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.
Our Witness
"Your life may be the only Bible some people ever read." This is something I have heard time and time again in my Christian journey. I believe the truth of this adage was affirmed when the United Methodist Church decided a few years ago... to adopt an additional vow in its membership pledge. New members and existing members, in receiving new members into the church, covenant with one another to support the church with their "prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness." This has been something that I have been careful to follow since it was changed by the General Conference. I have...
God Restores
Nearly two decades ago, God did a work of restoration in my own life. In gratitude and praise, I asked Him what He wanted from me. I was prepared to do whatever He desired- teach, travel, witness, write, labor, etc. God’s response to my prayers was, “I will bring them to you. Just do what you’re given to do each day.” I have been doing that as the Lord led – facilitating a women’s depression impact group, teaching in church and equipping adults to use their gifts in service to others, volunteering with Celebrate Recovery since its...
Unanswerable Questions
Jill Carattini's devotionals at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries challenge me. Today she writes about unanswerable questions. I chuckled as I read, "more than a few of my plaguing inquiries were probably the wrong inquiries." God led me to that conclusion in mid-life and I learned to be more comfortable with the ambiguity of life and trust God more fully. I also learned to embrace Deuteronomy 29:29: "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law." Loose translation: God has...
Guard Your Heart
Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. "Guarding" one's heart (and mind).....People immersed in an infatuation with the popular culture seem to be oblivious to how to do that or even that it needs to be done. I see ...time and energy spent on music that fails to uplift one's spirit, entertainment that is downright depressing, distractions in which God has said we are not to indulge like astrology or gambling or altered...
Considering Dreams and Disappointments
I am sharing here two days of devotionals by Joni Eareckson Tada, then commenting at the end about how I believe the message of these two devotionals and the scriptures about which she writes are speaking to me today. A Seat at the Banquet June 13 and 14, 2014 by Joni Eareckson Tada"A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell...
Get the log out of your own eye…….with regard to men’s and women’s relationships in marriage
Recently, I found myself challenged by listening to a divorced and remarried lay man teaching women (unrelated to him), saying: "Men were created by God to be in control; women were created to nurture; God's curse on women at the Fall is that they want to be in control." Hmmmmmm.....That may be what his preacher teaches or what he wants to believe, but I find no support for that position in Scripture. What I do find is...... Titus 2: 3-5 Instructions for Women“Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor...
Shiny Threads in a Life of Worship
Among the things found in my Father’s belongings after his death was a slender bound aqua colored hymnal : Praise and Victory Songs, Compiled by Homer A. Rodeheaver and Harry D. Clarke, 1936 est. Daddy had put his name and address label in it and had several notes marking what I assume he would have marked as favorites- #50 Standing on the Promises, #141 Just As I Am, and #151 Higher Ground. His piece of cardboard marking page #151 is dated 1/16/2011. A piece of cardboard with the other page numbers is dated 4/12/2010. Daddy was a consummate recycler of everything and would take...
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...