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.
God’s Promises to Abraham Fulfilled In Family Prayers
At 3:23 A.M. today, 6/27/2022, the Lord woke me up reflecting on the past week's event.... a devotional from The Seedbed Daily Text on Thursday,, 6/23, and the Dobbs case decision from the Supreme Court of the US on Friday, and the alignment of the two with the graphic way God has given me to think about "family." First: some background: Philip Kosloski - published on 05/15/17 "The ancient symbol permeates Christian art all over the world. It is extremely common to walk into a Catholic church and see the letters IHS etched on a crucifix or prominently featured in a stained glass window....
Papal Proclamation on “Church”
In the Pope's General Address in St. Peter's Square yesterday, (This post was originally written 6/26/2014) he pointed out the necessity of connection with church....."We have seen that God gathered a people to himself in the Old Testament and in the fullness of time sent his Son to establish the Church as the sacrament of unity for all humanity. God calls each of us to belong to this great family. None of us become Christians on our own; we owe our relationship with God to so many others who passed on the faith, who brought us for Baptism, who taught us to pray and showed us the beauty of...
“I’m Only Human”
Jesus also told them to "go and sin no more.." If they continued sinning he didn't love them less, but they were not included in the fellowship of followers or given the keys to the kingdom.....two parts to relationship with God.... his unconditional love (without a doubt) and also his requirement for hungering and thirsting for righteousness in order to enjoy his fellowship and the blessings that come from close communion..... We cannot lose his love, but we can forfeit his fellowship. Many scriptures that people cite cite are about fellowship with God being broken, not love...
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
I have an ongoing project on Christian growth that examines parallels between our growth with what Luke 2:52 says about Jesus' growth.....one of the pitfalls of discipling others and evangelism as "church" Christians is that people expect us to be in the mold and pattern of their (mostly limited) perspective on the character and attributes of and purpose for which Jesus Christ came. Hard as we try, people are going to experience disappointment in their expectations of other people, Christian or not, at times and then it's "game on", they are all exercised to dismiss the one that "let them...
Final Efforts
When I complain about small and inconsequential obstacles, I am reminded of Joni Eareckson Tada, confined to a wheelchair since her teen years, a quadriplegic, and yet she perseveres in kingdom work. I want to spend my last ounce of energy on the last quarter mile, racing to the end, dropping this physical body at the pearl gates and being lifted into eternity by Christ. -Cathy Excerpted from Joni's devotional today: "Don't let your heart quit. For at the proper time, we will reap! "O Christian worker, Christian soldier, Christian pilgrim, in the midst of your "contest" and your "running"...
Speak Up!
You will recognize this quote, though you may not recognize the one who spoke the words. The Rev. Martin Niemoller was one of the heroes that stood against the terrors of Nazi Germany. Because his sermons contained sharp criticism of Nazi paganism, he was sent to a concentration camp in 1938 and remained there until the end of World War II. After the war he emerged as a prominent church leader in Germany. Here is a famous statement by Niemoller, taken from an address to the Confessing Church in January, 1946, that sums up his stance on human rights. “They came first for the Communists, and I...
On Pentecost Still
6/25/17.... on Pentecost still Psalm 104:4 You make Your messengers like the winds; the breeze whispers Your words, Your servants are like the fire and flame. Hebrews 1:7 Concerning them, God said, I make My heavenly messengers like the winds, and My servants like a flame. The last several weeks we have been exploring Pentecost and its meaning and impact on the first century believers and on us. Week before last our focus was on the wind. Last week the focus was on the fire. God has often made his presence known to his people through these means. Both of these phenomena were present in what...
Jesus Calms The Storm
This picture, Jesus Calms the Storm, has hung in our home for 25 years, since the season of a fierce storm that blew from the four corners of the earth and would have destroyed my mind, my family, even my life but for the presence of Jesus with us in the boat. There have been other storms that have raged, but our little boat survived.... and now only Jesus and I remain in this boat. I am still fishing, sometimes just enough to feed myself and other times for as many as follow Jesus here to our boat's slip and need to be fed. 6/25/17 (Enjoying the afternoon in the sunroom...
“Will You Trust Me?”
My "coming of age" was the 60s and 70s... feminism, ERA, first generation college in my family, women's liberation, Vietnam protests, "hippie" cool culture. I have borne children twice-1973 and 1975. With the first, at 18, I believed my only choice might be abortion. I was wrong. The father and I married and stayed married until his death in 2020. With the second, at 21, it was from IUD contraceptive failure and it was inconvenient timing for my education and future career. I thought abortion was the choice I wanted then until I went to the doctor who said he was going to have to remove the...
Bible Study Tools
From 2014: As I was cleaning out some files today, I came across this that I had gotten during a Bible study at some point: Inductive Bible Study Questions 1. What is the "Big Idea" (are there commands, promises, information about God's character, attributes, actions?) 2. What am I supposed to get rom this "Big Idea" or theme? Are there follow up questions I have about this that I need to explore in the text? 3. Would knowing anything about the culture help me to understand this passage better? 4. What is God telling me? What will I do about it? 5. How am I encouraged and strengthened? 6. Is...