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.
Differential Diagnosis: Woundedness or Brokenness
Having referenced the difference between Woundedness and Brokenness in a previous post on Loneliness and Aloneness, I suppose I should explain the difference for those who do not know. Here is something I came across nearly 20 years ago that helped me understand the two. Maybe it will help others recognize their own or others' woundedness and begin to seek to have it transformed through relationship with Christ into the brokenness that is the beginning of becoming whole! Interestingly, those who have not yet made the transition themselves often mistake brokenness in others for the...
The Gift of Aloneness
Alone I stood upon a towering hill And all around the world was still And I was all alone. Then every friend I ever knew Passed slowly by and from my view Until at last there was but one Who did not laugh and turn and run And leave me all alone. It seemed so strange, but was not so, That you would be the last to go. For you had known me in the past And shared my sorrows to the last And you know why when day is done And shadows hide a setting sun That I am all alone. - Bernadine Shotts This beautiful poem is by my friend, Bernie, who is 88 years old. She had a difficult childhood marked by a...
The Paradox of Vulnerability
Or, consider another option: On more than one occasion, I was told by some of those examining me for clergy ordination that I was not “self-aware” or I “lacked discernment.” They said this as if to say I didn’t know how I was impacting others or how I was being perceived. In the classic Johari “window” terminology….I must either be blind to myself (though they seemed to clearly think they could see it!), I must be hiding my true self, or I simply don’t know myself. Every time I heard one of them say it, I laughed in my deepest soul at...
1 Samuel 19:9 “Tormenting spirit from the Lord”…..What’s Up With This?
“Tormenting spirit from the Lord” 1 Samuel 19:9 What’s Up With This? A friend asked me a question about King Saul having a “tormenting spirit” from the Lord….My first observation was that even the Lord’s Holy Spirit, at work convicting us in our conscience can be a “tormenting spirit” when our own spirit is resistant to the refining work of the Holy Spirit, battling for authority in our soul….. when we are not inclined toward obedience. It can make us quite miserable. So we shouldn’t get too wrapped around the notion of God sending a “demonic spirit” on someone (although as the...
Westeroff and Faith Enculturation
In the early 2000's, as I began my formal training in Christian Education, I discovered several models of Faith Developoment. One that resonated with me most was that of John Westerhoff, in the book, "Will Our Children Have Faith?" (New York: Seabury Press, 1976) JOHN WESTERHOFF ‘S Faith Development Model ( With excerpts from “An Evaluation of the Contribution of John H. Westerhoff III to Religious Education” - M. S. Bickford, Ph.D. https://www.religiouseducation.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/RIG1.5-Bickford.pdf Westerhoff presented a four-stage theory published in his...
Singing The 23rd Psalm
3/24/17 Here is another Psalms song the Lord taught me. It is Psalm 23 to the tune of the Welsh Blessing. In one of the older UMC hymnals the tune is the same one for the hymn “Sent Forth By God’s Blessing.” The Lord put that tune in my mind at one point and I just kept humming it for weeks, then all of a sudden the words of Psalm 23 “dropped” into the tune. I wrote them down as I was singing it and I located the music somewhat through chance, when I heard a UMC children’s curriculum DVD playing in a children’s Sunday School class I was teaching with the song “Sent Forth By God’s...
Trust in the Lord…..Singing Psalm 37
3/24/17 I am reading a small book- Psalms Playlist – a Seedbed.com published book that I purchased recently when Dr. Sandra Richter was here for our Renewal Conference at Lynn Haven UMC. I am delighted by the concept that J.D. Walt and Dr. Timothy Tennent of Asbury Theological Seminary and his wife Julie Tennent have worked out in setting contemporary translations of the Psalms to music! I grew up singing Psalms arrangements in choir, many of which are no longer readily available. I have tried to find some of them to reconnect with those tunes as an adult for my private worship time. In...
The Parable of the Soils…..Thinking About “Seedbed” and the Soil of Souls Seeking Recovery
I received a call from someone who is in recovery and whose adult child and other family members are in recovery. The person is going to be meeting with a very young woman for whom she cares and who is in jail after having been arrested with her boyfriend for drug use. This person who called me was asking for some guidance in meeting with and offering help to this young lady. I have worked now with a wide range of women, 18-55. I have discovered that almost any recovery program to which a person commits oneself diligently will work when the individual is truly ready to change. But the key is...
The Old Woman….Pictures and the People They Remind Us Of
I have a limited edition print (75/500) called "The Old Woman" painted by Mary Shelton Burson in 1982. The date on the print is 11/20/1990. You can see she is sitting in a wheelbarrow reading something. I bought it, probably in 1990, from a friend who was a family member of the artist. As an avid reader, it spoke to my heart about a love that one never outgrows....reading! But today, as I thought about that picture, I got my magnifying glass and looked at the page of the book... in her hand, what the old woman is reading....it is unevenly spaced and variable handwritten script,...
If you won’t be obedient to what’s in black in white, why would you be obedient to anything else?
I realize that not everyone "hears" the Lord's voice...feels the Spirit within their own spirit the way I do at times. One young lady with whom I am working is a very sensitive person and a new Christian. She is especially wanting the Lord to give her clear direction, to speak to her and let her feel his presence. If we do not seek God's will in his Word first, where it is clearly given, why would God give us other means of hearing him? Anything we hear or see we are to "...test" against his written Word. If you don't know what God has said in the Word you can get quite deceived by...