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.
Purpose and People, Not Place
Dec 17,2020- As I pack and stack boxes of personal belongings in preparation for moving early in 2021 into a townhome near our son and his wife, I am at peace with my decision. I had struggled for about a month with it, as I began to realize how much home and yard maintenance there is for me alone at this place, in addition to my responsibility for the maintenance of the Titus 2 residence, as well. I spent time in prayer and talking to family and a few close prayer partner friends and a financial advisor friend. On a day that I drove nearly 7 hours total in transit to and from a relative's...
2021: Faith. FULL
My focus word for 2020 was “grow” and as I understood God then, it was to grow in grace and obedience in all of who I am-spirit, soul, and body. Well, grow in body I certainly did, as months of COVID-19 restrictions and weeks of bereavement cloistering led to comfort cooking and eating at home. Did I grow in soul? I had to in order to make room to bear in my soul alone all that remains of my earthly love and relationship with Bill., now that his physical presence is gone. To keep him alive in my heart, my soul had to slide over and make room for him on the swing so that I could continue to...
Small Consolation
In Nov 2013 we experienced a home burglary at the hands of a subcontractor working in our home.. It was a jarring experience that came at a difficult time in our lives when we were already grieving other losses. It was not a moment of opportunity, but a planned and thought out intentional act of theft. In Dec 2014 we were notified that after repeated appearances in court and continuations of the case, he has pled guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to probation and payment of restitution. It is a relief to have this chapter closed. Once the house addition was completed and...
Shepherds’ Ran On A Silent Night
12/27/20 Two nights ago I was stopping in at Titus 2’s residence after returning from a visit to a friend. It was almost 9 pm. The night was cold and clear and stars shone brightly....... this same sense of wonder at what that night must have been like when Christ was born went through my mind. 12/27/2015- 3:30 a.m. at Deerpoint Lake: The night was so still, even the crickets were asleep. The dogs and I went out for a brief walk in the backyard. I looked at the night sky and wondered if it was that quiet on the hills around Bethlehem the night of Jesus' birth when, suddenly, the heavens...
Dreams of Flying
Since I was a young child I have had dreams of flying......arms outstretched and beating against the air, soaring above the trees and able to see the earth from a delightfully higher perspective. Yesterday as Billy and I drove toward Asheville, I watched the screen of Billy’s iPad propped on the console of his truck directing us to our destination. I’d never seen a screen outline details of the surroundings like it showed...... rivers, building clusters, roadways, green areas...... it seemed we were gliding just above the landscape with a bird’s eye view. It was a perspective very...
Why Post Messages of Faith on Social Media?
Social media is a means of ministry for me. I post things that God shows me in the Word. Those are generally longer posts or links to my blog, in an attempt to teach and open up the Word of God for others .... to challenge and invite them into a deeper contemplative life in Christ. Very few people comment or seem to read those posts. But if one just shares or posts a short meme and people embrace and comment and share it..... Herein lies a problem that I perceive ..... we want quick, easy to understand mini-inspirations. We want someone to give us life’s cliff notes. At Titus, in...
However Long It Takes…… Lessons From Exodus
Nearly 400 years after the Hebrew people came sojourning with honor and hospitality into the land of Egypt during a famine, their hosts had become oppressors. Their lives were hard, even putting an entire generation of male children at risk of death as a means of quelling the prosperity and proliferation of the Hebrews. The parents of Moses placed him in a bulrush ark and pushed him out upon the water, putting him in a different kind of danger but knowing that they could not protect him. To try to do so any longer would have led to the destruction of Moses and all of them. It...
What Happened While Thinking About Thinking
2020: Thinking About Thinking in 360 degrees CBByrd 12/15/20 Saturday, December 12th, 2020, I experienced circumstances that made it clear I was at risk of dying on I-65 North just south of Birmingham, AL. It was an attack…… what kind and why, I am still sorting out. I left home in Panama City, FL about 6:30am with my little 10- year- old dog, Winston, lying in the passenger seat. As I was driving up FL 77 just north of Southport I was thinking about my daughter’s family at the other end of my morning drive. I had not seen them in a year. I...
2020: Blue Christmas Testimony of Hope
As a COVID-19 widow of 4 1/2 months, I was privileged to share a testimony of hope with others who have found this Christmas season less than merry due to any number of reasons...... Below is the link to the Blue Christmas service at Lynn Haven UMC on Sunday, Dec. 20th. My testimony begins at about the 36 minute point of the video after the singing of Away In A Manger.. Some other widowed friends and I are planning to start meeting in January for mutual support, encouragement, fellowship, and sharing of resources. If you know someone who needs to connect and recovery hope for...
Widowhood: Wondering and Wandering in Advent
It was this summer sunset view from the backyard on Deer Point Lake that brought us to this home nearly 16 years ago, which we purchased from Sunday School friends. We had first enjoyed this view during a Sunday School group dinner at the home of Marian and Robert Wright in 2004. When they decided to sell they announced it in Sunday School after a Thanksgiving weekend trip to their family home in Tennessee and we purchased it that afternoon and moved into it February 2005 when their new Tennessee home was completed. As I pack and stack boxes of personal belongings in preparation for...