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.
Admonish or Judge…….
Latin admonere "bring to mind, remind, suggest;" also "warn, advise, urge," from ad- "to" + monere "advise, warn" Admonish: to caution, advise, or counsel against something; to reprove or scold. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 1 Thess. 5:14 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. 2 Thess. 3:15 But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets who had admonished them So that they might return to You..... Nehemiah 9:26 I...
Lies =/= Recovery
Things I have learned and am required to address regularly: With women in recovery, I find that they have a very "loose" definition of "lie". Lying by omission appears to never be considered a lie to them. Being presumptuous in willfully undertaking a behavior that may not explicitly be a violation of the letter of a rule, but certainly is a violation of the spirit of the rule, or which they have not been specifically and explicitly and personally told they couldn't do, is never a lie. In other words, they will test the limits of every rule's application. Pleading ignorant with "I didn't...
Swamp Creatures
Recently, I was driving on one of those overcast on-again-off-again rainy days and came upon a scene near the road of a marshy swamp of cypress trees....It was a dreary scene... dark, still, ominous, and hardly inviting. Yet, I saw a beauty in it that I had never noticed before .... The trees still stood tall and reached to the sky. Their tops still held green leaves that showed life and defied the gloom of the dark watery swamp. The cypress knees gave the impression of spreading out a foundation and holding firm to something deeper and more solid. I was suddenly moved by their determination...
Polio, Progress, and Perspective
Long time business friend of my husband, John Rogers, writes a weekly Saturday FB post that celebrates many of the events experienced by members of our generation. This week's is about the polio vaccine, an event that I remember quite vividly, in part because of the fear that so many felt from knowing one or more people who had suffered from polio. His posts often lead one to consider how our lives have become better in some ways or how, at other times, they remind us of what we have lost through "progress." Harvard’s Dr. Steven Pinker has written about the immense improvements in human...
White As Snow…..
I visited an estate sale Friday..... just a quick walk through...I saw some pretty sets of china (I confess an attraction to and fondness for china!) ....I was reminded of a friend's story of having a yard sale in which she was selling some white plates, not chipped or cracked, just nice plain white plates. Someone came to the yard sale and commented, "No one would buy those", as though her declared opinion was definitive and superior to others'. Today, as I put dishes in my cabinet from the dishwasher I remembered my friend's story of the white plates.....Obviously, I likely would have...
Justice Rising – Psalm 52 and Isaiah 29
I was talking to someone about a situation involving great evil to an innocent and all the sorrow it has caused. How sad that it is continuing to play out in heartbreak and with potentially dire consequences to many. The person said that this Psalm had come to mind in prayer…..not the words, just the reference…..spoken in the heart softly….”Psalm 52”…..commended by the Holy Spirit as a way to deal with the pain of the circumstances. In reading this Psalm it is clear that God is offering reassurance that no evil will go unpunished. God is a just God. It is Satan, “O mighty one”, who stirs up...
The Land: Instructing the Heart and Mind
I have been reading "Jesus and the Land: The New Testament Challenge to Holy Land Theology " by Gary Burge. I have to take it in small bites and read it side by side with Scripture. The notion of "the land" as more than geography has been one that has rolled around in my head since God spoke to me through a vision of myself as "the land", a plowed field in 1997, and it was confirmed to me that much of what we observe in the physical realm has a corollary in the spiritual realm. Hence, Jesus' prolific use of parables and metaphors....Margaret Manning of RZIM shares her own experience of a...
Lessons from the Syrophoenician Woman’s Plea
A heretical bishop in the United Methodist Church had written that this story, told in Matthew 15:21-28 and in Mark 7:24-30, is an example of Jesus' bigotry and misogyny, that he would ignore a Gentile woman's pleading for help. But as I wrote then, after reading her tripe about Jesus having been acculturated to such behavior and having to learn compassion and tolerance of non-Jews, this is a case of Jesus setting a test for his disciples to help them see their own bigotry and demonstrating the role of persevering faith, and also testing the faith and determination of the woman. It...
O, My Soul, Why Are You Cast Down?
This little piece of wood with a cross and two sheep brings to mind a biblical image of one's soul being 'cast down'. Although it looks like the one little sheep closest to the cross on its back may be playfully rolling around, it is actually in dire distress, possibly deadly danger. A sheep that has rolled over onto its back is called a "cast" sheep. It will likely not be able to get up without assistance. This happens most commonly with short, stocky sheep with full fleeces on flat terrain. To be cast down is to be in a posture of distress from which one cannot rise on her own. Why...
Launching
This meme spotted on Facebook is a poignant reminder of those days 20+ years ago when we moved our son (at The Citadel) and our daughter (at Birmingham-Southern College) into their dorm rooms to start college. I didn't cry when we left Billy in Charleston. I was grateful for the military structure that I hoped would change things, that he would grow up. I did, however, cry all the way home when we left Charlotte Anne, somehow sensing that things would never be the same again. Perhaps it was more a matter of sensing things deep within myself that reflected how college changed me and my view...