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.
Experiencing Christ
Joni Eareckson Tada writes in her online devotional from 8/18/2014: Experiencing Christ "I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Philippians 3:8-9 In today's reading, Paul describes what it's like to know Christ in terms of being justified, of being legally positioned on God's side. Here, Paul is saying that God has done something for us on His books. It's wonderful to have the Lord impute His...
Meager Dregs to Bread of Life
Today our devotional journey with Elijah and the widow of Zarephath continued as he asked her for water and a small cake of bread.... What she discovers in accommodating the request of Elijah is a glory story from which we may all learn... 1 Kings 17:12-14 12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first...
Ekklesia
Thoughts about "Church"- Ekklesia- Greek word for congregation, church Ecclesiology- originally it meant the furnishings and liturgies of the church. Now it generally means the study of the church, beliefs about the church, and how the church is intended to work in the world. (Thanks to Wikipedia for this list of some of the issues in one's theology of "church') Who is the Church? It is a visible or earthly corporation or a unified, visible society—a "church" in the sense of a specific denomination or institution, for instance? Or is it the body of all believing Christians (see invisible...
The Next Right Thing
I am, once again, at a point of facing a challenge......one with a deadline as well. It is a familiar challenge....a place I've been several times. I know that God is with me, but I still have to do the work. I would rather have a short cut.....a guarantee. But there is none. Life is that way. Each day we simply have to get up and do "the next right thing", as Elizabeth Elliott used to say, praying that we have the day's priorities right and that we are in God's will. If we are, then it will work out. Sigh If it were not this present challenge, it would be another. It seems, at times, that...
Always Enough
I was reading a missionary's account of coming to a people who were struggling in the midst of a famine....even the pastor in the community had died of starvation. Yet, when he arrived he was greeted with a basket of food that would have sustained an entire family for a week or more. He tried to refuse the gift, but the people joyously insisted....they still found the capacity for generosity and trusted that God would provide for their next meal. Their gratitude and trust resulted in what was truly sacrificial giving. "Generosity is a lifestyle in which we share all that we have, are, and...
Trust Only God
A family member of someone struggling with addiction asked me last week how she could ever trust the addict again. I said, "what makes you think you must?" In my study of the Bible I don't find instruction that we are to trust other people. Again and again I find that we are to trust God. We are to love and forgive people. There is a difference. While the former seems difficult, the latter can be nearly impossible but for the grace of God! (8/17/2016)
Shattered Idols
Sudden disclosures that challenge one’s foundation and trust in people she has loved all her life can be an emotional ambush that destabilizes her whole life. It can lead to confusion, grief, and relapse in addiction. But when one has a firm foundation in Christ and strong supportive community she can avoid total destruction. When she cries out to God and embraces his comfort and leading she can regain her footing, even stronger for the lessons learned. Sometimes idols have to be broken because we do not give them up easily. And when those idols have lived in our hearts we feel the pain of...
This Is “The Way.” Walk In It.
Isaiah 30:21: Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” It was of poverty of spirit that the Lord spoke to my heart in the midst of pain, hurt, and disappointment on a drive following what was to have been a joyful retreat with friends on a cruise ship in 2003 as I cried and prayed asking why such circumstances kept happening in my life. In the next few days the Spirit unfolded the map of the pilgrim path Jesus had laid out in the Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount. I recognized that state of being in...
Smile! It Improves Your Face Value…
I have shared on several occasions with friends or students about a lady who attended church with us when our children were preschoolers. I made a point of making her acquaintance to see if she was as gracious as she appeared. She was a retired kindergarten teacher in her late 60's who told me one time that she was writing children's books that she hoped to publish. I sang in the choir and each Sunday I watched her sitting in the 2nd row. She sat alone, had good posture and attention, and had a pleasant smile on her face always! I would look at her and think to myself "I want to have such...
Might As Well Laugh
Rough morning from 8/16/2014.... "OOOOooohhhhhhh, the dangers of dressing quickly and reaching under the sink for aerosole cans. I thought I was spraying hairspray, but upon more careful scrutiny, it was a large spray can of Secret deodorant purchased at Sam's.....then in my chagrin and haste to correct the problem and finish dressing, I accidently sprayed my perfume under my arm...Ouch! Estee Lauder puts a lot of alcohol in that stuff! Rough morning... Now I'm paranoid. What else did I use/ put on wrongly in my haste and half sleep? If I get to where I'm going and I have toilet paper...