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.
God’s sense of humor…..
Last week I read two devotionals on Wednesday and Thursday regarding the Gerasene demoniac in Mark 5,("The Right Weapon" and "Managed or Solved?" by Lorraine Ezell at www.mastersbusiness.org). The first one was on how the people sought to manage the problem through restraints and other physical means. Then, when Jesus dealt with the problem, he addressed it with spiritual means. The point was that sometimes we try to manage the symptoms or consequences of a problem when we should be solving the root of the problem.....the spiritual issue. In the work in which I now find myself, I have to do...
Waiting for word…..
Wednesday morning, while Bill was out of town on business with our son, I stopped by a friend's house to pick something up on my way to work. While I was on her porch Bill called on the cell phone and heard my friend's dog barking. With some excitement in his voice he asked, "Is that a dog?", thinking perhaps that I had gotten a new pet for us. I had to tell him it was my friend's dog. But it got me to thinking that he's waiting for me to initiate finding a new pooch for our household. So I spent a couple of hours Wednesday afternoon at local animal shelters. Coincidentally, the same day a...
And speaking of being careful…..
For several months now, almost every time I'm in the truck listening to Christian radio, I hear Slow Fade by Casting Crowns. It's a powerful song about how insidious and subtle the intrusion of sin is in our lives. If we are not actively maintaining our guard and equipping ourselves with the Word, we are subject to the erosion of the culture's bombardment against us. This is my concern for young Christians who have been discipled just enough to think, "Okay, I've got this Christian thing down pat." Failing to stay with the disciplined life and continuing to grow in the principles of...
Be careful of the appearances you give….
I am a busy person. I like being busy. And I enjoy the satisfaction of getting things checked off my to do list. But more and more I realize that I may just be giving off vibes that I am too busy for the people who actually are the more important part of my daily life. One can be so task focused and engaged that people perceive them as unavailable. This was brought home to me once again this week. I had a unexpected opportunity to pick up a student and bring her home from a work site. On the way we had a nice time chatting. She shared things that were a pleasant surprise about her future...
Neighborliness…..
In the early hours before dawn my husband had to catch a flight. Neither of us slept well, waiting for the 4:00am alarm to ring and preparing for the dash out the door. So, by the time the alarm rang, we were both up moving about, him getting dressed, me packing for him. We were both getting things together and into the suitcase and vehicle. We were hurrying along trying very hard to meet the airline's deadline for check in. As we arrived at the airport we realized we had left home with his suitcase, but had forgotten the briefcase, each of us thinking the other had it as we loaded up. I...
A new month, a new cold….
I'm in the midst of my third cold in about as many months. It may be my imagination, but they seem to follow visits with grandchildren. Exposure to unfamiliar strains of cold viruses, perhaps? Maybe it's just that, after months and months of burning the candle at both ends, my immune system is sagging. At least I seem to be getting over this one a little faster. I've actually tried to get more rest with this one and been more conscientious about taking vitamins and cold meds to battle the symptoms. Unfortunately, though, I seem to have passed it on to my husband. Poor baby! Now we are taking...
A household amiss….
The cats, all four of them, have sensed the change in our household since Abby's departure Friday morning. We've put away her beds and gathered up her snacks and toys. But it's more than that.One of our older cats, Patty, is quite feral and does not allow Bill or me near her. But how she loved Abby! She would weave in and out of Abby's legs and nuzzle her. She would follow Abby around the yard wanting her to play. Abby tolerated the little cat rubbing all over her, but one had the sense that she seemed a little humiliated by Patty's attention. Patty hasn't come around to eat the last two...
Saying goodbye…..
Last night was a long night for my husband and me. Our little 15 year old mixed terrier mutt, who's been declining for the last year, awakened us shortly after midnight in great distress. She was obviously in pain. We got her and ourselves together and to the emergency vet on call, which happened to be our own familiar doctor. By the time we got there, she had calmed down somewhat and there was no clear diagnostic indication of what had happened to her, just a generalized anxiety that the vet said looked like post seizure behavior. We opted to have her treated with a dose of valium and wait...
Jumping through hoops…..
When I was in junior high and high school, I played basketball. I was pretty good, making the varsity team as a freshman. Later I was a cheerleader. I was reasonably athletic. But that was many years (and pounds) ago. Today I wear a pedometer and hope to achieve a respectable number of steps so that I'm not labeled as "sedentary". Today I officially began the process of preparing for ordination as a deacon by working through the candidacy book with my assigned mentor. It was a couple of hours of sharing our personal faith journeys with one another. At one point I came to a question in the...
Holiness and a Mont Blanc pen…..
A couple of years ago a friend gave my husband and me really nice Mont Blanc pens. Bill's is a ball point pen; mine is a cartridge fountain pen. I enjoy using it and generally keep it clipped inside my journal. Several days ago, I apparently left it lying on the table beside my chair, next to the journal and one or both of our kittens, now dubbed Dora and Diego, got it and managed to loosen the cap from the pen. Thankfully, there was no damage to the pen and no ink leaked out, but the cap was lost. I searched and searched all over the den, fussing and fuming all the while, angry at the...