will be the task for the rest of his life...and he's approaching 80 at this point.... "The only righteous anger is when God is the one being offended." Yep. God does NOT intend for children to be anyone's sex toys! Wherever...
What Abraham Knew
"Abraham told his servants: “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Abraham knew. It was as though God quietly messaged Abraham somewhere along the way on this three day walk, “I need you to know that I know. I know that you know Isaac was never in the slightest danger. This was never about Isaac. It was never about me. It was about you, Abraham. These loyalties are not conflicting unless they are competing. Abraham, your loyalty to and love for Isaac, the gift, is grounded in and flows from your loyalty to and love...
Fountain of Tears
How else would one welcome guests to Grand Falls Lane but with a waterfall! The waterfall may not be all that grand, but the fact that its abode is all ours, free and clear is pretty grand, thanks to the love and wisdom of my partner of 48 years! I know he’s got his eye on me and his heart is feeling my peace. A sense of security and peace, however, have not stopped the tears sliding down my cheeks today. https://www.facebook.com/cathy.b.byrd.1/videos/10159215180059461/?mibextid=uc01c0
One Year Ago Today….
Walking through our mostly empty home on Deerpoint Lake, getting it ready to turn over to a new family, and trying to adapt to new quarters with anxious pets have left me feeling very vulnerable and sad today. It’s like the closing of one more door on something precious. But I can’t remain tethered to the past. There would never be a good or easy time to move on. I have to continue my own journey now. God put discontent in my heart all of a sudden a few months ago to move. And as uncomfortable as those weeks were of praying and considering what to do, I know it has been the right decision,...
Grief: Acceptance
In the last week I was having to change profile info in several places online with the new address. While I was doing profile changes I looked at “married” and wondered, “ what do I do with this?” I went to FB and looked at some others who’ve become widowed in the last year and the ones I checked had all changed status to widowed. I sighed and figured I have to embrace this reality, too. Life can be a hard taskmaster in demanding that one face the truth of her circumstances. The Lord knows I have had to be the one bringing that difficult message to some through the years. I am not exempt...
Good Grief
When the box is empty and all that was weighing on the heart has been met head on, it is time to call it a day and await God’s new mercies that come with the morning.... g’night. ( Journal note 7/9/2021)
De-Shamed
De-Shamed: Exposed, with all the beauty of spirit and soul you were intended by God to have, redeemed, "naked , and unashamed", Genesis 2:25. Quote heard and pondered at a women’s conference a few years ago: “There is a difference between forgiveness and freedom. You can know you are forgiven and still not live in freedom.” You are living in freedom when you can boldly proclaim what you are forgiven from! It’s no longer about the pride of self-protection, but it is about abandoning yourself to trusting God so that it no longer matters who knows what you have gained victory over!" Forgiveness...
Answered Prayers and Serendipities
You may never know.....sometimes when a needed item appears at "just the right time" by some mysterious means from an unexpected source, it builds faith and demonstrates that God does care about the smallest, seemingly most insignificant things. But anything needed by God's people is of interest to God and God is pleased to meet that need through his people in ways that just defy "circumstance"....Instead of "it just so happened", it's more a matter of "as God would have it." I have seen that several times in just the last couple of days. It doesn't even surprise me anymore when it happens!...
The Test of Time
Some value things that they believe will stand the test of time. But what of the day when time is no more? Will those valued treasures stand the test of eternity? 1 Corinthians 3:6-23 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10 By the grace God has given me,...