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.
Child Of God
From 8/11/ 2020 Simply “created by God” or actually also “children of God”? Jesus said not everyone is a child of the Father.... some have another father. The father is the one who influences our life, provides and guides, the standard- bearer, the one whom we honor, reverence, and obey. Jesus called Him “Abba” (Daddy)! It incensed the religious leaders. By Dorcas Beth Andrews 8/11/2029 “We are all brothers and sisters and children of God.” Have you heard that lately? In this day of rage and offense and social upheaval, the idea of one big happy human family under the same...
God Winks
CBB 8/11/2020 Some of you may grow weary of my reports of “God winks” and sweet reminiscences. God winks are those moments when one is keenly aware of God’s Presence and Power in the ordinary moments of life. It is a comfort and a gift to be able to experience them and feel God delight in my joy and gratitude. My blood pressure average reading is lowered by 10-15 points when I am intentional in my effort to be present with God throughout the day, as well. He is my “life and breath” every moment. I may choose to live in the peace of that awareness or disregard Him. I choose...
Hidden In Christ
CBB 8/11/2020 A mighty worthy goal......How wonderful the world would be if we all could do this with one another! I find that looking for the Jesus in people helps......Sadly, instead of being "hidden in Christ", we too often find that he is hidden in us. "When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves." - William Arthur Ward
Bill’s Personal Theology
From 8/11/2020 Bill Byrd’s personal theology was very much aligned with “grace”. He was quick to share with others the blessing of God’s grace in his life. “When we get grace, everything else is colored differently. There is no greater gift from God, and therefore no greater gift we can give one another, than the gift of grace toward all that isn’t perfect. Lewis Smedes, who wrote extensively on the subject of shame and grace, says this: “Shame is heavy; grace is light. Shame and grace are the two counterforces in the human spirit: shame depresses; grace lifts. Shame is like gravity, a...
Confronted With Widowhood
“Care for the widows.....”. Oh, my. I had not registered that word and status in my brain yet until a neighbor brought lunch and texted this message.... “We will be bringing cooked food regularly ... we will not forget. We are commanded by God to be your ravens. God has provided for us for this reason and more. Amen” I have been blessed with meals and other thoughtful acts of service by friends and neighbors. I cannot tell you how the outpouring of kindness has touched me. It is filling these days of sudden loss and transition with thankfulness and time to manage the tasks at hand and the...
How Suffering Changes Perspective On Life
From 8/11/2021...CBB Last year as the US Covid deaths began to mount in the summer, time and time again in prayer I asked God, “How much more, Lord?” I had the sense there was a point of critical mass at which point something significant would have been learned and the tide would turn with this pandemic. We would awaken to the ways it was impacting our lives and decimating our sense of “community” and figure out the correct response. We would make sense of it all somehow. I kept waiting for some kind of indication from God that things were improving, that it would soon be behind us. But the...
Rosaria Butterfield’s Testimony…. Thoughts on Longing and Identity
This speaker, Rosaria Butterfield, refers to her gradual dissolution into the LGBTQ culture ( after being raised in a Catholic tradition) through female social friendships (where she felt safe, connected, shared common justice interests, and felt understood) before it became a homosexual lifestyle and cause in her life and career. That statement jarred something loose in my mind. I remembered how I longed for connection with "soul sisters" in my adolescence and young adulthood. I was discovering how crass and focused on sex and partying men often were and I wanted something more.......
Grand- Life
This is how I experienced the onset of mid-life....turning away from the grief of regrets about the past and a feeling that the best part of my life was behind me to the joy of grandchildren. It is wonderful to watch another generation grow up! Each child is precious and unique. At 61, on the verge of the "final frontier" of life on earth, I continue to be delighted with all that they are becoming and doing! They are a gift! But even if I had never had the joy of children and grandchildren, God is good and life is worthwhile. There is an entire generation out there of children who are...
Ideals Judge
“Every ideal is a judge. So you posit an ideal and instantly you're in an inferior position in relationship to that ideal and that can be crushing. Okay, so what do you do about that? Well, one answer is no ideals. Well that's not a good answer because then you don't have anything to do. Right, so, so, and that deprives you of a main source of pleasure which is observed a generated as a consequence of observed movement towards a valued goal so if you have a high goal, and you see any movement towards that there's a potential is a really powerful potential kick there so you don't want to...
Repeating Ignored History
From 8/7/2022 Excerpt from Jonah Goldberg this week....The Goldberg File "Bonfire of the Asininities" It's an excellent opinion piece if you have access to the whole thing, read it! ".. I was once a producer for a TV show called Think Tank. The premise of the show was to take a single public policy idea and have actual experts debate it. After a while, it became obvious to me that pretty much every public policy idea is reducible, at the philosophical level, to the same perennial questions. Where does individual liberty intrude on the common good? At what point can the “we” dictate or...