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.
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...
Institutional Church
Anyone who's been around us "church people" (or any kind of people, for that matter!) for any length of time know about "people pleasing" and "tickling ears". While clergy may have enjoyed a sense of "control" over churches at one time, clearly church laity has a huge hand in who comes and goes. Now, though, clergy have broken ranks with one another and not only can they not control the congregations like they once did, they cannot control their own Orders and steer the UMC's expanding vessel in any way other than around in circles, it seems. Any illusion of "control" by clergy has...
Eschatological Hope
One of my devotionals this week asked where am I this Lent season with the way our world is- apocalyptic anxiety, apathetic indifference, or eschatological hope. JD Walt in a seedbed.com daily text this week wrote: “Rather than interpreting the Word of God in light of the times, we must learn to interpret the times in light of the Word of God." I remember the time, long before I went to seminary, over 25 years ago, when God began to speak about hope into my heart…. and it had absolutely nothing to do with being raptured …. It first moved me into the post- tribulation ranks. If God would...
The Best Advocate
Five years ago, a former Titus 2 student commented on a report of another student's experience with learning to stand up for herself: "My ordeal wasn't as serious as hers. I remember the day clearly when you told me I could stand up for myself. With you in the car waiting on me, and the Lord holding my hand. I walked up the steps and began to take control of my life." Woo hoo! Teaching women to be their own and their children's best advocates is the joy of being an advocate.....and at Titus 2 we do it through teaching them that THE ADVOCATE is with them, going before them, and equipping them...
My Take on UMC Chaos
In recent weeks I have read numerous opinions by various theologians and pastors whom I respect regarding contemporary issues that challenge us as Christians and as a church. Each strives to bring sound reasoning and passion to bear on subjects like same-sex marriage, ordination for homosexuals, defining hospitality and tolerance, and more. One after another, they call for reasoned discussions of the issues. Some are even openly beginning to offer division of the church as the only course of action. Dr. Riley Case, writing for The Confessing Movement within the United Methodist Church, in an...
Human Condition Grief
In a note from a friend, she shared that her pastor had preached a sermon on "the hells that can be present in one's life and how they burden others around them." Oh, my. I hope that was simply the perception of the listener and not the whole gist of the actual message. That wording and its implications distress me somewhat. Just yesterday, too, I learned about the suicide of a friend who had again lapsed in the battle with alcohol. In a conversation with this struggling friend a while back a promise was extracted not to inflict self-harm like that... Actions of the last few weeks, however,...
All In: Suffering
Simply admiring Jesus and being a member of a church does not constitute being a Christian. It is obedience in following him that defines a Christian. Francis Chan told of one leader of a group of underground house churches in China who said that Westerners seem to view sanctification as a life-long process of deciding what and when one will surrender bit by bit to Christ. In the persecuted church surrender of all to Christ is a prerequisite that is fulfilled immediately...….. and may cost one everything, including life itself. Jesus does not desire martyrs who seek suffering. He desires...
Accountability Vs. Blaming
This was from six years ago...... I’ve had this almost exact conversation more than a few times. “Last week I was talking with someone who had experienced disappointment in some people because they didn't let her do what she wanted. They held her to a covenant agreement and she was required to accept some undesirable and chafing consequences for having violated it. In venting her anger to me she said, "This isn't godly. It's unfair. God doesn't show favoritism." This last comment was intended to show how some others had not gotten consequences for the same behavior when she had. I said to...