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.
“JOY”
Joy does not arrive with a fanfare,on a red carpet strewn with the flowers of a perfect life. Joy sneaks in, as you pour a cup of coffee,watching the sun hit your favourite tree, just right. And you usher joy away,because you are not ready for it.Your house is not as it must be,for such a distinguished guest. But joy cares nothing for your messy home,or your bank-balance,or your waistline, you see. Joy is supposed to slither through the cracks of your imperfect life,that’s how joy works. You cannot invite her, you can only be ready when she appears. And hug her with meaning, because in this...
Laptime
This is a photo from today’s date, Sept 5, two years ago in 2022 of our great grandson being read to by his father. My granddaughter sent it out on our family text group back then. She said Lewis (15 months old at that time) loves to have the same book read to him over and over. He and "Daddy", Evan, were on their eighth reading of this particular book in this reading time session. This is a little heart and mind eager to learn and making multiple neural connections through multiple sensory engagements, repetition, focused attention, and a shared experience of comfort and joy. How like that...
Kitty Years
I saw this post today on social media “Memories”…. (From 8/31/2012 CBB) “We have a little one-eyed kitty we adopted in January of this year named Minnie. She got an injury to the cornea of her good eye and has been at the veterinarian now for a week in an attempt to preserve her sight. She is a sweet little girl and we hope that Dr. Bo's efforts are successful. Is it okay to pray for healing for a kitty? I think so. She's part of our family. I have a friend who had a blind cat for four years and she has encouraged me and told me that, even if Minnie loses her remaining eye, we can help her...
A Glance Back…
(8/31/2017 CBB) Two headlines today: "Obama says sex education for kindergarteners is 'right thing to do' " and "Two women gang-raped by 10-12 juveniles". This is what happens when a society cultivates an appetite by sexualizing our children and youth when they still lack the psychological development (that comes much later) and moral mooring and ethical understanding to use it in appropriate ways. Our culture that promotes and endorses the sexualization of children and sets them and others up for being objects of sexual violence and dehumanizing sexual objectification is nothing but pure...
The Necessity of Forgiveness
(8/31/18. CBB) I serve a useful purpose in life…..I give lots of people the opportunity to explore and practice forgiveness! A friend shared this bit of wisdom she had seen: ”Just saw this quote on my friend’s page…..”“Fellowship with God and being useful to Him does not depend on our never making mistakes, but on our constantly being renewed by His forgiveness.” AMEN! "It's complicated……" It's amazing how much research has been done around the issue of forgiveness. How do you define it? When is it important? Is it necessary for one's sense of wellbeing? Is one justified in withholding...
Axing Anxiety
(8/31/19) Yesterday I had a sudden, bona fide all-out, in-my-face panic response to an emotional trigger. I logically knew what was happening to me physiologically and emotionally and could not stop it. I’ve watched enough people in panic and waited it out with them to know its course. I simply had to surrender to the autonomic response and ride it out—- the tachycardia, the hyperventilating, the emotionalism that comes from a flood of hormones released from a sudden sense of some sort of danger. A PTSD type reaction to being ambushed by something totally unexpected. How quickly some things...
A Penny’s Worth of Honesty
“Honesty is such a candidly refreshing thing…. and stands out like a beautiful flowering tree when observed in someone whose otherwise anonymous posture is not forced to tender it. A mere penny's worth of honesty is so much more valuable than a bank account full of deceit.” I got a glimpse of this "penny" wisdom in an unexpected place this morning, felt the light and warmth of it through the cell phone, and clutched it in my hand as a treasure. As God would have it, I had found a bright shiny penny at my feet not long before the phone conversation above took place….. I don’t go around with...
Love As I Have Loved
In Matthew 22:27 Jesus gives a concise summary of the Old Testament Law and Prophets in response to the cagey goading of the Pharisees: 34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’40 All the Law and the Prophets hang...
Determined Even Then
(CBB 8/31/22) Does anything say, "Go ahead, underestimate me….let's see what happens"….. than the slight forward lean of the torso and head, set of the jaw, scrutinizing look of the eyes, Mona Lisa-esque non-committal mouth, and crossed arms of this 10 year old?? LOL. I never noticed how determined …. or vaguely defiant…. I seem to be. I suspect this is my resting look, even now. No wonder so many view me as a daunting "extra grace required" personality!! I'm not even sure what I'm thinking there…..maybe,"Let's get this over with… I have other things waiting at grandmas house… like playing...
August 27, 2024. 4:44a.m.
My eyes opened as my waking consciousness stirred from slumber. I looked toward the ceiling at the red projection of the time from the bedside clock. My Mother had given it to Bill and me as a Christmas gift at some point in the last ten or so years. ”4:44”- an auspicious moment. The peace in my spirit was confirmed. “This is the way forward. Walk in it.” the last three and a half weeks had been a blur. Circumstances were set in place after a definitive moment . Then a blur of rapid fire decisions were presented to me. Each one of them setting in place the next one. I hardly had to think. It...