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.
Cracked pot or wet clay…..
Recently, I was going through some worship books I'd accumulated from participating in weekends at a Christian retreat camp. I came across one with notes in the back cover that I'd written on April 22, 2005. It was during a Friday morning communion service in the chapel at Blue Lake. I remembered that morning clearly for what it marked in my spiritual journey. Since my first trip to Blue Lake in 1992, almost every time I came to communion, I experienced a feeling of brokeness, of repentance. I had come to think of it as the shattering of this jar of clay that God would periodically have to...
Busy weeks (continued)…..
September 1st I started with "minimum full time" (32 hours a week) at the church. My hours at the homeless shelter dropped to 15 a week. It's been challenging to manage my schedule for best use of my time, but I'm feeling better about it after the second week.This week, too, I received certification as a recovery support specialist with the State of Florida. And I learned that my graduate diploma is in the mail from Troy University. I had met with the District Board of Ministry last week, too, and got the go-ahead to begin work toward ordination as a deacon in the United Methodist Church....
A Servant’s Heart…..
This weekend I was challenged to think about gifts-based service and servants in the Bible, besides Jesus. As I reflected on various individuals, I was considering the various gifts of each person. One gift that I focused on was the gift of helping. Many people with this gift are very quiet and low key types of people. At any kind of church gathering we generally hear the high profile people- those on the stage or those who serve in leadership roles- being acknowledged. But what about those who made sure the tissue boxes in the rest room were full …and that the fruit on the food trays was...
Dignity observed….
Working in a homeless center has provided me a view of human dignity that I might not otherwise have had......A troubled soul, one who is often difficult and incoherent, who takes the initiative to clean the coffee center, just because it needs doing....and does it superbly....A man, grateful for a donated belt and the opportunity to tuck in his shirt, who has been using a knotted shoelace strung through several belt loops to hold up his pants...A man employed on a job for the first time since release from prison, able to reimburse the center for the cost of his identification card, smiling...
A call to ministry….
In his Nazareth sermon (Luke 4:18) Jesus says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me . . .to bring good news to the poor. . .to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. . .to let the oppressed go free.”As I studied for certification as a Christian Educator, in one class I was asked "What implications do these words have for your ministry?"Robert Spivey and D. Moody Smith in Anatomy of the New Testament note that “What happened to Jesus occurred according to the word of God, known through the Old Testament. Thus Jesus’ first public act was to preach fulfillment of the...
Done , too……
Interestingly, in the same week that I finished graduate school, my husband wasretired" from his job by a company change of ownership. We'd anticipated this possibility for about nine months, so thankfully it was not a surprise. And, also thankfully, we have planned well enough through the years that this premature retirement doesn't unnecessarily stress us. We will find our way through this life transition. It's a time to pause and reflect before moving forward into whatever God has set out for us. And we will.......
Done….
After over a year, I am finally done with the master's program in counseling and psychology. It seems strange today to have nothing pending.....no necessary reading, no paper to write, nothing to study. But it's a good strange. Now, if I can just feel comfortable about job prospects......
Does peace equal contentment….
Recently, an adult Sunday school class of which I am a part has been contemplating "contentment". Whenever the topic of contentment comes up, most people seem to automatically preface it with "peace and.....", as if the two are so closely related as to be synonymous. For quite a few years I have been using the occasion of the New Year as a time for self assessment of my own sense of peacefulness. In the years that I have been doing that, I think I have, at times, associated being at peace with contentment, too. And yet, as I reflect on the last few years, I seem to always have "something...
Learning something new all the time….
When my husband scheduled a trip to visit our grandchildren, who happen to live in Indianapolis, the weekend of the Indy 50o, it was obvious what his intended goal was. As a happy serendipity, however, he arrived in time to accompany our six year old grandson (and 30 or so other 6 year olds!) on a duckpin bowling field trip. When our daughter in law told me what they were going to do, I imagined bowling pins in the shape of ducks being toppled by standard bowling balls. The idea of it alone was a howl. Then, after hearing about the event and sneeking a peak at Wikipedia, I discovered it is...
Heroes and friends…..
Recently, I saw a sampler that said, "Friendship isn't a big thing; it's a million little things." I thought to myself, "yep, so true" and wondered how many friends have fallen by the wayside or been kicked to the curb not for failing to be there for the big things in someone's life, but for being just too busy and unavailable for any number of little things, so that one just finds that such a friend is no longer even needed when the big thing comes along.I am blessed to have several really valuable "million little things" friends! They're people who know my moods, likes, dislikes, fears,...