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.
“Hearken to the Voice of My Cry….”
Psalm 5: 1-3 Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. Seeing the Psalmist’s repetitions and other repetitions elsewhere in the Word, I look carefully at the series. What are the subtle changes from one phrase to the next? Is there a movement, a progression, a direction expressed in such repetitions? I find that there often is. Some examples of what appear, at first glance, to be repeated phrases...
For Such A Time As This……
(This post was originally written in July 2005, well over a year and a half before I left my pharma sales career and began graduate school to become a Christian counselor.) Our Wednesday morning group is studying the book of Esther. If you recall, Ahasuerus (AKA Xerxes) was having a rowdy night with the boys and commanded Queen Vashti to appear before them. She declined. (Any number of reasons can be inferred- among them 1.) she knew that to do so might entail being subjected to lewd and lascivious behavior given their then current state of inebriation or ,2.) she was pregnant perhaps...
God, You and I Dance
This week in our church's Renewal sessions, Rev. Mark Nysewander talked about life in the Holy Spirit. He said that life following God's will is not so much a structured rigid "blueprint", as it is leaping into a river and going with the flow, allowing it to take you where it will. Then he likened it to a dance in which one follows closely the cues and lead of the other. It reminded me of a couple of things seen and recorded in my journals years ago about dancing with God....... “Imagine you and the Lord Jesus walking down the road together. For much of the way the Lord’s...
(Imperfect) Metaphors for The Trinity
I have heard different people try to describe this mystery of the Trinitarian nature of God through various metaphors. How do we attempt to describe and understand it? Metaphors- - Egg shell, white, yolk- not best choice….3 different and distinct and even disposable parts. (same as with an apple as a metaphor) - 3 leaf clover- Three parts, same substance…Each identical to the other and related to one another in common connectedness. An elementary way to view the Trinity, but each leaf is still distinct and different from the other, just of the same substance, like clones coexisting...
Cherish Is A Word
Recently I changed the description of myself on my Facebook page from a group of noun descriptors (Christian. Wife. Mother. Grandmother. Daughter. Friend. Counselor. Teacher) to "Just plain 'ol Cathy"......this is a phrase I got to repeat many times as I was growing up and moving out into the world and that still gets employed from time to time. When I've met someone new they'd often say, "Cathy. Is that short for Catherine or Cathleen?" "No,“ I'd reply. "It's just plain 'ol 'Cathy'." I like being just plain 'ol Cathy. It's a good thing, too. I knew a woman who grew up with a "plain 'ol"...
Sharing Family Memories
At Christmas, I shared some memories of our Daddy with my siblings as a present to them. My younger brother, Dan Boyd, said he had some memories he cherished and had been thinking about. I encouraged him to write them down. This morning I found 5 emails from him, each with a memory from his past. Here is one of them..... This is just like my sweet Dan! Chicken livers The pretty red head asked me what I would like as I salivated over the chicken livers thru the glass cover. I told her my order. including mashed potatoes and butter beans. then after hesitating for a couple of seconds I said,...
Critical Transportation
Last week was one of accomplishing many goals for Titus 2 students: 1 passed her GED pretest and was recognized as "Student of the Week" at Haney, 2 got birth certificates, 2 secured drivers licenses, 2 secured replacement Social Security cards, 2 started banking accounts for the first time EVER, 1 started a part time job, 1 moved into transitional living in town after completing her Titus 2 program, 1 began Medication Assisted Treatment for alcohol abuse history, 1 completed community service hours on 2 cases and paid off a fine, and more..... These may seem like small and mundane things to...
Remembering Things Lost
One issue that we have to work on at Titus 2 is hoarding. Many of the women coming to us have had personal belongings stolen, had to abandon their possessions to get out of dangerous situations time and time again, or lost everything when they couldn't pay a monthly storage fee. When housing safety is in place, they may be tempted to gather up excess clothing, purses, shoes, accessories, and other items that they want. We talk about trusting God's provision and knowing that there will likely be more things made available over time, so they don't have to stock up on so much "stuff" all at...
God The Disturber
Alan Walker was an Australian Methodist pastor and administrator in the 60’s and 70’s, at a time when there was great anxiety over communism and wars and international tensions across the world. Fear of nuclear proliferation was widespread then as it is now. He was a pacifist who believed that people trusted God too little and relied too heavily on their own understanding. He wrote in 1972 in “God, The Disturber”: “The most important fact in the universe is expressed in the three-letter word GOD. After all, what we believe about God determines what we believe about everything else....
Odious and Soon-touchie
Joni Eareckson Tada points to a trap that many of us fall into at times. A thoughtful devotional on conflict. A friend, Rev. Mike Roberts, one time did a devotional on this Scripture and talked about "Odious" and "Soon-Touchie"....a tongue in cheek play on the names of the parties Paul references in this Scripture! This event offers us perspective not only on our own individual responses to disagreement, but alon on the impact of our conflicts on those in the Body of Christ who observe them. Do we need to look at the log in our own eye? Are we overbearing, or "Odious"? Are we hypersensitive...