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.
Gift of Grace: God In Our Souls, Christ In Our Flesh
Manning says this considerably more eloquently than I can; "The gospel of grace nullifies our adulation of televangelists, charismatic superstars, and local church heroes. It obliterates the two-class citizenship theory operative in many American churches. For grace proclaims the awesome truth that all is gift. All that is good is ours not by right but by the sheer bounty of a gracious God. While there is much we may have earned--our degree and our salary, our home and garden...and a good night's sleep--all this is possible only because we have been given so much: life itself, eyes to see...
He Anoints My Head With Oil
Shared by Melissa George on Facebook 10/17/2020... "I have to admit, I always wondered what this part of Psalm 23 meant. I thought “He anoints my head with oil” was figurative language for God keeping the Psalmist healthy. I never knew this parallel. Anoint my head with oil “Sheep can get their head caught in briers and die trying to get untangled. There are horrid little flies that like to torment sheep by laying eggs in their nostrils which turn into worms and drive the sheep to beat their head against a rock, sometimes to death. Their ears and eyes are also susceptible to tormenting...
Moving Beyond Depression
I have facilitated groups or journeyed alongside women with depression since 1998. One of the things I counsel women in depression who come to me is "find a reason to get up every morning" even if you feel like a sleep walker or a zombie. Keep moving! Surely around you there is someone, something, some purpose that compels you to live. We are beings who are created to know, love, worship, serve, and fellowship with God and with one another. When one's attention is entirely on herself and her pain, when she isolates from life, she is living so outside her purpose, it is no wonder she can see...
Questionable Value of Social Media
From PJ Media's Stephen Green 11/13/2021, long before Twitter caught Elon Musk's attention.... PJ Media's... "website has been locked out of Twitter for three weeks, and guess what they’ve discovered: it’s made no difference whatsoever in their web traffic. The few real people who are actually on Twitter aren’t using it to read news, they’re just using it to snark at each other. As Green says, quoting Shakespeare (another white male who’s probably banned from Twitter), Twitter is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” LOL! Who knew? I think a lot of folks are...
Sean Dietrich “Gets” It
Sean Dietrich's column on 11/13/2021 rang true for me and many others, I'm sure! I have felt what he describes. I believe it's true and I smile at the strangest little things that come to mind about Bill and our life together ..... he's still very much a part of my life..... in the same way that Jesus is always present with me, too. Always. "Hi. This is your late loved one speaking. I don’t have long, so listen up because I have a lot I want to tell you. First off, I get it. Ever since I left this world you have missed me, and I know you’re bracing for the holidays without me. No...
Evangelism + Discipleship –> Kingdom Building
I read a post about the UMC's apparent loss of enthusiasm for evangelism evidenced by how many churches have had no professions of faith in any recent year and voicing the hope that new expressions of Methodism would renew the practice of evangelism and bring many to Christ. The writer compared the UMC unfavorably to those Baptist churches that year after year report numerous baptisms. In my experience, my 10 year old heart was touched by the message of God's love and grace and, like the cripple by the pool at the Temple, I longed for someone to place me in the storied healing of the pool's...
Love Yourself, Love Others
In His response to the Pharisees question about the Great Commandment, who were attempting to trap him, Jesus challenged the object of their love..... If, after wholehearted love for God, was their love then for themselves alone, or for others, as well, beyond themselves and their own? A Pharisee asked him in return, rather revealingly, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded with the story of the Good Samaritan, then asked them "who was a neighbor to the man... the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan?"They answered, "the one who helped the beaten man." It didn't reflect very well on the...
Prayer Priority
"The priority of Jesus was not ministry to men...." Myles Munroe, in speaking of Jesus' robust prayer life. His read on the story of the apostles attempting to cast out demons is very interesting. Why couldn't they do it? Not by shouting, not by using the name of Jesus, not by gyrations and ritual...but by prayer.....the apostles' prayer with God for their OWN strength, their own equipping, their own purity. Jesus prayed for hours in the morning with God, then spent a mere moment saying, "be healed".... The power of humanity, the power of ministry lies in prayer. IF we spent time connected...
Just Another Day’s News
I heard a political commentator talking about this week's mid-term election results that continue to show just how intractably divided our populace is... Both the House and Senate are razor thin margins, neither party having a clear-cut mandate. She said, " With the results of this election it appears we will have even less governing and more politicking for the next two years." Oh, joy....... "Seems to me we should aspire to be post-resurrection Peters regarding faith in Christ but Doubting Thomases regarding faith in man’s institutions—which means poking fingers in the sides of both...
Who Will Be Friend To The Friendless?
A much younger friend wrote this about 6-7 years ago ....I ached to think of her loneliness. I had felt this loneliness for many years when i was a young adult. Then, in my early middle years, I realized God was sending several people for whom I was to BE that person. The problem was I didn’t WANT to be that person for them! I had to learn to be a friend to the friendless before I could have that kind of friend myself.