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.
Love Yourself, Love Others
In His response to the Pharisees question about the Great Commandment, who were attempting to trap him, Jesus challenged the object of their love..... If, after wholehearted love for God, was their love then for themselves alone, or for others, as well, beyond themselves and their own? A Pharisee asked him in return, rather revealingly, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded with the story of the Good Samaritan, then asked them "who was a neighbor to the man... the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan?"They answered, "the one who helped the beaten man." It didn't reflect very well on the...
Prayer Priority
"The priority of Jesus was not ministry to men...." Myles Munroe, in speaking of Jesus' robust prayer life. His read on the story of the apostles attempting to cast out demons is very interesting. Why couldn't they do it? Not by shouting, not by using the name of Jesus, not by gyrations and ritual...but by prayer.....the apostles' prayer with God for their OWN strength, their own equipping, their own purity. Jesus prayed for hours in the morning with God, then spent a mere moment saying, "be healed".... The power of humanity, the power of ministry lies in prayer. IF we spent time connected...
Just Another Day’s News
I heard a political commentator talking about this week's mid-term election results that continue to show just how intractably divided our populace is... Both the House and Senate are razor thin margins, neither party having a clear-cut mandate. She said, " With the results of this election it appears we will have even less governing and more politicking for the next two years." Oh, joy....... "Seems to me we should aspire to be post-resurrection Peters regarding faith in Christ but Doubting Thomases regarding faith in man’s institutions—which means poking fingers in the sides of both...
Who Will Be Friend To The Friendless?
A much younger friend wrote this about 6-7 years ago ....I ached to think of her loneliness. I had felt this loneliness for many years when i was a young adult. Then, in my early middle years, I realized God was sending several people for whom I was to BE that person. The problem was I didn’t WANT to be that person for them! I had to learn to be a friend to the friendless before I could have that kind of friend myself.
Happier Holidays
November 12, 2013 Tonight the wind is blowing through the front bedroom addition wall which does not yet have sheetrock and insulation and the false wall with plastic sheeting is crackling in the wind. I'm feeling a little like Lisa Douglas (think: "Green Acres" ) who lived in a perpetual remodel being done by two "contractors" with questionable capabilities. Even Lisa, though, never suffered the indignity of having her clothing drawers riffled through, closets poked through, and personal sentimental jewelry gone through and pilfered. I am pretty disgusted and sooooo ready for this...
Growing Strong in the Word
I love how our daily lessons in the Word with the Wake -Up Call morning devotional from seedbed.com point to and buld on one another. I didn't hear writer JD Walt reference seedbed's graphic representation of the church's awakening calendar that reveals multiple rhythmic cycles or "seasons" in each 12 month timeframe when God re-presents renewed opportunities again and again for this "V-device" pattern mentioned in Friday's devotional to challenge us or simply for further reflection, meditation, surrender, and refining in this process of molding the true "self" through the days and seasons...
God Speaks
From a personal FB post 11/11/21.. If you are not regularly and consistently reading and applying yourself to the study of God's Word by which he reveals himself and his will to us, you will not hear him speak to you. If you ARE doing that then you will hear him speak to you through his creation, through his Spirit, through his people, through circumstances, through his Word, and even at times through his very voice in your heart and mind and when he does it will ALWAYS align with his WORD and you will know it is him. You won't have to ask him to speak to you. He will be speaking to you day...
Defining “Leader”
I had received a call from a respected leader asking if I was available to serve on a planning team. I replied I'd be happy to and was told that my name was to be put in nomination for the team. I told the individual that I harbor no illusions about anyone's view of my suitability for any leadership role anywhere as I seem to have a reputation for poking hornets' nests. And asking questions others skirt around. LOL! .........or simply don't see as relevant. 🙃 The individual replied: "🤣 That’s what I call leadership, Cathy. You are able to have the difficult conversations and still love...
Rescue Pets and the Goodness of God
https://seedbed.com/on-designer-dogs-and-rescue-pets-2/ JD Walt's reflection today in our morning Wake Up Call st seedbed.com on rescue pets led me to remembering the many rescue pets of our family over nearly seven decades of my life ..... and especially those that were part of our children's lives with us.... so many joys and blessings to us all. A youth asked our pastor if there would be pets in heaven. He, whose family had a couple of beloved companion animals themselves, asked the youth if his pets gave him joy and love. The youth eagerly said, "Yes!". Our pastor said that because...
11/1/69 – 11/2/69. Janet Lynn Boyd
From November 6, 2015.... "Today on my way home from a trip with a student, we made a detour through my family's hometown, Clayton, AL. I stopped at the cemetery next door to the United Methodist Church there to visit my Daddy's grave. The flowers looked fine. While there I also checked on the grave of a baby sister who died in 1969 within 24 hours after a premature birth. My sister Carol Andrews and I had a conversation earlier this week after she sent me a post about "loving my sister"...(meaning ME!). It resulted in a brief conversation between us about the baby sister who'd died, Janet...