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.
“Then Jesus said, ‘You feed Them'”
"Gratefulness is more than a feeling that comes over us when good things happen. It's an active search to notice and be present to the goodness already around us — gaining eyes to see and ears to hear the abundance God has woven into the world." ( Dan White, Jr.) JD asked, "How about it? Gratitude as the seeds of the fruit of the Spirit? What do you make of that? How are you expressing your gratitude today? Are you seeing the endless loop of flourishing from generosity to gratitude to generosity to gratitude to generosity to . . . ? The goodness and generosity of God's Love is the seed He...
Then In Fellowship Sweet
Each morning I stir awake, check the time projected in red digital numerals on my ceiling from the bedside clock, remind myself of what day it is, then reach for my phone to open the seedbed.com daily Wake Up Call devotional. Before Bill died our morning routine was to watch the morning message from David Jeremiah. But the Wake-Up Call has replaced that morning routine, especially now given my awareness of David Jeremiah's theology of end times, with which I am less and less inclined to agree. I had written before about how many mornings after Bill's death I found myself waking at 4:22. As...
Honesty and Healing
This is one of the primary principles of healing....Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed....as the Apostle James advises.... Honesty Outweighs Perfection - by Joyce Meyer We can care too much about what people think of us to the point where it totally immobilizes us and we are petrified about looking wrong. But do you know what? I think if we are more truthful, we will actually get more respect than we do by trying to hide everything, pretending we're perfect. I believe one of the main reasons people like to listen to me is that I tell all my junk....
Rear View Mirror: On Medications
From 11/21/2014 Allow me to editorialize about the reported new policy of a local recovery program of not allowing even commonly prescribed SSRIs for depression to be used by their clients in recovery.....This is, in my opinion, unfortunate and unnecessary and will lead to more people being unable to access needed recovery help. Is this a move to improve "success rates" to one's reported goal of 80% in order to secure more corporate and community financial support or is it a religious dogma that denies the power of God to use medical science as one of many means of grace and healing? What is...
Worship Anywhere, Anytime
Moments of worship can occur anywhere, anytime! one afternoon at a cookie swap, a young lady was sharing with me about a holy moment she shared with the Lord as she was getting dressed just that morning. We never know when Christ will choose to speak to our hearts and embrace us with his love. If we abide in him, however, we can experience his presence in all kinds of circumstances. Her gratitude and delight in the Lord, I'm sure, make Christ want to bless her with the gift of his special presence regularly! (11/21/2015)
No Longer At Risk
Reflection from this date in 2015... "I am tired tonight, but it is a good tired....The day was fun and productive. Students are happy and safe. One young lady who has been with us a week told me tonight as she and I went to get her some groceries that this is the first time in years she has felt "safe"....not waiting for someone to pick a fight or throw her out of the house, having tasteful food of her own choice, having clothing provided to her by the Christian Church of PC's Thrift Store, etc. When one feels secure physically, it is a lot easier to relax and begin listening to God's voice...
Christ In Us
In a recent gathering in which a group of women considered a Scripture reading, we were asked to listen for the Lord bringing a particular word to our attention. For me, in the passage from Ephesians 3, what struck me was knowing "Christ is in you"..... Just before we began listening to the Scripture reading, I had prayed that I might see Christ in each of my sisters that day. It struck me that God indeed does know each one of us....we can generally only know one another superficially. However, when we look for the Christ in one another, there is a deeper, more authentic relationship...
Not Deterred In Obedience To Call
From Nov 21,2017....... For those who have followed my ministry in Bay County over the last 10 years and longer, I am continuing my pursuit of deacon ordination through a non-UMC route. I am studying under an Ordained Deacon Ministry program by Christian Leadership Institute. The work I have completed over the last 9 years through the UMC has been reviewed and accepted by CLI. The goal of CLI is to train revival leaders for local ministries across the globe. CLI has a unique approach to educating ministry leaders of all kinds and a philosophy which is very much in keeping with my own...
Raising Children In Faith
"Don’t feel sorry for or fear for your kids because the world they are going to grow up in is not what it used to be. God created them and called them for the exact moment in time that they’re in. Their life wasn’t a coincidence or an accident. Raise them up to know the power they walk in as children of God. Train them up in the authority of His Word. Teach them to walk in faith knowing that God is in control. Empower them to know they can change the world. Don’t teach them to be fearful and disheartened by the state of the world but hopeful that they can do something about it. Every person...
Isaac Principle
The ISAAC PRINCIPLE revisited: Several years ago I read Carol Kent's book, "When I Lay My Isaac Down." From that and other things God was using in my life at the moment, I discovered what I have come to call The Isaac Principle: It is in the surrendering of something that we love (even cherish and desire and hold fast in our hearts as a promise from God) entirely to God that we discover the true condition of our hearts.....If we cannot surrender it entirely to Him, it may, in fact, ...be an idolatrous obstacle between God and us. I have realized, too, as Abraham did, that just because God...