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.
Reframing The Kingdom of God
One of my very favorite devotional writers- Jill Carattini always challenges one to think! And one of my favorite topics....the revelation of God in Christ! Minds Upset Wherever one might be in declarations of belief, God is so often not the God these declarations expect, and often it is shocking to discover it. God comes near and offends our sense of understanding; God affronts our categories and overturns our sense of familiarity. Jesus of Nazareth does the same; quite particularly so in the language of the parables. With his stories, he offends the believing and unbelieving, disciples,...
Christians and Politics
"God is not political. He doesn’t take a “side” other than His own will and His own glory. As His creation, God wants man’s politics to be seasoned with grace, concern, love for our fellow people, and a willingness to work out our differences without being hateful. In this way others will know we are of God. That’s so very difficult in today’s political climate, especially when social media makes it so easy to spew a zinger of a line from the anonymity of your cell phone screen. Don’t try to drag God into your politics. Instead, rise above politics to show your godliness in the way you...
Guard Your Heart
Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them. Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to You, "Speak, for Your servant hears." Let me hear You speaking in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Your voice, that its tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Your speaking voice. Amen" (A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God) " Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears! A Muslim friend gave me a slim little volume by a Muslim teacher one time and asked me...
Led In God’s Will
"You go nowhere by accident. Wherever you go, God is sending you. Wherever you are, God has put you there. He has a purpose in you being there. Christ who indwells you has something He wants to do through you wherever you are. Believe this, and go in His Grace, in His Love, and in His power. Amen" A benediction by the late Rev. Dr. Richard Halverson, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C. who was Chaplain of the U.S. Senate from February 2, 1981 until December 31, 1994. Understand that this is a benediction, a "good word", a sending forth for BELIEVERS, indwelled by the Holy Spirit,...
God At Work Through The Unexpected
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. How often we discover the truth of this in the surprising ways in which God works among us! Blessings frequently arise from unlikely circumstances. Margaret Manning makes that point: "Elizabeth and Zacharias were both from priestly lines: Zacharias from Abijah, and Elizabeth from Aaron. The gospel alerts the reader that they “were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of God” (Luke 1:5-6). However, Elizabeth’s barrenness would have called her...
Do As You Have Seen Me Do
I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. (John 13:15 NLT) “What are we to do to fulfill this commandment? One way to answer that question is to consider what makes us feel cleaner and more fit for the Master’s table. When someone takes the time to listen to me, I feel as if my feet have been washed. When I am complimented, my feet have been washed. When someone shares a joy with me, my feet have been washed. When someone values my ear enough to share a burden or confess, my feet have been washed. There are countless ways to wash feet. We need only to begin to notice...
Let It Go
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1 Corinthians 13:11.. Jesus points to children as an example of the kind of faith, love, and trust for Father that he wants to see in his disciples. In this example, however, Paul is referring to the ways of childhood as an immaturity to be left behind. It is a way of only seeing and knowing in part, through eyes not yet able to see, ears not yet able to hear, a mind not yet able to understand…… We must leave those things behind so that we can embrace...
Living Sacrifice
A morning Wake Up Call devotional this week focused on Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. People may view a "living sacrifice" as an oxymoron. I would have considered it that way but for having been schooled by the Holy Spirit on multiple...
Focus:What I Know
My God-focus: God's Presence God's Sovereignty God's Goodness Gods Personal & Intimate Care for Me.... (And every other Child of His!) In other words: He is with me. He is able to meet any need. He will do it in the way that's BEST for all. He will be with me, working for me, abiding in me and accomplishing His will through me. Because He loves me. (CBB 7/2/22)
What If?……
"What if we are missing the point when it comes to salvation by grace through faith? What if it is vastly larger than a cosmic (albeit legal) transaction—way more than a mere pardon? What if it is about resurrection from the dead—even before you actually die—and the appropriation of eternal life even before eternity begins? After all, you saw the text. We are dealing with . . . the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. .....Could it be that we have focused so much on sin and salvation that we have lost the bigger story of salvation—of being swept up into...