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.
Anxiety As Innate Idolatry
“Boston pastor Adam Mabry’s book Stop Taking Sides reminded Christians to take elections seriously, but also “trust Jesus, receive peace, and refuse the anxiety that betrays an innate political idolatry.” I never thought about how “anxiety betrays an innate idolatry…. “That is a helpful insight and something to be aware of in the future. Anxiety, also expressed as “worry”, suggests that we are desiring an outcome that we fear we may not get. That does seem quite contrary to trusting God who is our all-sufficient “I Am.” We still may not get what we want or had hoped for, but our Loving...
Entrepreneurial Ministry
Last night a friend an I went to Niceville for an event in support of a new entrepreneurial women's transitional residence ministry. It has been in the planning for several years, arising out of one woman's passion, experience, and calling... We are pleased to cheer them on as they get housing for six women up and running. Congratulations Freedom House and Stephanie Wedel! From 7 years ago today in my journal: "Six years of employment as director of women's ministry for a rescue mission (to which I was appointed as a provisional deacon from 2012-2014) ended in April 2014 after a new...
See the Light. Be the Light.
I have written before about the phenomenon of observing light in a person. The first time I witnessed it was in 1995. It was in an individual with terminal cancer with whom I had prayed for months about issues of unforgiveness. I had been under a heavy burden of intercession on behalf of the person. I went to see her a few days before her death and I witnessed a soft translucent glow emanating from her and heard the Lord speak in my spirit," This is Christ." I knew the work of forgiveness I had been praying for was complete and that Christ was present to her with the full measure of...
Grace Flowing
Justification is a solitary covenant with God. He extends grace to us e RN when we are still in our sin. We repent and receive it by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Sanctification is a communal process of shared covenant to encourage and live out the "one another's" lived and taught by Christ. Justification occurs at a point in time, individually, with God, as Christ's new garment or mantle of imputed righteousness is placed upon us. Sanctification progresses over a course of time in Christ and in community with others. The problem is that in community we can get distracted by...
God Is Faithful and Trustworthy To Bring Good
"Flawed Families of the Bible".....a very interesting book that shows a variety of multi-generational dysfunctions, but with God's grace co-mingled so that ultimately, good results. An interesting lesson in "Flawed Families of the Bible" is the story of Leah...the firstborn of Laban, Leah- who was always second to her favored and beautiful sister, Rachel. But God saw her pain and in the end she had many progeny and outlasted Rachel, becoming the wife beside whom Jacob was buried, next to his own parents. Interestingly, we may suffer disregard in this life and feeling unloved, but God sees...
Putting It On The Line For Another
From 7/19/2018: Counseling, case management, and advocacy.....knowing which role to take when is a matter for prayer. What some don't understand is that when I stand in the gap for someone, I have spent hours and hours in the spiritual and emotional intimacy of the counseling room with her, hearing and talking about some of the deepest hurts and greatest hopes of the heart. God reveals when her heart is telling the truth. I won't take that kind of stand on behalf of just anyone....but when I do, it is because of a firm conviction that that is what God has called me to do. Yesterday I...
Tree-Speak
7/26/2016 I loved watching a TED talk today at lunch by Suzanne Simard about her 30 years of research in forests in Canada on how trees communicate with one another and transfer molecular nutrients through microrhizzal networks. I'm an arboreal enthusiast, having spent lots of time in Alabama, which has the greatest number of tree varieties in the US. Love, love, love the varieties of deciduous and evergreens I've enjoyed over the years. Turns out that trees are supercooperators, with "mother tree" nodes and extensive cross species underground support structures that nurture...
Grow Through Study: Know God, Know Yourself
Sean Dietrich this week wrote about boiled peanuts. His memoir made me smile as I, too, have stopped many times at roadside vendors and bought a bagful to eat while traveling in Alabama! It also reminded of a talk I gave at a retreat in 2001 that I began with a story about peanuts. As I think about some of those things I've saved through the years, I transfer them here, to a more easily accessible medium to read and think about in the quiet times that mark my life more and more. "I confess I have a real fondness for peanuts. They are, for me, one of the ultimate comfort foods, along...
Holy Spirit Actuation Of The Soul
In writing about spiritual formation under the authority of the Hily Spirit, JD Walt, author of the Seedbed Daily text wrote: "There is a missing middle movement here. It is the Holy Spirit’s work of actuation. This will require the development of the most neglected and, consequently, atrophied muscles of the soul." Amen! Jesus' disciples received three years of instruction, living among parables and examples, and practicing under constant instruction and Jesus' watchful eye to prepare for the move from aspiration/inspiration to activation/application. The Apostle Paul required a time of...
Invitations, Promises, Blessings, Grace and Faith
Question from a friend: God told his people he'd restore what the locusts took and told Job he'd restore his joy and he also made promises to Abraham and Moses and others. Just because he did it for them doesn't mean he'll do it for EVERYBODY.... A lot of people never found joy, never had lives restored and were killed. Is there a book with all the promises of God and do they apply to EVERYBODY that believes? Reply as I considered this question: I understand God's blessings as fulfillment of promises that are communicated to and available to all. Every promise I read has an invitation that...