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.
Zaccheus Option
From the Zaccheaus Option by Scott Jones: "I feel that my chief purpose is to be an understanding neighbor for those who find it impossible to join the exultant crowds beneath the unfurled flags of whatever color, for those who keep their distance…I like Zacchaeuses. I think I have been given the gift of understanding them. People often construe the distance that Zacchaeuses maintain as an expression of their “superiority,” but I don’t think they are right — things aren’t that simple. In my experience, it is more the result of shyness. In some cases, the reason for their aversion to crowds,...
Remembering Here and Now
Today we had our monthly Women's Grief Group at Lynn Haven Methodist Church. We welcomed a couple of new guests who have experienced more recent losses..... It was a poignant reminder for others of us, taking us right back to those early months of fresh grief and reminding us how far we've come in moving out of the "beginning of the end of life as it was" and through the numbness and motions of transitioning toward the "end of the beginning of life as it will be." One day I realized I had moved from season to season, doing what needed to be done... from questioning to decided, from there...
The Witness of Scars
Seedbed's JD Walt had posted a photo of a journal page entitled "If Scars Could Speak" on April 3,2023. It resonated with me because I'd had a "scar" surprise the night before. I went to see His Only Son on Sunday, April 2. I realized I needed to go see it again to clarify something script author and producer David Welling put into the movie. At one point as Abraham knelt in humility and heartbreak before the Angel of the Lord, the theophany of God, the Lord's hand reached out to him in what appeared to be a gesture of empathic understanding and, honestly, I believe the hand of God...
Equally Yoked
"Equally yoked?" (Sermons on relationships by a popular Atlanta area pastor, Andy Stanley resulted in reflection on this idea on 2017.) One way to think about it is to be about becoming the kind of person that the person one is looking for is looking for....With that in mind, one needs to be careful that (s)he is true to "self" and stands firmly in the values and virtues one has embraced and by which one is committed to live. Is it only in regard to one's profession of faith in Christ? I don't think so as it is clear to me that profession of faith alone doesn't really tell one what kind of...
Crisis Counseling
Read 2 months into COVID-19 pandemic..... From Columbia University Psychiatry by way of Medscape: What is crisis counseling? A person's usual adaptive, problem-solving capabilities are often compromised after a disaster, but they are there, and if accessed, they can help those afflicted with mental symptoms following a crisis to mentally endure. Ensuring safety and promoting return to functioning, as well as being informed about immediately available resources, are the central objectives of crisis counseling, thereby making it a different approach from traditional psychotherapy. The five key...
Seas To Highways…..
Are you ever listening to music on the radio and suddenly a word or phrase jumps out at you that leads you to something you hadn’t seen , heard, or considered before? This morning as I listened to a Christian station, a song “Graves Into Gardens” came on and I heard something that piqued my interest..... seas to highways. “You turn mourning to dancing You give beauty for ashes You turn shame into glory You're the only one who can (Come on) You turn mourning to dancing You give beauty for ashes You turn shame into glory (Tell 'em now) You're the only one who can (Let's turn the graves) You...
Charles Spurgeon on Scripture
Spurgeon Three things I shall speak of this morning: first, the ear to be disciplined: secondly, the tongue to be educated: thirdly, a lesson in the text to be practised. May the Holy Spirit bless the whole subject to us. I. If we would be found really useful and serviceable for our Lord and Master, THE EAR IS TO BE DISCIPLINED. Read the text. “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth.” To train the tongue you must begin with the ear. It is well known that no man is fit to command who has not first learned to obey, and assuredly no...
Sunday’s Comin’
Mike Huckabee's post today is a keeper.... It’s Easter weekend and a great time to be reminded of one of the most wonderful sermons I ever heard. It was first delivered by Shadrach Meshach Lockridge, who from 1952 until 1993 was pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church of San Diego. Dr. S. M. Lockridge preached all over the world. He was without a doubt one of the greatest communicators of the Gospel in all of Christendom. His creative and soaring capacity for painting pictures with words was surpassed only by his spell-binding delivery. This amazing black pastor and renowned spiritual giant...
Persevere. The Reward Awaits.
Perseverance was yet again on my heart today, as it was 7 years ago!.....and part of my devotional reading and writing from April 7, 2016 reminds me of it. "Persevere and finish the race" my husband's words as he arrived home from his Thursday morning men's study/accountability group. A lesson they had discussed today from the book of Judges. Sometimes it is difficult to read the course. The signs are confusing, the path twists and turns. People along the way who are not in the race often provide confusion and distractions, and one feels so far behind the pack that the finish line seems...
Beloved Only Child
i went to see Angel Studio's "His Only Son" movie this week. Now I need to go see it again. At one point as Abraham knelt in humility and heartbreak before the Angel of the Lord, the theophany of God, His hand reached out to him in what appeared to be a gesture of empathic understanding and, honestly, I believe the hand of God was scarred. It was Christ's hand! ....God revealing the truth of Himself as Jesus Christ, just as Jesus had said, "Before Abraham was, I Am..". John 8.... Jesus' most definitive teaching, it seems, on His identity..... and the movie expresses this reality of Christ...