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.
Spiritual life…..
One of the things I love about my new job as program manager of a women's Christian residential substance abuse recovery program is that I get to teach adults at a very fundamental level and watch them progress in their spiritual journey over a rather intense 6-12 months.We use Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life as an introductory text to spiritual living. This week I have been introducing them to S.H.A.P.E (spiritual gifts, "heart", abilities, personlity, and experiences- the aspects of each disciple that makes her unique and capable of being used in her particular place by God). We actually...
Marking time…..
I started this weblog in July 2005. With this post, I mark the 150th post. I'm not a particularly prolific blogger.....just a few times monthly, as the mood and urge strike. I've learned to exercise more discretion in the things that I make public, probably a good thing. On the other hand, I believe that being willing to be transparent and vulnerable is a good thing and sets a good example for others. It enables us to reach deeper levels of communication in relationships, even though it can be painful at times as we risk being misunderstood or rejected.This week I talked to several people...
Christmas parties…..
It's interesting that, this time of year, you can take almost any group of people with a Judeo-Christian background and put them together, add some Christmas traditions, and have a party. The case managers at the Homeless Day Resource Center pooled their talents and put together a nearly spontaneous party this afternoon for the clients. One brought her keyboard, another her piano books of Christmas carols and photocopied song sheets, another her pastor-husband and funny Christmas hat. Several brought games to play. There were ice cream treats, peppermint candy canes, and chocolate candies.We...
Doing Christmas a little differently….
This year, instead of giving gifts to one another, my parents and siblings and I each chose a charitable enterprise to which to give. One brother and my parents chose food banks to support. Another brother and his wife bought Christmas gifts for a family whose breadwinner had been in an accident and severely injured his hand, making it impossible for him to work. My sister and I pooled our resources and bought socks and underwear for 75 homeless individuals, to be gift bagged for a party at the Homeless Day Resource Center on Monday.None of us got another holiday book, another shirt, another...
Signs of life…..
Today we had about 50 families with tables in the church parking lot selling "treasures" and all sorts of crafts. It was part of our church's effort to help families address concerns over the economic downturn. Early this morning, as I arrived to make the coffee, turn on the lights, and begin setting up tables, I walked through the quiet hallways and observed several things:- a large cart of canned goods and stacks of blankets beside it for the Rescue Mission- a tree of envelopes waiting to be selected and filled with contributions for a local children's home-a large cart overflowing with...
It’s real….
I have been getting on the job training as a Christian educator for over 5 years through my church and completed my work toward certification as a Christian educator in May. But recently, as I began to explore the possibility of ordination as a deacon, I opted for the counseling route instead of the Christian education route.When I first began the masters in counseling I thought I was getting additional training to make me more effective in Christian education. However, as I explored careers in counseling, I found that there was a better match with my desire to work in a healing mode with...
Christian counseling…..
“There are remedies for the soul's ills in the Christian faith. Both psychiatry and psychotherapy literally mean "soul healing" (psychology literally means "the study of the soul"). Until recently, soul healing was understood to be part of the church's responsibility. However, for the last 125 years, a secular framework has dominated both fields, while much of the church drifted away from its calling to help heal the soul. Today, apart from some popular biblical counseling literature, a vigorous Christian agenda is virtually unheard of. Meanwhile, it has been difficult for believers to...
Flying Blind….literally and as metaphor
Several years ago a friend of mine suddenly went blind, with no other symptoms. She was rushed to the hospital where it was discovered she'd suffered a stroke. Gradually she regained about 30-40% of her vision. A news report came out this past week about a pilot of a private plane who experienced a similar sudden loss of vision due to a stroke. What could have been disastrous was, instead, heroic with the help of a military pilot who coached the blinded pilot into a safe landing.As our Celebrate Recovery group met tonight one of the ladies told us about hearing a pastor on the radio talking...
Another time around…..
When I have attended United Methodist events, the prayer rooms all seem to have a common feature- a labyrinth. It seems that some with a spiritual bent all seem to think that we should be walking the labyrinth to connect with God."The term labyrinth is often used interchangeably with maze, but modern scholars of the subject use a stricter definition. For them, a maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage with choices of path and direction; while a single-path (unicursal) labyrinth has only a single path to the center. A labyrinth has an unambiguous through-route to the...
From one end to the other…….
I have been a student of the Matthean Beatitudes scripture since my own Holy Spirit-directed encounter with it several years ago. I have had several conversations with my associate pastor, who prefers the Lukan rendition of "blessings and woes". He is from a younger generation that is more motivated spiritually toward justice issues and I am from a generation which has taken up the cause of personal spirituality in a more inner focused way. While I have studied the two versions side by side, it was not until this weekend that God has given me a greater appreciation for why the two versions...