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.
Purgative –> Illuminative –> Unitive Life
Matthew 12: 43 “Now when the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept clean, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.” One may push negative influences out of her life (the Purgative Way) to get...
Pentecost
Celebration of Pentecost- Pentecost is one of the most prominent days in the Christian calendar. It is often referred to as the "birthday of the church." It is the day when Christians around the world celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit broadly and permanently to all believers! The story of the Pentecost, which is marked 50 days after Easter, is recounted in the Book of Acts. The Old Testament says Pentecost was one of the Jewish feast days, however they did not call it Pentecost, which is a Greek name. The Jews called it the "Feast of Harvest" or the "Feast of Weeks." Jews from all over...
Pentecost Past
From June 4,2017 How appropriate that I should find myself being discontinued from Provisional Deacon status, ending my 9- year pursuit of ordained ministry, on Pentecost Sunday by the Alabama West Florida Conference tonight on recommendation of the Board of Ministry after a three year struggle with how to maintain my authentic self and try to meet the Board's expectations for ordained ministry. Somehow I don't think the early apostles and deacons that carried the gospel to the world faced such a gauntlet as I have felt that I have faced in pursuit of ordination to the ministry of Word,...
Recharge
Inertia: A body in motion remains in motion, a body at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by an external force. I think it is going to be an "at rest" inertia day..... Tuning out external forces for a while...…. . Will resume alternate mode, "in motion", when the battery is recharged..... Be blessed and carry on! (6/3/20)
No Escape
"Every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." Perhaps it will not necessarily be by sweet fellowship and peaceful evangelism..... Maybe God has something else in mind based on humankind's historical unwillingness to learn any way except by the hardest....... When the end of the rope is all one has left to grip to pull oneself out of the pit, that is the point that often reveals that it is God Himself who holds the rope. If people will not yield to the will of God in peace and prosperity, will they yield to the will of God when the enemy has ransacked them and taken...
Squandered Righteousness
All righteousness of mankind is "as filthy rags"... only the righteousness of God- His grace, mercy, justice, and favor poured out as a blessing to all people of all nations- will provide the safety and nurture every child, every family deserves.... Amen, Brother. Amen. That was the hope on which America was born... the virtues of God's righteousness and justice.... lived out in the lives of men and women.... We have allowed it to be squandered and been unable or unwilling to wear the righteousness and justice of God symbolized by the white and red stripes of our flag. We have sought to...
Desires of Our Hearts
In December 2021 I visited an elderly lady, Jo Pate, in a local assisted living center. She and my mother had been friends 2decades ago. Bill and I had known her husband, Stan, when they lived in Selma and we had each called on him when he was a buyer for a wholesale warehouse in the 70's and 80's......While I was visiting her she told me she is 102 and that she has her site set on making 105. I did not know that when I wrote the following four years ago today on May 30,2018: "In the last month or so I’ve had all my medical updates...... you know the routines. Gastro/ dermatology/...
Aging Well
Written in response to the April 12 Seedbed Daily Text on membership in the "elder class:" I am 68. I have a few arthritic joints and my eyesight isn't the best (but I look forward to when my ophthalmologist tells me my cataracts are 'ripe' and we can proceed with surgery!). I remember the testimony of an octogenarian who was invited to speak on aging to our "20-30 something" Sunday School class. ( I was one of the 20-somethings.) She was a delightful elder, in the most positive and literal sense of the word. I remember one thing in particular she said, "My body shows every bit of my 8...
Tea Time
So, I decided I'd binge on Season 1 of All Creatires Great and Small. As I'm watching the promo for it I spot something rather incredulous.... a character in the series holding a teacup.....a Wellington China Longton teacup.....just like the 4 antique teacup and saucer sets Bill gave me for Christmas in 1975!!!! I rewound the scene six times before I could get a screen shot of it off the TV! Such a sweet blast from the past.....
Equipping For Battle
Nothing's changed... from 5/30/2015 "Safe."There are some people who actually consider me "safe". They call to ask me questions that they might be reluctant to ask others....because they know I care. Because they know I won't laugh or dismiss their inquiry. Because they believe that I have enough experience with the matters that concern them that my thoughts on such matters are deemed trustworthy. It is humbling to be sought out for counsel....even when I'm not their counselor, but simply a friend. And they know that I don't have all the answers, but I am willing to join them in seeking the...