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.
Invitation To Pray
August 26,2016 An insight and morning meditation shared with me by a friend..... "An individual observed that God "invites" us to pray. It's not a command. When one thinks of the word invite, it is often in a positive sense whereas the word command often carries a more negative, demanding, or an order sense.....a law. Invite is more loving. Command is duty.... It seems that many have that understanding. We miss a blessing when we don't accept Gods invitation. There is something that happens when we pray. The bible talks about that all over the place. When we don't pray or allow others to...
Attributes of Leadership
From August 26, 2016 I am working on a Bible study on the book of Joshua. In doing so, I am reflecting on the leadership attributes that made Joshua great and successful. The Titus 2 ladies shared a devotional from God’s Little Devotional Book (page 198-199). It is entitled, “Put others before yourself, and you can become a leader among men.” Matthew 20:26-27 is the key verse: “But it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” It included a list of contrasting descriptions that...
Do Not Forsake Gathering Together…
If you are not meeting weekly ...… with.2 or 3 or a handful of folks together in close, accountable, studious Christian community (single gender) and pondering the principles, proclamations, prohibitions, and promises of God's Word and how to apply it to your lives, you are probably not growing in interdependent biblical community in Christ that will lead to disciple-making and discple-makers who can transform the world and bring the Kingdom of God to bear on earth. How sad for our generation and the generations to come. We are failing to fulfill our mission in the world as believers. I am...
Cherished Gifts
From 2014.... I'm considering gifts today.....some received, some given, some valued, some cast aside. Some gifts are given that reflect the heart of the giver. Other gifts are given because they remind the giver of the heart of the receiver. Think of the most cherished tangible gift you ever received from human hands? What meaning does it have in your life? Is it cherished because of what it is or because of the person who gave it to you? Matthew 7:11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to...
God Is With Us
When we know and love the Lord he sits upon the great white throne of judgment within hearts cleansed, purified and granted complete pardon. We can come anytime to seek his wisdom and judgment regarding our choices. He will guide us by his standards of good and evil, consistent with his Word and his timeless and eternal justice, mercy, and love and will keep our feet in the narrow way he has prepared for us. When we are living liberty in Christ, set free from the prisons of our fears, obsessions, controlling demands, deceptions, etc., we have immediate and direct access to the Supreme Court...
Response to Grief
I had a conversation with someone who shared that she had had a beloved relationship who OD’d on meth. It was suspected suicide but she fretted that acknowledging that might mean he is condemned to hell. She admitted that she pulled away into a world of her own where she could continue to be present with him. It lead to some serious mental health complications. We talked about that briefly then addressed her difficulty in dealing with the fear of losing people in her life. We talked about how many people pass through in the course of our lives. I told her, as someone pointed out to me, some...
Is It True That “Love Wins?” What About Obedience?
In an online devotional today the theme is trust.... "In God We Trust?" Seedbed.com/dailytext , August 25, 2002. For me, God has come to be the only person and force in which I fully can put my trust. For a number of years I have taught that God's Word is true and trustworthy and it tells us to put our trust in God, not in any person, not powers of this world, not riches, nor appearances, nor anything or anyone else. Only God is faithful, steadfast and true. His Word and His Spirit can be trusted..... Test it? Yes! By all means. And the testing will prove the truth. Today's text was...
Tribe of Spiritual Mothers In My 40’s
Tribe of spiritual mothers who took me in during my 40’s and taught me that we need never do life alone......loved me out of fear of being alone and into belonging to community of interdependent faith in Christ! I watched as four of them modeled the sufficiency of God’s grace in widowhood. A lesson in being the church as Christ instructed..... From front right: (St. Andrew UMC) Lois Acton (Milton) Gladys Brown (Bill) Yvonne Lilleston (Bill) Frances Carr (Norman) Amy Fulton (Rick) Cathy Byrd (me / back right) (Bill) Pat Coston (Stan) Jean T (Ed) Doris Hare (Norman) ...
Unwelcome Advisors
Many times I have counseled a person with a dysfunctional family member or close friend that she is not likely to be the one God will use to address this family member's issues, no matter how much she loves the individual, can see the issues, and wants to help. Sometimes one is simply too close to a situation and has too much history with someone to see the situation with the necessary degree of objectivity or to have sufficient credibility with the person she seeks to help. Help is more likely to come from an unexpected place and person.....at a completely unlikely time.....In such cases...
Jesus Came To Bring Fire
Jesus' words do not always come to us in seeming gentleness and with hope, but convicting and with warning.......unless we are able to read with hearts that are open to his own heart, with minds that desire to know his own mind. I"m preaching on this text Sunday. Over and over again he called the religious elite hypocrits...... I"m preaching on how the Pharisees lost sight of the promises to and purpose of the Chosen people of God. Part of the covenant was to bless all the families of the earth with the blessings promised to Abraham, but the religious elite wanted a preferential status,...