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.
Mentors Needed
I receive messages and calls regularly from people who have not found the comfort and guidance they were seeking through traditional counseling or from church leaders (or at a price for counseling they could afford to sustain!) When I hear some of the experiences, it is little wonder that families in the church and beyond are in crisis.. Some to whom people are looking for help lack the time or training for some of what is needed......old fashioned discipleship and mentoring. Someone I know had a spouse in counseling and when asked after several months with the Christian counselor how it was...
Ms. Bernie
I took lunch and visited with an 88-years-young friend of mine yesterday. We laughed and told stories for 2 hours. She showed me pictures from her youth...WOW! What a stunningly beautiful young woman! That doesn't surprise me at all as she continues to be a stunningly beautiful matriarch, too! She gave me a couple of vintage hats, a few small handbags for our Titus 2 ladies, and some other things. She told me about ladies at her church who have organized a "Passover Club"...."A What????????" , I asked! She said they gather up their nice-but-no-longer-needed items and they get together and...
Sacred Moments
It's been "one of those days" when everything on my calendar went smoothly and God was so palpably present that it was........sacred! Even a 25 minute car ride to take a young lady for lab work was precious..... conversation so intimate and powerful that I could just feel God leaning over the seat, listening in and smiling. : "Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” 1 Thessalonians 2:8 It is during such times that I am privileged to hear some of the sweet revelations that God shares in the hearts of these ladies who...
Poem: Nevertheless
…..Nevertheless My mind recalls unholy things, Times when I was cruel. My heart, with rising sorrow rings In deafening, clashing duel. (…Nevertheless, I am still with thee.) Selfishly blinded by my own needing, I struggle through each day Hardened against Thy Spirit's heeding, Deaf to what You would say. (…Nevertheless, I am still with thee.) With patience, though, You still wait near And grace pours forth unbound Until I slowly begin to hear Heaven's life-giving rhythmic sound. (…Nevertheless, I am still with thee.) With vision's slow unveiling, I begin to see Thy hand upon the door And...
Winnowed By The Holy Spirit: When God Says “Go”
from 3/31/2021 Winnow: blow a current of air through (grain) in order to remove the chaff..... to be blown through by a wind .... When I felt discontent building as I adjusted to widowhood in the lakeside home where Bill and I had lived for 16 years, and in the home I loved and had believed would be my final abode, I felt that it was a Divine Discontent blowing of the Spirit with which I had to reckon.. That process took a couple of weeks and a lot of prayer and some wise counsel.... Now over a year and a half later I am confident it was the Lord's "Nudge", as Bill always called the...
Feminists, Vulnerability, Prayer, and The Trinity
Haley Blauch writes a thoughtful and enlightening explanation of the relationship between the Triune Godhead and prayer that demands a level of vulnerability many in the feminist movement have difficulty understanding and implementing in relation to God. As one who came of age in the decade of the 60's, I was under the feminists' mystique in the 60's and 70's... I had my time in the feminist parades and spouting its worldview, but gradually abandoned most of its beliefs by my 40's. I am egalitarian but still reverence the Trinity and can enjoy aspects of tradition, even patriarchal...
Dangerous Counsel: “Do. What.You. Want.”!
I happened across a social media post by a pastor I know in another state… “Wondering what God’s will is for your life? Love God, neighbor, and self with your whole heart and all your actions. Inside of that, God’s will is for you to just do what you want. No tea leaves or mystical visions required. Love God. Love people. Love yourself. Do. What. You. Want.” It was the last emphatically punctuated sentence that was particularly eye catching. (and likely to be ear tickling, too, I suspect) The entire post struck me as a bit vague and open to misinterpretation and libertine license….....
Deconstructing Faith
Some have mocked the distress and angst supposedly expressed by evangelicals over so many young people's "deconstruction" of their faith and why it is essentially not a rejection of Jesus, but is rejection of institutionalism and politicalization of churches and religion, presumably and most notably by traditional, i.e., conservative Christians. My own take on "deconstruction" or rejecting their faith, that is so trendy right now, is that it is sort of like what I experienced in my 30's...... awakening to the reality at 29 that my years (since infant Cradle roll days) of being a faithful...
Pennies From Heaven
One morning morning as I put gas in my car, I looked down and saw a penny on the ground by the door of my car. I smiled and picked it up. I had seen a story on the internet in the past and, as God would have it, when I got back to my office that particular morning a friend had sent it to me in my morning email. There are no coincidences in the life of a child of God. God affirmed his pleasure in the fact of my trust in him in the simple gesture of picking up the penny and thinking of God by reminding me of this story. Enjoy! Pennies from Heaven: I have picked up every penney that I saw in my...
Losing Beloved Pets
from 3/29/16 For all of us who have lost beloved pets, the story below is a treasure! Bill and I had to part with many beloved animals through our 48 years together. Our last dog, Winston , died the Monday after Christmas on 2021. I have our last remaining cat, Minnie who is now about 13 years old. As the author noted, "We don't know who replied, but there is a beautiful soul working in the dead letter department who understands." "Our 14-year-old dog Abbey died last month. The day after she passed away my 4-year-old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she...