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.
The Critical Point of Decision Making: “No One Gave Him Anything”
Today I heard James McDonald talking about families...specifically he was referencing Hannah, a grieving barren woman and how she took her pain and pleading to where it belonged..... to God....not to her husband. In talking about the issue of where we take our family problems, including rebellious or unsaved children, he said that without a doubt he believes that God's will is for ALL children to be in heaven with their parents. He referenced several scriptures that assure... us that God desires salvation for ALL people. He said he could find no scripture pattern or principle that suggested...
Plowed and Prepared
On March 20,1997, as I drove home from a work appointment God directed my attention to this field, freshly plowed, along the roadside of Highway 231 South, just north of Cottondale. As I glanced toward it, God suddenly spoke in my heart, "This is you." It was so clear and piqued my interest. When I got home I read a number of scriptures about ploughed fields, the land, etc. 1 Corinthians 3:9 says," For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s buildin...g." It doesn't get much clearer than that! The next day I drove back there, stood on top of my...
Carillon Chapel Sermon July 2, 2017
Sermon- July 2, 2017 Carillon Beach Community Chapel “Ebb and Flow, Come and Go, To and Fro” Scripture: Acts 2: 1-12 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were Jews living in...
A Little Tease and Chuckle
A little excerpt from my sermon today entitled "Ebb and Flow, Come and Go, To and Fro" "The sign of the fish is a symbol that Christians have used since the time of the birth of the church, during times of persecution and in times of celebration to represent the coming together of believers. When discretion and caution were required one person would draw an arc on the ground. If the other person was a believer as well, he would respond by drawing the reversed arc, resulting in the sign of the fish….the ichthus…..The letters of the word "ichthus" in English are translated as "Jesus...
Contrasts and Convergence
Today in his sermon, Pastor Craig Carter preached about the power of the Holy spirit that lead to diverse nationalities of people from all over the known world who were in Jerusalem during the Jewish Feast of First Fruits hearing, each in his own respective language, the Gospel shared by the believers empowered by the Holy Spirit, spoken by Galilean fishermen who had never been trained in those languages. (Acts 2: 4-12) He observed that it was somewhat of a reversal of the experience at the Towel of Babel. (Genesis 11:1-9) During that event people sought arrogantly and pridefully to...
Who Is Your Church?
"If we were able to put aside our need for approval long enough to be authentic, then, surely, we would be living as the church." (Sheila Walsh) This is a nice sentiment and has a Christian ring to it. i really appreciate Sheila Walsh and have great regard for her, but I do not think this sentiment is necessarily on target. What I have observed is that in being "authentic" with some people, most notably among many within the church, is that one simply hands the pharisees within the church fodder with which to judge a person and reject them for things they don't understand or that they just...
Is the Universe Conscious?
The point at which the Lord first spoke to me in a bold and unmistakably recognizable way was at a time when I was praising him and celebrating the beauty of his creation. I was singing praise songs along with the radio station in the car and watching the dawn of a spring morning in March 1997 as I drove along the lovely gentle landscape of south Alabama. I was so taken by the beauty around me and my awareness of the presence of God that I spoke these words, "Surely, God, you have created the beauty of this world for your glory and my delight!" He spoke in my spirit in that split second and...
Missions Is A Lifestyle
I must confess something..........I sometimes have to bite my tongue. Yes, actually there are things I would want to say but don't. Sometimes about my own brothers and sisters in Christ. For too many I suspect that "missions" is a trendy, feel-good thing some DO from time to time. Thankfully, though, for some it is something that is understood as a way of life to be embraced. When Bill and I purchased a sad, dilapidating foreclosed home in our otherwise stable middle-class neighborhood to renovate and house women at the end of their selves and in dire need of new life, we met with a fair...
“You Will Have Trouble…” The Most Under-recognized Promise of Jesus
June 9, 2017 From Seedbed.com J.D. Walt John 16:25-30 The Most Under-recognized Promise of Jesus Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to good people? The first problem with the question is the false premise that we are actually good people. Remember that time when the guy approached Jesus and called him “Good Teacher,” to which Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? No-one is good but God alone.” So there’s that. The second problem with the question is the way it affirms the fundamental value system of karm...a (i.e. that good things happen to good...
Anne Lamott on Life…..
I have journaled for nearly 30 years....Writing is a way of being present to life, to learn from it, and to cherish it. As Anne Lamott has said, "Every single thing that happened to you is yours and you get to tell it." Twenty years ago as I celebrated the beauty of God's creation and my joy in it, feeling his joy over my delight in his glory revealed in it, I heard God say to me, "Tell others." I love to tell the story of God's work in my life and the life of others, especially in the ways that God's glory is revealed in those moments. Excerpts from Anne Lamott’s TED talk 12 Things I...