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.
Lot Escaping Destruction
Reviewing a recap of reading from a couple of years ago.... Lot was being urged out of Sodom by the two "visitors" (Angels) ahead of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorah. But instead of going to the mountains as directed he asked for a close by town Zoar. The visitors acquiesced. From where he was he could see the rising smoke of the devastation and of course he'd already witnessed the sudden death of his wife as she looked back after being told not to do so. Pretty quickly though he and his daughters went on to the mountains where they'd been directed to go to in the beginning, out of fear...
Jesus and Journal Notes
Jesus Christ chose to come to us to show us the depth and steadfastness of God’s love AND the demands of his righteous justice, while taking upon himself the price required by that justice upon his own body. I am without words to express my own gratitude and love for so much love expressed to me by Jesus Christ, my Lord and God! 12/29/19 CBB Me: I journal and study to share myself with God and to share God with others. #journalonthejourney 1/5/22. CBB Seen “Voice is not just the result of a single sentence or paragraph or page. It’s not even the sum total of a whole story. It’s all your work...
Purposeful
Reflecting as another year begins.... It was a gradual process as God led me to His purpose for my life....to teach and open up the Word of God for others .... to challenge and invite them into a deeper contemplative life in Christ. It seems that many want short, quick, easy to understand mini-inspirations..... to be given life’s cliff notes. At Titus 2's ministry discipling women we can regularly have long discussions- 2 hours or more- covering principles in God’s Word and applying them to our lives. Institutional church and religious habit train us to expect 20 minute, 3 point devotional...
Worship
JD Walt pre-empted me today with the Wake Up Call from seedbed.com writing on a "word" for the year. I had been occupied with personal ministry, church, and family activities the last two weeks and had not been prodded to think of a "word for 2023", as I have in recent years past. Some of my previous years' words have been generosity, faith-full, know, gentleness, wisdom....mostly along the line of ways I felt deficient and needful. When that realization occurred to me yesterday morning, I thought, "I don't feel the least bit led to seek out a specific single focus word this year." And I...
Bucket List
I had written this as part of a Facebook post on Dec 31, 2015: "Three things I am looking forward to: 1. Being hugged by Jesus 2. Seeing my great grandchildren 3. Tomorrow morning" Since then God has given me 2557 tomorrows. Having been blessed to see Lewis, I am now humbled to believe that God may give me enough days to see another great-grandchild born. And I'm pretty sure that I've already been hugged by Jesus somewhere along the way, maybe even more than once..... Since that was all that was on my bucket list then, since God has seen fit already to give them to me, I think I'm just...
Rhythms of Life- Seasons
This article came to me over 10 years ago. I saved it at the time because its timing spoke to me.... From a publication called "Explorations", Liturgical Ministry 2003 Living by Seasons "I was enjoying an hour with a new friend last winter, watching flakes of snow flutter past the coffee shop window as he described the outline of his life: his career, his family, places he had lived. A native of Colorado, he had spent a number of years living in southern California but had returned to Denver a couple of years ago. I asked him why he had moved back – a work opportunity? He looked...
Does Any Desire Wisdom? Ask God.
I love how God gradually reveals things about oneself, little tidbits of information and insights gleaned here and there over years, then one day just hits you with it: "This is you!" This morning I was meditating on His Word. Suddenly in my mind's eye I saw Greek letters. Seeing Christ through the lens of Luke, probably one of the most educated among Christ's followers and a disciple under Paul at the time, a Hellenistic Jew from Turkey trained as a physician, this continuing-Christmas week morning God said, "This is you.". I knew immediately what He meant..... I spent years having tested...
“Forgetting Baby Jesus”
Forgetting Baby Jesus "The cast had taken off their costumes. The wise men’s crowns and capes and the shepherd’s cloaks were folded and placed back in the storage tubs along with Mary’s and Joseph’s garments for another year. The donkey and the cow and her calf were delivered back to the farm, and the sheep were turned lose in their pasture. The straw was removed from the make-shift shelter, leaving only the skeleton of timbers that made up the frame of a stable. Within minutes of the closure at the stable, everyone had gathered in the church, as the pews of the sanctuary were filling up...
Rough Days In Ministry
12/22/2012 Today was one of those days....the ecstasy of victory, the agony of defeat......(or something like that from an old television promotion for a sports program, I think). I had the privilege of watching the awkward but loving embraces of a family reunion, as ties between daughter and parents are being re-tied....tears by all, speechlessness, then so much to say after more than a decade of alienation. God working in giving second chances to father, mother, and daughter. And those of us who were on hand privileged to watch with a sense of awe and blessing. Earlier in the day Evelyn...
Bernie Shotts’ Love Story of Mary and Joseph
12/22/2013 Friday evening students, staff, and guests at Bethel Village were privileged to see a dramatic monologue by Proverbs 31 volunteer, Bernie Shotts (Hiland Park Baptist Church). Entitled "I Am Mary" we heard Mary tell her story and we gained a new perspective on the love story between Mary and Joseph. This tender monologue is something I will be hoping to reprise in another venue with Bernie soon!