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.
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...
Humanness: Is It Enough?
https://www.ted.com/talks/anjali_kumar_my_failed_mission_to_find_god_and_what_i_found_instead?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button__2018-01-31 This TED talk presentation is an interesting perspective on the thinking of the religious “none’s” among us who profess spiritually- diverse, personal, self-defined and free- but disavow religion. This young woman's experience confirms to a degree what I have suspected. That the old ways of evangelizing people aren't working. Instead of starting with the Gospel and the Bible, it can be...
The Tears Mean I’m Alive
"Cry. Let out a wail if you have to. I am here to walk you safely away from the wreckage of your past. Your heavy heart can’t hold you back if you trust me to carry some of the weight. I will help you to whatever finish line you need to cross to feel you are enough." My word selected to reflect on for 2018 is "enough." Above is a quote from a website called The Mighty. It is supportive online community for those with bipolar, suicidal ideations, and other mental health challenges that found its way to me and which gives people rising to victory in their struggles a place to tell their...
Holy, Holy or Wholly Holy
As I was reorganizing my bookshelves recently, once again I came across a little paperback book published by a Methodist publishing house several decades ago: "Twentieth Century Mystics." It was about the lives of a half dozen ordinary men whose devotion to God was evident in particular ways- prayer, service, passion in evangelism, perseverance, etc. That little book and Evelyn Underhill's book "Mysticism" revolutionized my thinking about holiness 20+ years ago. Holiness appears to be of extreme importance to God, as it is mentioned 611 times in Scripture. Joel Scandrett, PhD (Drew...
All That There Is In The World
“All That Is In The World…” Gen 3:6, Matt 4:1-10, Luke 4;1-13, and 1 John 2:16 (CBB 2009) I had heard an evangelist preach that Jesus' temptations represent the same kinds of temptations that we all experience. When one looks at the three of them (Matthew 4:1-10; Luke 4:1-13) they seem to be the temptation to let ourselves be driven by our physical appetites, by the lure of the pleasure of materialism and accumulation of wealth and worldly power, and by the temptation to test our status or value to God, others, or ourselves (ego fulfillment). For a Disciple I class I was reading the Genesis...
Selected Books
It has been my experience that certain books seem to land in my lap at key moments to bring understanding of conundrums that percolate in my barely subconscious pondering place. Such is the case with one that arrived in a box from an unidentified donor. Some may think that I only read the Bible or those things by individuals that agree with my view of God. That is not the case. I have been an avid reader of many views over my lifetime. I have a certain preference for some, but occasionally find it helpful to read well outside my preferences in order to gain greater understanding. But...
Blinded By The Light So That We May See
A Christian testified in a meeting about God's work in healing her vision. Interestingly, a Christian teacher who was present added that there had been several instances of healing eyes in her ministry recently. This past weekend in Sunday School a teacher had been talking about God and LIGHT. In noting that light brings clarity and reveals what could not be seen in the darkness, it was observed that when Saul saw the LIGHT of CHRIST on the Damascus Rd., he was immediately blinded. As I thought about that experience of Paul whose physical eyes were blinded by the LIGHT as he was being given...
Gathering Fruit
During late fall and winter months Titus 2 is frequently blessed with the gift of fresh citrus fruit- oranges, satsumas, tangerines, lemons, and grapefruit. Just today a donor stopped by to bring a grocery bag of lemons from her tree. I show the women how to squeeze and freeze lemon juice in ice trays for quick and easy use in drinks or for cooking. They enjoy fresh orange juice or simply peeling and eating them. I purchased the Fruit of the Spirit poster shown above for recovery teaching years ago. It has served well as I have taught the attributes of godliness found in Galatians 5:22...
Christians Growing Christians: To Know God….. Trinitarian Godhead, Attributes of God, and Doctrine of Salvation
This post is part of a multipart teaching that is used with discipleship students. The series is called "Christians Growing Christians- Practical Christian Living and Discipleship". It is intended to help foster a biblical worldview in new or growing Christians. Lesson 5 – “To Know God”- Trinitarian Godhead and Attributes of God, Doctrine of Salvation and Freedom from Penalty and Power of Sin Slide 1- Title Slide- To Know God (Slides shown at link) XPS Lesson 5 In June of 1997 our first grandchild was due. We had waited eagerly for this big event. When our son and daughter in law had...