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.
Christ In Us
In a recent gathering in which a group of women considered a Scripture reading, we were asked to listen for the Lord bringing a particular word to our attention. For me, in the passage from Ephesians 3, what struck me was knowing "Christ is in you"..... Just before we began listening to the Scripture reading, I had prayed that I might see Christ in each of my sisters that day. It struck me that God indeed does know each one of us....we can generally only know one another superficially. However, when we look for the Christ in one another, there is a deeper, more authentic relationship...
Not Deterred In Obedience To Call
From Nov 21,2017....... For those who have followed my ministry in Bay County over the last 10 years and longer, I am continuing my pursuit of deacon ordination through a non-UMC route. I am studying under an Ordained Deacon Ministry program by Christian Leadership Institute. The work I have completed over the last 9 years through the UMC has been reviewed and accepted by CLI. The goal of CLI is to train revival leaders for local ministries across the globe. CLI has a unique approach to educating ministry leaders of all kinds and a philosophy which is very much in keeping with my own...
Raising Children In Faith
"Don’t feel sorry for or fear for your kids because the world they are going to grow up in is not what it used to be. God created them and called them for the exact moment in time that they’re in. Their life wasn’t a coincidence or an accident. Raise them up to know the power they walk in as children of God. Train them up in the authority of His Word. Teach them to walk in faith knowing that God is in control. Empower them to know they can change the world. Don’t teach them to be fearful and disheartened by the state of the world but hopeful that they can do something about it. Every person...
Isaac Principle
The ISAAC PRINCIPLE revisited: Several years ago I read Carol Kent's book, "When I Lay My Isaac Down." From that and other things God was using in my life at the moment, I discovered what I have come to call The Isaac Principle: It is in the surrendering of something that we love (even cherish and desire and hold fast in our hearts as a promise from God) entirely to God that we discover the true condition of our hearts.....If we cannot surrender it entirely to Him, it may, in fact, ...be an idolatrous obstacle between God and us. I have realized, too, as Abraham did, that just because God...
A Psalm for Sabbath
Sabbath is for: -ceasing -resting -feasting -embracing I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul A Song of mAscents. Of David. 131 O LORD, my heart is not sliftedup; my eyes are not traised too high; I do not uoccupy myself with things too great and vtoo marvelous for me. 2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned wchild with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul withinme. 3 xO Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. 3 O Israel,hopeintheLORD fromthistimeforthandforevermore.
Growing Seeds of Love In Souls
...Deep, deep Love. Love IS the seed of the Spirit that is sown in our depth. Its origin and abiding place is in the depths of inmost being, at the level of human spirit. It germinates and gives birth in our spirit to its own kind in us and from our spirit, as the seed breaks open, the seed brings forth its own love, joy and peace in our being. Then its roots and shoots entwine and burrow into and through our soul's mind, emotions, will, personality, and conscience, transforming one from inmost depth to bring forth patience, goodness, kindness outward to the shallower layers that are tilled...
Boundary Busters
Thinking about boundaries today and the result of failing to set them or respect those of others. Are there times when boundaries need to be pressed? Yes. But undertaking such ventures as that alone or without sufficient prayer and preparation can be disastrous. Cloud and Townsend's book, Boundaries, has a chart that shows the downward spiral for those who refuse to set boundaries or accept the boundaries of others. In descending order, the entities against which one rebels are these: parents siblings, teachers peers spouses employers one's own health/body.......(and finally, when one has...
Loose Lightbulbs In Heaven and Earth
I went to bed at 8:30, so here at 3:30 I am wide awake. I have been watching the strange lightning that has been flashing over Deerpoint Lake. It was almost like a loose light bulb in the heavens.....or the moon having a loose power plug. Very strange looking and it went on for the better part of 30 minutes or more with no sound. One could hardly even call it flashes....more like heavenly "SOS" signals being transmitted. Now I am hearing a faint distant thunder, but the flashing light show is over. There is the sound of a light rain beginning to fall. Very beautiful quiet time in the wee...
What Difference Does It Make?
I pray you will find hope for your journey as a Christian embraced by God who is Love and Grace and indescribably more, and as a disciple of Jesus Christ, called to be in relationship with God and neighbor. What do you believe in and why? What difference does it make that you are a person of faith? How does being a disciple of Jesus Christ affect your life? One Methodist pastor recalled the comment of a young Swiss pastor about sharing one's faith in a secular culture. "In this work I am doing, if you can't answer the question, 'What difference does it make?' don't even go there." (The UM...
Testudinophilia
I have a tray with turtles to keep me company. They're from lots of places and people who know They have a special meaning to me. They just show up, often unannounced, To join the herding bale, the nest, or dole. They remind me though one might get trounced To keep on keeping on, past obstacles or mistakes. The reward goes to the one that persists until the very end. And steadily plods along, no matter how long it takes. A cleaning lady broke one large Galapagos turtle that went with the baby grey/tan one next to the candle. And I've given away a few though the years to others who are...