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.
We Be Hypocrites
A lot of people tell me they don't go to church because they don't want to feel like hypocrites. Well, why the heck not? Feeling the convicting work of the Spirit might make you quit doing some of the things that make you feel that way. We all do some of those things at times. Definition of hypocrite 1-a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion. 2-a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings. If we don't do some of those things on a fairly regularly regular basis or, if we say we don't, we are lying to ourselves and one another. Jesus called...
Authenticity Incited Criticism
"If we were able to put aside our need for approval long enough to be authentic, then, surely, we would be living as the church.(Sheila Walsh)" This is a nice sentiment and has a Christian ring to it. i really appreciate Sheila Walsh and have great regard for her, but I do not think this sentiment is necessarily on target. What I have observed is that in being "authentic" with some people, most notably among many within the church, is that one simply hands the pharisees within the church fodder with which to judge a person and reject them for things they don't understand or that they...
Who Do You See When Looking Up From The Bottom?
Dr. Henry Cloud... What happens when we hit bottom...... "When we hit bottom, when we realize that this really is true, we "lose it." We break. And we cry. This sadness is the letting go of what was an idealized, expected reality, a hoped-for dream. It is saying goodbye to what can never be. But it is the beginning of true healing as well. .......... The emotional investment in whatever was lost is being given up. The wish and desire are being "counted as loss," as Paul said. We are letting go of what cannot be. Reality and our heart, mind, and soul have all come together, and we cry. Tears...
Jesus, Christ, Messiah
From E.Stanley Jones' "In Christ." (With some insertion of my SELF-talk as I read!) ".....we must explore what we mean by “Christ.” I came near saying “we must define,” but to define is to confine, and when we are dealing with the Eternal God manifested in the flesh, which I conceive Him to be, we can only explore—our definitions are departure points, eternally open to eternal explanations. We begin with Jesus, not with Christ, for you cannot say Christ until you have first said Jesus—the Incarnate One. For JESUS PUTS HIS OWN CHARACTER CONTENT INTO CHRIST! (CBB: Jesus' own uniqueness, His...
Good, Good Father
On this Father's Day, I think about my own Father, and His Father who died before I was born, my Mother's Father and some other special men who from time to time God put in my life and used to further flesh out the image of a "Good Father"... like the Father of the Prodigal Son, who was loving, generous, equitable, patient in waiting, trusting in God's purpose, plan, and timing and not withholding from either of his children what each most needed, even if it wasn't always what they, through words or actions, desired or believed was their sense of their destiny. But he was also wise and...
God’s Plan For The Boat
I will NOT quit........ trusting that God has a plan. I will keep trying everything I can to keep the boat afloat in the storm ..... while we wait for that plan to become clear..... Including jettisoning the ballast, lowering the sails, breaking away the mast, cutting free the lifeboats, until filnally all we can do is cling to boards to survive. But God will still have a plan It just may not include the boat. That didn’t seem to bother Paul. I wonder how the captain felt. The old adage is that the captain always goes down with the ship. In some cases to lose the ship is a death sentence...
Poetry: Journey
Journey I was on a journey, in a hurry, Not really sure of the destination, Knowing only that it was somewhere Other than where I’d been. I met and passed many along the way. Finally, one Traveler came alongside. He paced Himself to my stride. He engaged me in conversation. He told interesting stories. He asked challenging questions. Soon I realized that He was leading the way, And there was joy in that realization. It was no longer about where I was going Or even about where I had been. It was about the Person with whom I walked. It was He who blazed the trail. It was He who set me on the...
Laughable Politics
June 17,2018 "The media is all up in arms over Trump's off-the-cuff impromptu interview statement Friday morning about the way Kim's people sit up and pay attention when he speaks and Trump saying he wants "his people" to do the same....It amuses me. They still don't get that Trump is a corporate executive type personality.....Did they never watch The Apprentice? Have they never been in a corporate executive conference room? A CEO type expects "his people", his reports, to sit up and pay attention when he speaks. His corporate style doesn't translate well to political life. But some...
Trusting Ultimate Divine Agency
..."God's words to Moses are — ‘I will take pity on whom I take pity and be merciful to whom I am merciful." God does not owe me any explanations. His actions are based on His complete knowledge of individuals' hearts, experiences, reasoning, etc. I do not have the insight and discernment about people to judge God's disposition toward another. But I DO know God's goodness, mercy, lovingkindness, gentleness, and justice toward me and because of that, I do not question His choice to do as He wills in any individual's circumstance. I may not understand. In fact, I often won't. But I know He is...
Math Life
In high school I won an award one year for the highest grades in Algebra. Later some testing done while being considered for a promotion stated I had set a new record of achievement in the company's testing for abstract thinking and mathematics. All I can say is they couldn't have been reaching very high if I was able to set a new standard of achievement. I am a "tinkerpreneur" in the mold of my Daddy and as Thomas Edison is said to have quipped as he tested thousands of different metal filament mixes that each failure simply took him closer to the one that would work. My theory has...