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.
Second thought postscript
After only a few weeks, I realized that there are some items in this conglomeration of random thoughts that I might want to share with someone else once in a while.....so, I reactivated the blogspot site. There is a time delay of a couple of months before blogspot actually eliminates all of one's entries. I think now that I'm glad the entries weren't permanently lost. Just don't look for any new ones to be added.
The end
This exercise of blogging over the last 5+ years has been therapeutic and helpful. But I've come to the conclusion that, since I'm the only one reading it that it would be just as useful done in a journal, if at all. There's no point in taking up space in the cloud with my dribbling. Time to move on. So effective immediately, there will be no more entries at this site. I will wait 24 hours, then obliterate the site. Peace.
Ten Commandments Tool…..
I saw this helpful aid for remembering the Ten Commandments. This method uses the first four words of Exodus 20:2 "I am the Lord." Idolatry - Don't worship idols (vv.4-6)Adultery - Don't commit adultery (v.14)Murder - Don't commit murder (v.13)Taking - Don't steal (v. 15)Honor - Obey your parents (v.12)Envy- Don't covet what isn't yours (v.17)Lying - Don't give false testimony (v. 16)Other gods-Don't worship other gods (v.3)Rest - Rest on the Sabbath (vv. 8-11)Disrespect-Don't misuse God's name (v. 7)
Principle of replacement…..
I have heard before that one can't simply remove oneself from sin or push away from evil. It is necessary to replace the sinful behavior or beliefs with others that are more valuable or good. Christ's parable of the man cleansed of an evil spirt suggests that this is the case, too. The spirit returned and found the man's soul swept clean and empty. Absent anything beneficial that had taken its place, the evil spirit simply returned, with a team of cohorts, so that the man's condition, in the end, was worse than before. Today in our women's Sunday morning study, we were talking about the 7...
Knowing what one believes…..
Arminianism's chief tenets: (John Wesley rejected Calvinism and embraced Arminianism)1. Humans are naturally unable to make any effort towards salvation. 2. They possess free will to accept or reject salvation.3. Salvation is possible only by God's grace, which cannot be merited.4. No works of human effort can cause or contribute to salvation.5. God's election is conditional on faith in the sacrifice and Lordship of Jesus Christ.6. Christ's atonement was made on behalf of all people.7. God allows his grace to be resisted by those who freely reject Christ.8. Believers are able to resist sin...
Privileged to speak….
I have been invited to be the keynote speaker for a spiritual enrichment retreat next March. Though it's over eight months away, I have already had to put to paper an outline for the weekend's messages on rather short notice. It's not as hard as one might imagine. I have begun to observe in myself a pattern of certain themes that are repeated again and again in my teaching, all of them having been arrived at through a combination of study, illumination, and hard won experience. Now that I'm discipling women in an intensive type program that has complete turnover about every four to six...
Grace, grace, God’s grace……
"The one (justification)implies what God does for us through His Son; the other (sanctification) what He works in us by His Spirit." John Wesley Righteousness.How it comes to be, if at all,is amazing. Covered, as with snow, by the imputation of Christ's righteousness upon me.Imbued, as wool is white,through and through by the impartation of His righteousness in me. Let it beunto me, complete,as God desires.
Nothing is too small for God’s interest…….
I have written several times about shoes. This past week I had to face the fact that a favorite pair of slide-on sandals needed to be relegated to "junk-shoe-kick-about" status or thrown in the trash. They had been a daily and Sunday all purpose shoe. So I reluctantly put them by the washing machine in the laundry area to use when I need something on to take out the trash or walk to the mailbox. And I set out for the mall to look for a replacement pair, realizing that I would probably have to accept something less in terms of preference and something more in terms of price. I expected to...
Wonderful Counselor…..
I have always loved the section in the Hallelujah chorus that quotes Isaiah 9:6b "And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." The way in which it is sung suggests that "wonderful" and "counselor" are two different names, but as one reads the punctuation of the text in the New American Standard Version, there is no comma and so it is read "Wonderful Counselor". I had framed a small prayer and put it on my desk when I began in counseling a couple of years ago. It beseeches the Counselor to be present in the words that one...
Watching God work……
I have often been surprised by the way in which God works things out. There are times when His way is so unexpected. That has been the case recently as I have watched Him work out discord between two people.I knew that I was not in any way to be an instrument of reconciliation in the situation and had some time ago given it over entirely to God, knowing that if reconciliation were to happen, it would absolutely have to be by His hand and according to His timing.It is such a privilege to see God work in the situation, and within some of the most unexpected circumstances, little of which would...