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.
Deliverance Emerging
Since our 2024 first quarter church emphasis on prayer, the Lord has been putting on my heart and putting resources in my path on deliverance ministry….. not showy acts of laying on of hands and wild manifestations of the demonic spiritual reality, but the necessity of relying on Jesus Christ and praying diligently for wisdom and equipping. As I have been carefully picking my way through Scriptures and a couple of resources God put before me in February, I have become more aware of how frequently demonic presence, oppression, and harassment impacts our lives, even for those of us in the...
Knowing and Being Known
I have sought to avoid rote repetition of prayers, Scriptures, and creeds and desire that my use of such instruments of worship and communion with the Lord would be done with intention and mindfulness. One thing that comes to my attention as I speak the Apostle’s Creed is the order of some of the affirmations. In particular, one that God has brought to my attention is this final series of statements…. “I believe in the Holy Spirit,the holy catholic (universal) church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting.” One phrase especially...
Satan’s Miscalculation and How It Was Revealed
A social media poster asked: “If the 10 Commandments didn't exist before Moses then what were Adam and Eve "guilty" of? Adam and Eve were disobedient in following the one simple, seemingly small directive Adam received from the Lord God and subsequently, that Eve also received by means of Adam’s slightly embellished report of the Lord God’s command. That command was given because the potential for creating difficulty for themselves was inherent in the environment the Lord God created….They had been given the capacity for freewill choice, they could obey or not obey. To disobey...
Medical Mindset: Evidence of Addiction
I was discussing a chronic issue a woman had developed recently that could have a serious impact on her heart if not corrected. She had been given infusions when the issue first presented, it was so urgent. Then she was prescribed medication for it. I tried to understand how this issue had apparently arisen so suddenly and still seems out of control six weeks later after multiple ER visits, PCP appointments and multiple blood tests to monitor it. So I looked up causes of this particular issue. There were 2 glaring lifestyle issues, one at the top on the list, the another was 4th on the list....
Mixed Messages
Fresh take on “convicted felon” branding…..(thanks to Nellie Bowles, paraphrased from The Free Press) Alex Soros, heir to the Soros empire, reportedly funneled money through shell nonprofits to get Alvin Bragg elected to the NY prosecutor position. Alex is so proud of the job they are doing together that he’s bragging about it. But also, it’s funny because Soros’s Open Society Foundation wants employers and citizens talking about felons who want jobs in a generally favorable and non-judgmental way and the number one rule: “1. Refrain from inquiring about an individual’s conviction history...
”Jesus Was A Convicted Felon”
“Jesus was a convicted felon”just further evidences how far God, incarnate in Jesus Christ, was willing to go to identify with the broken humanity He came to redeem….. even bearing the taunts and humiliation of ridicule of pointed fingers of mobs and authorities to reveal the depth of his love, to die for us and reveal the power and authority through the fullness of the Spirit of God to defeat death, such a feared tool of the enemy.That statement doesn’t elevate anyone to the stature of Christ. It simply reveals one more burden placed on the back of Christ that is often also born by people...
I Am A Child Of God
We, all humans, are image-bearers of God, our Creator. When we come to know Him…. through His Word, by His Spirit, by knowledge of and relationship with His Incarnation in His Son, Jesus Christ, through community among His people,and in the circumstances He allows that instruct us ……one may then become a true Child of God, knowing God’s presence, goodness, sovereignty, and delight in giving us good things. We are able to see and enjoy those good things, as well as recognize and reject the tinny and tawdry counterfeits and distractions of the enemy. A wise pastor once told me….”God gave us...
Forgiveness: Rooting Out Schadenfreude
“Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping. (Rule 2) There are a trillion things to pay attention to. Almost all of them are irrelevant. I would argue there’s no better use of time than understanding your own personality and the personalities of those around you” (promo for Jordan B. Peterson’s Discovering Personality course) The Lord has been working on me the last few weeks, in terms of showing me some things about me… once in a while He seems to shake things up and carry me through a time of introspection. Not morbidly so, not necessarily with regrets….. just calling me...
Pentecost: The Consolation of The Holy Spirit
Reflection for tomorrow, Pentecost Sunday….. “The consolation of the Holy Spirit" is a phrase I have heard from time to time and I had imagined that it is the comfort of the Holy Spirit. But I read a brief essay by Ruth Haley Barton who has written about solitude, silence, and the rhythms of sacred living. She writes in Dicipleship Journal that consolation is "a deep sense of life-giving connection with God, with others, and with whom God created one to be. It is the sense that in some deep way all is right with the world, that we are free to be given over to God to love even in pain and...
Lost and Found
So….., I had been looking for my wedding rings for a week. Not even 30 minutes after posting about my fear that I might not find them (and feeling the sick sense of loss in my gut and praying for God to give me grace to accept their loss, if that was to be the case), I walked upstairs, saw my tray of vitamins and meds that I had sitting on the footstool of my glider rocker and casually glanced down in it. There the rings were neatly stacked in the corner behind a vitamin bottle. I have no recollection of sitting there with that tray in the last few weeks or of putting the rings in there. I...