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.
Reprise: Counting Our Days (Stewardship of One’s Time)
For 34 years Bill and I made special arrangements, at significant cost and entailing a lot of time to be with our AU Tigers and other fan-friends tailgating in sunshine and rain on Saturdays week after week…..My Daddy used to say that we spent our Saturdays with 80,000 of our “very best friends…. “ We were devoted followers of our teams. A few weeks ago a pastor asked how many of us make even a modestly comparable effort to be in church on Sunday. Do we slip in after services begin, start glancing at our watches or phones if it runs 5 minutes over the allocated hour (although we will sit...
Pondering Retirement And Being In Christ
I’ve had the opportunity recently to think more about a Christian’s responsibility in retirement. The scripture below-from Numbers 8:23-26- is the only direct reference to retirement in Scripture. Jesus, however, spoke indirectly about priorities without regard to age or stage of life. In the principles of Chrisian living I see both direct and subtle, and sometimes even obtuse and challenging references to use of time and all other resources, living simply, value of and participation in community, attentiveness to needs of others including across generations, thriving by allowing the fruit...
Joni Byrd: On Forgiveness
After pondering overnight on our conversation, I felt like I need to add a key component of how our enemy gains access to our spirit, mind, heart and physical body. One of the entryways he has is through the path of unforgiveness that we harbor. Much of the work of resistance that we are able to do alongside and led by God is the very difficult labor of identifying and addressing unforgiveness in our hearts and walking through the obedience of forgiving those by whom we have been wronged. If we fail to recognize the power of forgiveness, and our need to cooperate and choose it, and live...
Called to Small Sacrifices
There are occasions when small personal sacrifices are required by God to teach us what God’s agape love truly is….. Love has been described as “Investing materially in one’s neighbor…” That may include separation from some of one’s resources, effort, treasures, and especially one’s time and listening. These last two may be the most valuable and necessary to communicate agape love and the hardest to sacrifice. Is any sacrifice we are called to make truly small in the eye’s of God or the eyes of the person for whom it is made?
Worshipping in Spirit and Truth
Just pondering Judeo- Christian faith, internecine conflicts, spiritual conflict resolution, and peacemaking in Christ. …. Jews living in the “truth”, i.,e., the “Word” (defined by the OT available at the time of Christ) live Judaism in the literal, physical, ethnic sense. It is a legalistic view of humankind and of worshipping God. Christians living their faith in the “Spirit and truth,” revealed in Jesus Christ’s life, teaching, & legacy in the NT AND the “truth” of OT He lived and taught from, are living into the time and state of worshipful existence Jesus spoke to the Samaritan...
Red Thread of Redemption Through Generations
I’m in a small group of women who have been engaged in a summer of encouragement devotional reading. It has included a very good couple of weeks of daily readings on Gideon. As I was reflecting on Gideon this is something that I recognized from his story and many other stories of unexpected heroes used byGideon- a weak man from a small clan in the tribe of Manasseh who was a son of Joseph. Although Manasseh was born of a foreign mother in a foreign land he and his brother Ephraim were “adopted” by the patriarch Jacob into the family of God’s people in full standing with the other brothers’...
Judge Only When You’re Fully Informed- I Fear No Judge or Jury
Unless you’re going to read to the end, skip this post. The following is a surprising post I saw 7/20/25: 7/20/25 CBB Immigration law and activities continue to stay in every news report. You can’t seem to avoid the controversy. Wow! Just today I saw this post above. Mexico apparently knows how to enforce a border, which begs the question, how much was Mexico paid to let all the Central and South American individuals traverse Mexico? Or were they all perfectly documented and legal visitors in Mexico, or escorted the whole way by courteous assistance? Curious minds wonder how that all...
Visioning Prayer Practice
in a prayer workshop in February 2024 we were given a visioning prayer assignment in response to the way in which we felt God guiding us after the workshop. We were told to make a list of 3-4 obstacles and 3-4 opportunities arising from our sense of God’s leading. I knew immediately what the obstacles were for me- feeling the need for additional training or certification which felt onerous and undesirable, as well as the opinions of others in response to what I felt God was preparing me for. The opportunity seemed clear, as well… to sit face to face in intimate Holy Conversations with...
Hospitality or Discipleship?
The sermon at my church today focused on the difference between hospitality and discipleship from Luke 10:38-42, about the actions of Martha and Mary during a visit by Jesus… take-aways I noted: 1.) Jesus was invited to dinner in their home. 2.) Martha sought to leverage influence of Jesus to coerce her sister into helping her with meal preparation, implying also Jesus’ lack of concern for her work. 3.) Jesus rejected Martha’s attempt at leveraging Him with a firm response and clear boundary. 4.) Jesus affirmed Mary’s choice to sit at His feet to listen and learn. 5.) Since Mary’s response...
Deliverance or Deficiency of Discipline?
seen and shared: “Some Christians don’t need deliverance.They need discipline. You’re not under attack.You’re just undisciplined. Here are 5 signs your “spiritual warfare” is really spiritual laziness: You’re rebuking demons you keep inviting. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” – James 4:7 You pray for freedom at night…But return to the trap in the morning. That’s not warfare. That’s disobedience. You call it a generational curse, but it’s just a habit. “Do not be conformed to this world…” – Romans 12:2 You don’t need another altar call.You need a better routine. The enemy’s not...