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.
Hard Conversations
In many churches and among a number of Christians, there are some hard conversations that go on about standards for doctrine and leadership, about what is truly God’s will, what it means to be inclusive and loving in a culture that demands so much in terms of diversity and individuality, and even whether or not we can or should trust in the authority of God’s Word…. I’ve have been thinking this week about some hard conversations, too, in other contexts. Some of you know that I work with women in addiction assisting them toward life recovery from life-limiting dysfunctions like substance...
Me, too.
Jesus ministered to all - sinner and saved alike- everywhere he went. He fellowshipped with the disciples who were with him most of the time for 3 years. But he enjoyed close community with Peter, James and John They went places others didn't and he showed them aspects of himself few others would see and know. He also admonished those who knew the law but would not hear the truth of his grace and salvation available to all people. I want all of Jesus that I can have.....I want his healing ministry in my life. I want the day to day fellowship with him as I enjoy the guidance, learning, and...
Being Jesus…..
"Sin remains sin, no matter how emotive or empathetic we might be towards the sinner. It does not matter if the sinner is ourselves, our nearest and dearest, friends, or strangers. All sin is worthy of death, and that must be our response to it. We have no right to be judgmental, however, which causes us to react badly to sin, or to apply our own human standards to the sinner. …..We must respond – with biblical standards, not our own. That is, we look at sin as God looks at it, and we apply the necessary discipline, as He requires. Discipline is NOT what so many think it is – punishment!...
Deep Fellowship
A mother in recovery discovered at the end of a long and trying day that when satan sought to sabotage her sobriety, God was more present than she had ever known and that God will, if necessary, accompany one all night long, keeping her hands busy while giving her the emotional and psychological strength to know victory over a craving temptation to escape the trials of life. Her story: "Recovery is a frame of mind. When one is ready for the truth recovery can be right where you are. I am blessed enough to be able to have my recovery at home. I have responsibilities that cannot be...
2 Testaments, 1 Story
I've observed something interesting in Scripture....God's penchant for balancing events in the Old Testament with others in the New Testament.....Like the idolatry of the Hebrews worshipping the golden calf in the desert while Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments....3000 of them died as a result of their disobedience. In the New Testament at Pentecost, 3000 people were saved when they believed in Christ as Peter proclaimed the Gospel from the high point of worship in Jerusalem. At the tower of Babel, people were diversified in language and disbursed so that they could not...
Seeing Is Believing……. Believing Brings Seeing
This morning I asked a young lady riding with me to church to write something down. She didn’t want to because she said her handwriting was so poor. She talked about her grandmother’s beautiful handwriting and the fact that her grandmother even knew shorthand, which is almost a lost art in today’s technological, voice-to-text age. When she mentioned shorthand, it reminded me of something from over 30 years ago. I told her about a time when a friend’s husband had died. When she finally came to the point of moving out of the large Victorian home they had furnished and enjoyed together to move...
For Show or Blow
As a child I was fond of reading biographies of the famous and not-so-famous. It's a commendable practice for young people today. Here's one worth the read. From The Welles Remy Crowther Charitable Trust: http://www.crowthertrust.org/welles-story/ "….An article about September 11th printed in The New York Times (5/26/02) mentioned eyewitness reports of a mysterious man in a red bandanna on the 78th floor Sky Lobby of 2 World Trade Center when the second plane crashed into the south tower. This is where Welles was likely to have been at that time, since he was ultimately able to get down...
Running With Olympic Faith
(From a Sermon at Carillon Beach Chapel- 9-4-16 by Cathy Byrd) Olympic Medals in Faith’s Race 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthian Christians and to us: “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to...
Realism, Hurdles, and Hope
I was listening to Mark Pollock on TED talk (he is blind and paralyzed), talking about realism and hope. He shared the story of POWs in Vietnam, relating that it was the realists who were able to persevere and who eventually came home. The optimists kept setting hopeful, optimistic timelines and expectations ("by this Christmas"...."maybe next Christmas"..... only to be disappointed again and again, eventually despairing and giving up, usually dying in their cells. There comes a time when optimism has to give way to realism. And looking at the realistic facts helps us accept what we cannot...
Quibbling and Questions
There was a time I was a quibbler....I quibbled about perceived contradictions in Scripture. I quibbled over words.....and over tones and implications that I could have little way of discerning from words alone. I pecked away at the texts to try to figure them out to make sense, given my own experience, reason, and tradition. Then one Sunday sitting in church, as our pastor preached on Romans, I surrendered the need to know everything about the Bible. I prayed as I sat in the pew: "Lord, I'm not sure I understand the impact of this, but I'm just going to ask you to show me what you need me...