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.
Oil Lamp’s Light
Most didn't see the truth the first time.... Many will not see the truth this time, either.... until it is too late. Sing the hymn to the end.. "Do you see what I see?" Said the night wind to the little lamb: "Do you see what I see? Way up in the sky, little lamb Do you see what I see? A star, a star, dancing in the night With a tail as big as a kite With a tail as big as a kite" Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy: "Do you hear what I hear? Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy Do you hear what I hear? A song, a song, high above the trees With a voice as big as the sea With a voice as...
Turning The Table On The Popular Narrative
Heard spoken by a TV commentator..."God help us, the world is upside down!" Of course it is, but it's not what you think it is. For biblical Christians the world has ALWAYS been upside down. Finally, others are beginning to be able to see the REAL view of the world as it is from God's view..... tilted away at a 180 degree, a diametrically-opposed posture which is enmity against the Kingdom of God. This has been the case since satan got booted out of fellowship in the heavenly realm for the same things he has set out to deceive all of us into. Some are fortunate enough to have read the...
The Legacy of Barbie
At Titus 2 this weekend we had a conversation about the "Barbie Syndrome" and the impact on our culture of the fashion doll's presence since March 9, 1959, her fictional birthday and fashion doll toy market debut. I am one of very few women, it seems who never had a Barbie doll growing up.... My parents gave me a "Tammy" doll, the girl next door doll. That, however, does not mean that I, like many others of my generation, was not impacted by the Barbie phenomenon. I have observed again and again the negative impact on self-image to those trying to measure up to the cultural image of...
“This Kind Can Only Come Out By Prayer”
“This kind can only come out by prayer.” There is an incident recorded in three Gospels- Mark 9:14-29, Matthew 17:14-21, and Luke 9:37-45 that gives interesting perspective on miracles and prayer. It comes on the heels of the twelve disciples having been sent out by Jesus in pairs to proclaim the Gospel to the Jews and to perform miracles, previously recorded in Mark 6, Matthew 10, and Luke 9-10. During that time of healing by the disciples, they experienced great success. But upon returning to Jesus, crowds of people were following them and they were faced with the boy with the evil spirit....
Power Over Evil
May 22, 2020, 9:30 AM “I have learned nothing in 20 years that would suggest that evil people can be rapidly influenced by any means other than raw power. They do not respond...to either gentle kindness or any form of spiritual persuasion with which I am familiar.” #MScottPeck #evil My personal note: In most cases the best and most daunting exercise of raw power is the setting of a firm, immovable boundary which one may not ignore, manipulate, circumvent, or dismantle. Such power is only possible in and thru the power of God. It is the final solution for evil. The weapons God uses can...
The Virtue Of Sacrificial Love
May 22, 2020, 5:14 PM Someone wrote “the highest value in America is freedom. The highest value in the Bible is love “ The highest VIRTUE (attribute of God that originates with God and is revealed and defined by the Word of God) is LOVE that is sacrificial- that’s what we have often failed to learn. God sacrificed his own son to be the final and complete sacrifice for the sin of humanity for all time. Christ sacrificed his life, both thru his devotion to his disciples in ministry and thru his death on the cross on our behalf. (John 3:16- God so LOVED.....) We have cheapened love into...
Parting Ways
God loves diversity and created us all to live together but when sin’s corruption screwed things up Darwin’s survival of the fittest ( i.e. the strongest, loudest, with the most physical stamina and least aversion to conflict, the one with the most power -however it is defined-and ability to leverage that power ) kicked in and some “species” adapted other modalities to survive. Some of those adaptations have made it impossible now for some of them to co-habit the same environments, even the same worlds, it seems. We’ve been at war too long. Move on. Create a New World where everyone’s odds...
Memorial Day Memories
May 24, 2020, 6:14 AM Facebook covers up and places caution over the honest authentic emotions of loss and grieving the deaths of those who made the choice to stand for something good, something greater than themselves.... to love their families, their neighbors, their country, and the cause of peace and justice in a world where only brute power can subdue some evils. My Daddy, my stepgrandfather, Bill's uncle, several of my uncles... all were veterans. Some served in horrific WWII theatres overseas and suffered from the loss of many of their own friends and came home with lasting...
Bible As Personal Proclamation of Faith Or Opportunistic Prop?
6/3/2020 CBB When President Donald Trump carried and held up his Bible at St. Johns Parish Church next door to the White House, the picture drew a lot of main stream media and social media criticism that the Bible was being used as a “prop.” This feigned public outrage in defense of the Bible’s reputation and status made me laugh. I have followed news reports and surveys of Christian spiritual formation and spiritual discipline practices for most of my adult life. They are generally reported by Barna Research, Lifeway, or occasionally other groups like Pew Research. One has only to talk to...
A Reflection on “You Do You”
You Do You. “Public service announcement: “You do you” is not actually a Christian idea. “You do you” is how fallenness happened. It is too often followed by “hold my beer.” The last thing any of us needs is for me do me when Jesus has so blatantly and wisely asked me to deny me and do him.”' As see on Twitter from @CarolynCMoore, Rev. Carolyn Moore of Mosaic UMC and Wesleyan Covenant Association This phrase, “you do you”, on the surface and left in the realm of friendly interpersonal human relationships alone seems harmless and for those with no underhanded, hidden agenda, I think it is...