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.
Pursuing patience and other aspects of the Fruit of the Spirit….
It was one of "those" weeks.....a trial presenting itself from every direction I turned. It started last Sunday when, after 3 weeks of seeking a facilitator for Purpose Driven Life classes, I finally resigned myself to teaching the Sunday session and the Wednesday session myself. I guess I must have needed it. I decided to give this spring's participants as close to the same experience that we all enjoyed when our church did the original course in October 2003. So, we started with the one and a quarter hour simulcast video, which is a good overview of the entire curriculum. It was a little...
Spring returning…..
In the last two weeks I've noticed the signs of the season.....several blooming trees in my own and my neighbors' yards, the emerging green on brown branches, the red maples' firey early explosion, bulbs rising out of flower beds, and robins all around. After months of cold weather and cold viruses, I'm ready for it.A garden patch was tilled at our women's shelter site on Friday. Now we've got to get the seeds in the rows. I'm not exactly a green-thumbed horticulturalist, but I have had a few gardens through the years. This year, I hope, will be one of them.The photo here is my swing in the...
Blessed by Babbie….again
A week ago I wrote about Babbie Mason's song "Trust His Heart" in a post entitled "His hands, my hands. This weekend our church held it's 14th annual Hope for the Heart weekend for women and Babbie Mason and her songwriter friend, Donna Douglas, were the special guests. They wowed us with their wonderful musical talent and their own testimonies. I was so happy to hear Babbie sing "Trust His Heart".About 70 women in our church, including me, set tables for lunch, each with her own dishes and accessories. The variety of table settings was a visual feast! Some were whimsical; others were...
A church observed….
Tonight a young woman who works the night shift at the local mission told me she had seen a gentleman who is a member at the church I attend at the mission at 6:00am on a weekend morning helping some homeless men with an enterprise that he and another man have organized to give these men work. She was at our church for a weekly Christian 12 step fellowship meeting. While there she observed workers preparing for the annual women's weekend. Also, two men came in with a large cooler to get ice for a meal their small group was serving to homeless people at a weekly downtown feeding site. This...
His hands, my hands….
Lamentations 3:41a - Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven.Hands have been of particular interest to me since the time that the Lord really got my attention and I rededicated my life to him in 1992. About that same time a song by Babbie Mason came to my attention, entitled Trust His Heart. The chorus lyrics are:"God is too wise to be mistaken.God is too good to be unkind.When you can't understand, when you can't see His plan, when you can't trace His hand,Trust His heart. "Next weekend our church's annual women's inspirational weekend ministry event will be held and Babbie...
55 and hitting my stride….
Today has been a wonderful day.....my 55th birthday! Before 7:00a.m. I had already received 5 phone calls with birthday wishes. There were a half dozen cards, numerous posts on my Facebook wall, and several impromptu renditions of "Happy Birthday to You."One of the best greetings I received today was this: "This is the day that the Lord hath made....YOU!" What a delightful twist on a familiar scripture! (Psalm 118:24)There are moments that I feel, well, over the hill. But on days like today I feel that this is the best time of my life.Two days ago I had the opportunity to share several hours...
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...