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.
Learning To Live With “Thorns in the Flesh”
Joni Eareckson Tada, who has known her share of pain- physical and emotional- shares this poem by Miss Margaret Clarkson, a woman who was bedridden for years with chronic pain: Lord Jesus, King of pain, Thy subject I; Thy right it is to reign: Oh, hear my cry, and bid in me all longings cease; save for Thy holy will's increase. Thy right it is to reign O'er all Thine own; then, if Thy love send pain, find there Thy throne, and help me bear it unto Thee, who didst bear death and hell for me. Lord Jesus, King of pain, my heart's adored, teach me eternal gain is love's reward: in Thee I hide...
Invitations and Promises
As I studied Eddie Rasnake’s workbook on Knowing and Following the Will of God, I was struck by his observation that the Bible contains proclamations (“Thou shalt…”), prohibitions (“Thou shalt not…”), principles, and promises. Reflecting on this, I realized this weekend that sometimes we believe something is a proclamation by God, interpreting it as a command, when really it is an invitation! Like Psalm 37:3-5 “Trust in the Lord and do good and you shall live securely in the land. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to him, trust in...
Overcoming Loneliness
This article on loneliness brings two things to mind for me. One, loneliness as a function of negative perception of social interactions suggests that there is a lack of ability or comfort in trusting others, including God. This is, at heart, an attachment issue. Also, one may be hypervigilant about how she is perceived by others, another indication of low trust capacity. The article notes that this results in perceived social threats (even when no threat is intended or exists.) Two, lack of self-identity and self-confidence in engaging socially may isolate individuals. All of these...
The Next Right Thing
It was a rough weekend. I found it necessary to dismiss one young lady who secreted beer into the house, drank it and got caught. That, in my experience, has been a very rare occurrence. She had been doing so well, but she let her anger get the best of her. Rather than dealing with it healthily, she reverted to her usual way of dealing with her emotions.....stuff and drown them. Another one was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with yet another serious physical condition that will now require all the creativity we can muster to address with the limited medical resources available to...
A Glimpse at Letting Go
It's strange, the way you can receive something without knowing how much you'll need it a short time later. Last week I wrote to you about the difference 5 minutes can make — how taking a few minutes to listen in a prayerful way can tell you what you most need to know or hear or do. Who knew that just one week after receiving the truth of that experience and sharing it with you, Kirk and I would be sitting in our darkened living room, using that very same practice to determine if it was time to let one of our cats go? It's true. We did that very thing Friday night. It's what helped me know...
To Go Where None Have Gone Before….
"All is not lost if you fall into a black hole – you could simply pop up in another universe, according to Stephen Hawking. The celebrated physicist has a new theory about where lost information ends up after being sucked into a black hole, a place where gravity compresses matter to a point where the usual laws of physics break down. In a public lecture in Stockholm, Sweden, Prof Hawking said: “If you feel you are in a black hole, don’t give up. There’s a way out.” He said he had discovered a mechanism “by which information is returned out of the black hole”. He was speaking at the KTH Royal...
The Samaritan Woman Engages Jesus in Theological Discourse (Using Wesley’s Quadrilateral !)
This was first written on 1/10/2011. Recently it has been updated to reflect some additional appreciations of this Scripture! I was asked to read John 4:5-42 and prepare a prayer based on the text. So, I was reading with attentiveness. As a result I saw something in this conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman I'd never seen before. As Methodists, we believe that there are 4 commonly employed standards used for formulating and evaluating theology, 4 "tests" of truth- Scripture, Reason, Tradition, and Experience, commonly referred to as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. As I read...
TR∩ST ?
Today in the dining room at the campground we each received a colorful bracelet with small lettered beads that spelled out "TRUST GOD." When I opened my bag to put on my bracelet, the "U" was upside down, so I turned it over. On the reverse side, it was still upside down, so mine said "TR∩ST GOD." I looked around at others' bracelets and their "U"s were all turned right side up. Only mine, it seemed, had been carelessly threaded upside down. As I left the dining room, I wondered how, out of 70 or more bracelets, I would receive the one with an upside down "U". Then it occurred to me,...
Saving Turtles
I belong to an online community, "Still Forming", that is directed by Christianne Squires, a Chistian spiritual director from Winter Park, Florida.. Her husband Kirk wrote to the community this week about his adventures in rescuing three turtles. I, too, am a turtle rescuer. Many a turtle has been removed from harm's way, sometimes at the risk of my own safety some would say. And I realize that many fishermen find that practice annoying, as the turtles are a bain to their pleasure. But I hate to see anything squashed on the roadway simply because the roadway happened to be between where...
Healing Tradition of the Church
The Church has a tradition rich in healing power.....Jesus exercised it in a very specialized way, "laomai". It is one way in which therapeuo (healing) is accomplished. And healing is a part of salvation (restoration). Saddleback Church is planning its second annual conference on "Mental Health and the Church." Last year's conference sessions are available on You Tube. Some of us at Lynn Haven UMC are ministering to sick and hurting people in a variety of ways and have... the opportunity to do even more through the power of Christ! In intercessory prayer, in counseling, in lay pastoring, in...