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.
Experiencing Christ in the Sacraments
Experiencing Christ.....Each Friday I gather with 4 other women for fellowship, Bible study, and accountability. What a joy it is to "know and be known, love and be loved, admonish and be admonished, serve and be served, and celebrate and be celebrated" ! It has become a highlight of my week. This past week as we exchanged Christmas gifts, I experienced Christ, as I often do, present with us. One of the members of the group gave me a lovely shoulder bag she'd purchased in Israel a few years ago, along with a blue bottle filled with Jordan River water from that trip, as well. She had no way...
A Merry Christmas Card for You!
The Inestimable Value of Time Spent With Family
I have fond memories of time spent with family. Being together with cousins and siblings and other extended family for a holiday gathering reminded me of how those memories came about…….through time spent together…. through meals shared over the family table, through shopping trips and fishing trips and sports events and cookouts and shooting off fireworks and playing games and learning new skills from one another and telling stories to one another. As one gets older there is the realization that those are the really valuable things in life that I have to carry forward from my family. It’s...
Sermon on Advent Themes- First Church of God-Panama City, FL 12-1-19
12-1-2019 Advent sermon, First Church of God-PC CBByrd HOPE, PEACE, JOY, LOVE Romans 15:13-17- "May the God of HOPE fill you with all JOY and PEACE as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit." This week we shifted from November to December. Have you realized there are only 24 days ‘til Christmas? But one does not need a calendar to know that we are hastening toward this season. The Christmas displays in many stores have already been up for well over a month already. Lists are already made and dates for family meals confirmed for many. Travel...
Essential Elements of Love in God’s Image
Thinking About Real Love Two Essential Elements of Love In God’s Image I've had several opportunities recently to reflect on the subject of "love".. mostly in regard to Advent themes and the love of God for us and the call for us to love God AND love our neighbor, even love our ENEMY! This is a hard task, especially given the variety of ways in which love is defined and thoughts about what loving behavior looks like. The more I have talked to families, individuals, other Christian teachers, and friends the more I have come to think of the kind of love that builds healthy and lasting...
Life At The Speed of Light: If You Can’t Stop, Wave or Honk
When a man and woman get married, if each brings priority of life in Christ to the relationship and manages to negotiate the currents and stay in the boat, they are probably able to understand quantum mechanics. Last night Bill and I watched Einstein's Quantum Riddle. He had already viewed it and found it intriguing. So we watched it together. He said, "Do you understand this??" I said, "Yes." He looked at me incredulously and said, "How." Well, I DID win the Bausch and Lomb Science Award for academics in high school. And I DID major in Laboratory Science at Auburn University which entailed...
From a Hillside Overlook Rest Stop
There was a time in my life, after I made a full surrender of all of who I believed myself to be to all I believed I knew of God, that God began to show me great and wonderful things in the Word. I was humbled and awestruck by the things God would speak to my heart through his Word, by his Holy Spirit, through anointed and prophetic individuals and organizations he placed in my path and by what were, at times, very every-day and, other times, very extraordinary circumstances. Even when they didn’t appear to be desirable or feel very comfortable those circumstances somehow eventually played...
Going Home at the Appointed Time
I received a message recently from a Facebook friend who asked this: “Cathy, you had a post awhile back regarding a young man, I think, with addiction problems that had died and how God sometimes calls people home, releasing them from their misery - does that ring a bell? My son's girlfriend found her dad last night - I think it was suicide - he'd been dealing with colon cancer for the last 15 months or so - and I would love to share that post with her if you can by any chance find it for me.” Here is the reply I sent to her this week: I have searched through FB posts and cannot find exactly...
Advent Themes: Hope, Peace, Joy, Love
Romans 15:13-17- "May the God of HOPE fill you with all JOY and PEACE as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit." This coming week we will shift from October to November. Have you realized there are only 61 days ‘til Christmas? But one does not need a calendar to know that we are hastening toward this season. The Christmas displays in many stores have already been up for several weeks. Lists are already being made and dates for family meals confirmed. Travel arrangements are being made. The season ahead is a wonderful time of family gatherings,...
“Big Picture” Prayer – Latter Rain Favor and Redemption of All Creation
Pastor Craig Carter, has asked our church staff to share our "big picture" prayers for ministries and missions. Some have already shared about their "big picture" hopes and prayers. Over the last week I keep coming back to one thought that plays in my mind again and again. I was considering our experience of last year’s October 10, 2018 Hurricane Michael (Category 5, 919 millibars pressure, 161 mph winds, compact, fast moving, and devastating) and last week’s October 2019 Tropical Storm Nestor (broadly elongated with less well defined cyclonic profile, bringing far less destructive winds...