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,E,I,O,U…..the importance of the right vowel
Today as I sat in a women's Bible study, based on Paul's confession of his "thorm in the side" in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, in which Jennifer Rothschild talks about "thorns" in our lives and how we respond to them, I was reminded of a song that a friend sang at a retreat in 2002 entitled "The Blessing in the Thorn". The lyrics are as follows:"I read about a man of God, who gloried in his weakness;And I wish that I could be more like him and less like me.Am I to blame for what I'm not, or is pain the way God teaches me to grow?I need to know...When does the thorn become a blessing?When does the...
Going forward…..
The holidays are a blurry memory already. A new school term has begun. The 2008 calendar is already showing signs of wear as appointments have been entered throughout nearly every month's page. The next several seasons' goods are stacked on retailers' shelves (Valentine's, St. Patrick's, and spring gardening). The only thing that has provided a bit of respite in the pace of life for me has been a cold virus. Now that I'm older and not employed full time, I am, hopefully, a bit wiser and have the luxury of being able to actually rest and indulge in some self-care while in the throes of a cold...
Walking with a limp…..
For 6 or 8 years now I have suffered with some foot discomfort from a condition known as Morton's neuroma. It's damage to the nerves in the balls of the feet that is, I'm told, the result of years of wearing high heeled, narrow toed, insufficiently padded shoes. It all came to a point of acute pain several years ago following a weekend at a place where I was on my feet a lot and I wore a little pair of thin, flat (but quite cute!) sandals. I had to have cortizone shots in my feet and now wear much more sensible wider toebox flats with layers of cushioning. There are times, however, when I...
Cardinals, candy, and God……
From a journal entry 12/27/2001:It's quite nippy today. I've put out birdseed and there's a lot of squawking and chirpping and coming and going. I had fretted over the absence of birds, especially cardinals recently, thinking the cats might have frightened them all away. But it seems they just weren't around when I was! There are plenty today. One of the Christmas cards I bought on sale yesterday has a cardinal on an icy limb and says, "To see the sacred, we must slow down." I believe that's exactly the case. This winter will provide us some peaceful quiet time to watch the miracles out our...
Little bite-sized pieces of perfection…..
Have you noticed how so many snacks now come in mini scaled portions? There are 100 calorie packs of many popular national brands of cookies. There are "2 bite" brownies in the bakery section. Ghiardelli, Hershey, and other chocolatiers are selling bags with assorted fancy chocolates wrapped in bite-sized squares. The deli often offers bite-sized samples of gourmet cheeses or meats. And there are those interesting little cooking displays in the stores that offer bite-sized freshly cooked samples of various dishes with all the ingredients in a cooler beside it so you can try before you buy!...
Empty mangers, crippled lambs….
A few days ago I stopped at a little antique shop along Hwy 231 in Cottondale, Florida, that I enjoy browsing from time to time. It is owned by Deborah Bush, a Cherokee Indian woman about my age. We enjoy chatting and laughing about memories of things from our youth every time I stop by.This trip I was complimenting a nativity set on her counter. She told me about one that she has at home that is missing its baby Jesus piece. She said she'd hunted everywhere for a replacement Jesus for her nativity, but every one she found was either the wrong size, wrong color, or wrong style for her set....
Got a Nikon camera, love to take a photograph….
From the song Kodachrome by Paul Simon, 1988KodachromeThey give us those nice bright colorsThey give us the greens of summersMakes you think all the world's a sunny day,Oh yeah, I got a Nikon cameraI love to take a photographSo mama don't take my Kodachrome away.Observing someone's obsession with taking pictures during a manic episode reminded me of my own experience ten years ago. I was so taken with the beauty of that spring that I spent one entire day with a friend in tow, traveling all over the county. He had a really nice professional camera and I was having him take photos for me of...
Tuesday with Caroline……
Recently, due to some unexpected circumstances, I have had the privilege of spending a significant amount of time with my two youngest grandchildren. The older of the two, has just turned five. She had been telling me for a week about her plans to spend a Tuesday morning with her good friend from school, Caroline. The two of them attend a day school on Monday and Wednesday mornings each week in the basement classroom of a teacher's home in their neighborhood. Tuesday arrived, and Riley was excited about the prospect of riding ponies at Carolines. "Ponies?" I asked. I thought it was a bit odd...
Consider the sparrow…..
Recently I was reading a review of a book, A Thousand Sparrows, about the experience of Jeff Leeland who, while working in a school in Seattle, saw children in the school where he taught come together to assist his son and family through a life threatening illness. Leeland has helped found a national charitable organization, Sparrow Clubs USA, to organize other school children to be a force for good for children in medical crises. The organization's website says:"Sparrow Clubs USA is a national non-profit organization of school-based clubs that assist children in medical crisis. Through...
Snakes die at sunset…..
Some counseling theories are based on exploring "early recollections" of clients in an attempt to relate them to current attitudes, values, fears, feelings, or behaviors. When asked about earliest memories in a recent class on counseling theories, I recounted these: 1.) As a very young child, perhaps 3, I remember standing on the porch of our small wooden house on a dirt road behind a feed mill and watching a man (whom I always believed was one of my uncles) throw a snake onto a fence. I remember something being said about a snake not dying until sunset. My Mother had filled in other parts...