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.
A New Look at John 21 (and being led where one doesn’t want to go)
Text for contemplation: John 21Jesus appears again to the disciples21 Later, Jesus himself appeared again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. This is how it happened: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus[a] ), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two other disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter told them, “I’m going fishing.”They said, “We’ll go with you.” They set out in a boat, but throughout the night they caught nothing. 4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples didn’t realize it was Jesus.5 Jesus called to them, “Children, have you...
Overcoming Cynicism
In recent weeks I have read numerous opinions by various theologians whom I respect regarding contemporary issues that challenge us as Christians and as the church. Each strives to bring sound reasoning and passion to bear on subjects like same-sex marriage, ordination for homosexuals, abortion, defining hospitality and tolerance, and more. One after another call for reasoned discussions of the issues. Dr. Riley Case, writing for The Confessing Movement within the United Methodist Church, offer this observation: IT'S HARD NOT TO BE CYNICAL THESE...
Psalm 22- Never forsaken
From time to time I hear someone reference God turning his back on Jesus on the cross........ I don’t find God to be one that EVER does that, especially to his Beloved Son. We have understood God's presence “behind the veil” in the Temple , but still present in the midst of his people through his Holy Spirit.. Eternal life for us is a “here, not here/ now, not now” proposition through which we all eventually pass... its reality and God himself are both closer than we can think or know....a mere veil separating us from it and him. In our pain, in our shame and sinfulness, we may not feel...
A MIssionary’s Zeal
Excerpt from Wikipedi on Charles Thomas Studd: "Charles Thomas Studd, often known as C. T. Studd (2 December 1860[1]–16 July 1931, Ibambi, Belgian Congo), was a British missionary.As a British Protestant Christian missionary to China he was part of the Cambridge Seven who offered themselves to Hudson Taylor for missionary service at the China Inland Mission , and later was responsible for setting up the Heart of Africa Mission which became the Worldwide Evangelisation Crusade (now WEC International).Studd's wealthy father Edward Studd became a Christian during a Moody-Sankey campaign...
Time Pieces
When I was about ten years (1964) old I got my first watch for Christmas from my parents. It was a nice little gold toned Timex with a black band. I wore it for years, changing bands several times. In 1976, when I graduated from college, my parents gave me another watch, an attractive Bulova with a flexible metal band. It was very functional - large enough to read easily and with a second hand - both of which were necessary in my new role as a medical technology intern. It, too, I wore for years. At some point in my 30's I bought a gold dress watch from...
1, 2, 3 Times a Lady……
There was an old Commodores song, "She's One, Two, Three Times a Lady......" I don't even remember all of the words, but in an odd way, that phrase seems to apply to the ministry I find myself doing with women in addiction. Statistically, according to some sources, it will take at least 3-5 recovery efforts before a person in addiction "gets it", before she finally gets to the point of real readiness for change. Some even state unequivocally that relapse IS a necessary part of the process. Expect it. Build it into the process. Don't be...
A Grief Unobserved (with apologies to C.S. Lewis, author of A Grief Observed)
The day that my Father was moved from the neurology wing of the hospital to the hospice unit, he was being taken for a scan first. When they rolled him out of the room, I threw myself across his bed and wailed out loud. I had been so busy being strong and absorbing the blows of every change and turn that was happening that I had hardly cried. But that morning I expressed the depth of pain that I felt.Nurses came running from every direction to see if I was okay. I quickly pulled myself together again and told them I was okay.I hardly cried at all through the next few...
Time away from interruptions
I am on a personal retreat at Blue Lake Camp in the Hospitality House, a small personal space for pastors and others to use for quiet time alone. I needed some extended uninterrupted time to work on a Bible study for deacon ordination requirements. It's very low tech so, I had to go to the main office at Oakwood Lodge to access the internet to download Conference guidelines (which had gotten lost recently when Bill had to update and clean up my computer) and to do some additional work on the study while looking at a different view of the lake. Total hours invested so far in...
Silent Retreat
Listen. To the throbbing soles To the peeling cuticles To the coarse heels To the jagged nails.Listen. To the flaking shins To the aching knees To the swollen knuckles To the painful shoulder.Listen. To the furrowed brow To the chapped lips To the raw cheek To the straying eyebrow..Listen. To the tight scalp To the tense...
A Summer of Loss
This summer has been a difficult one for my family. In the spring, my Mother and Father, after much encouragement by me and my siblings, decided to sell their own home in another city and move in with my husband and me. We began work on an addition to our house for them while they moved into a small guesthouse 15 minutes away after their house sold in an incredible 5 days! The move was hard. The process of starting the construction was hard, as it has rained almost daily all summer, flooding at times. But the hardest thing was that on June 18th, just three weeks after their move here, my...