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.
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...
The Fixx
5-29-17 The word “lifehack” has come to mean a cheap, quick, easy adaptation that addresses an immediate need or offers an alternative solution to something more costly and permanent. The Urban Dictionary offers this: Life hack (or life hacking) refers to any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency in all walks of life. Graduate Equivalency Degrees have been a successful “life hack” for students who would not or could...
Grace, Mercy, and Truth
In about 2000, I was in a women's small group that had some conflicts arise. I wound up talking to one woman who was accused of an action that led to the conflict. I had no personal involvement in the matter and she did not perceive that she had done what she was accused of, at least at first. We prayed and I talked to her about moving forward from that point. She gave me a small beautifully crafted angel pin that an artisan had named “Mercy" and she called me merciful in my conduct toward her. I was embarrassed by her kind gift, knowing that the capacity for mercy in me is less than...
In the Midst of Angels’ Wings…..
Psalm 104:4 He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. This morning the Titus 2 ladies and I went to help with the Community Breakfast at Trinity Center of First United Methodist Church. It was a wonderful morning! Lynn Haven UMC volunteers cooked the breakfast and many were on hand to serve a full room of guests. A men’s choir from First UMC was present and sang wonderfully! Several people commented on the unusually lively and hospitable spirit present in the space. Many were welcomed and served. As we left we had a couple of stops to make. One of them was to get...
Dying to Know the Truth…….
5-14-17 How many of us, as we grew older and, hopefully, wiser, discovered that our mothers, and our fathers, maybe, just maybe, actually DID know more than we did? I was the only member of my birth family to attend college and for a while I thought that somehow gave me an advantage over my parents and siblings in terms of knowledge and wisdom. Over the years, I have come to see that, while there were some things that I learned in college that my family didn’t know, it was the things that I had learned in my family that were...
Welcoming Jesus to the Dining Table….A Different Kind of Social Gospel
I was in a restaurant with a good-sized group of Christian women, each of us paying separately. We had a private room and one waiter. When people began leaving he got confused and accidentally gave my bill to someone else who had left earlier. When I got ready to leave, he realized his mistake. The person he gave my bill to had a larger bill and he knew he'd messed up. I could see his immediate distress. So I took the other woman's bill, paid it and told him it was not a problem....that she and I are friends and neither of us minded. He looked so relieved I almost wanted to hug...
“I love her so much I’d die for her….”
Can someone explain this to me, please? I have had more than a few women tell me, when asked about their family status.....Children? "Yes." Marital status? "Single" Divorced? "No. I don't believe in divorce." Okay. In our culture today one can "believe" in having children outside of marriage and having as many intimate paramours as one cares to have, but not marriage because one "doesn't believe in divorce." It seems to me the emphasis is on the wrong thing in this scenario. Why not focus on making commitments and making marriages work instead of avoiding marriage because of the risk...