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.
How Much God Does One Want?
We enjoy about as much of the Lord as we are willing to receive. “Discipleship requires staying power. We sign up for the duration. We do not graduate until heaven.” R.C. Sproul
God: “Tell Others”
Me: ( Mar 20,1997, exclaiming in early morning praise) “Surely, Lord, you have created the beauty of this world for your glory and my delight!” The Lord: (in a rather stunning, but gentle reply) “Tell others.” Me: “What am I to tell? To whom? How? Where? When?” The Lord: (silence) Me: (Three months later,again). “I am yours, Lord. What do you want me to do? Just show me what it is.” The Lord: “Just get up each day and do the things before you. I will bring them to you.” Me: (Today.) “Here I am, Lord, just doing that which is before me this day. Use me as you will.” Me: (To others). “Consider...
The Spirit of Jesus or The Love of Jesus
(8/21/22) A well known pastor has been known by many for his use of a phrase: “The Spirit of Jesus in me greets the Spirit of Jesus in you and brings us together in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.” This week I was listening to one of the podcasts he hosts and he used a different opening, "The love of Jesus in me greets the love of Jesus in you....." The change up was obvious and I wondered why. I am curious....... wondering if "Spirit of Jesus" is offensive to some? One person who knows this individual said, “No. He’s just getting to the age where he mixes and...
Vulnerability and Public Emotional Ambush
I had read my morning seedbed.com Daily Text Devo.... a reader's personal testimony about God's wonderful grace in reconciling a broken relationship with a daughter. It made me grateful that my own daughter, Charlotte, and I finally seem to have some peace after nearly two decades of contentions due mostly to lack of understanding one another. After that I was reading some news and opinions and an article about the way a group is transforming Georgia with nearly 100,000 new naturalized immigrants registering to vote. It just made me shake my head and pray for the Lord to give me peace...
Even A Cup Of Cold Water
It was of poverty of spirit that the Lord spoke to my heart in the midst of pain, hurt, and disappointment on a drive following what was to have been a joyful retreat with friends on a cruise ship in 2003 as I cried and prayed asking why such circumstances kept happening in my life. In the next few days the Spirit unfolded the map of the pilgrim path Jesus had laid out in the Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount. I recognized that state of being in myself the second God spoke the Word. The revelation of the Beatitude path in my own life has proven to be a worthy guide over the last two...
Spiritual Leprosy
from Joni Eareckson Tada: "Spiritual leprosy: It is when your soul becomes hardened by sin's deceitfulness. It is when you spiritually lose all sensation of pain, especially things that pain God. It's where you become actually dull and deadened to sin--when your sensitivity to wrongdoing becomes so numb that you end up ripping your soul apart and don't even realize it. You sin--even blatantly sin--and you don't feel it. White becomes black, black becomes white (or at least gray), and you end up thinking that what others call rebellion in your life isn't really all that bad. Leprosy is...
Identity and Image
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” AW Tozer We are made in God's image and God's intention is that we would more and more be being molded into the perfect likeness of his Son, Jesus Christ. What we think of when God comes to mind, the image we have ot God, the attributes we know of God, the identity in Christ that is the work of the Holy Spirit within us is indeed the most important thing about us. If we are not being conformed to God's likeness, desiring it, cooperating with the Spirit in that work, aware of God's intention, purpose and...
Re-Vision
Beth Moore shared a pattern that she has observed regarding “vision” and the loss of one’s vision. It has 4 stages: - Initial Vision- When we first see and grasp a sense of God’s purpose and plan. The vision fills us with joy and excitement. - Unwanted Vision- As it progresses, we begin to see things that we don’t expect to see and don’t want to see in ourself or in others. We see darkness. It is a time of disillusion and disappointment. It can also be very disorienting and confusing. It tests our faith and is an opportunity to discover more of the truth of who God is and how he works. It...
As Jesus Would….
"Sin remains sin, no matter how emotive or empathetic we might be towards the sinner. It does not matter if the sinner is ourselves, our nearest and dearest, friends, or strangers. All sin is worthy of death, and that must be our response to it. We have no right to be judgmental, however, which causes us to react badly to sin, or to apply our own human standards to the sinner. …..We must respond – with biblical standards, not our own. That is, we look at sin as God looks at it, and we apply the necessary discipline, as He requires. Discipline is NOT what so many think it is – punishment!...
Patterns In Christian Life
I awaken early each day. The first thing I do is listen to SDT. Then I reflect on the text and pray. I have been so filled with the Word through the reflected and refracted glory of God in this Elijah story through the eyes and voice of JD Walt, some morning I find myself needing to close my eyes and sleep again to allow it to settle in my spirit and nourish me to see what further glory of God I might glean from it....... We lack the vision that comes from hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of Christ; we fail to show mercy as we have received mercy; and we cling to the...