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.
At Least Show Up
Posted August 14,2014.... Since moving to PC in 1994, I have experienced a number of disappointments with contractors, service people, and others who simply do not show up. There was, however, a cabinet maker who, on his truck, had the sign, "I SHOW UP!" It made me laugh. 90% of the results are accomplished just by showing up! Brene' Brown did a TED talk last year that started with this quote: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the...
Behold And Become
“Behold!” With each step of Jesus’ life and ministry described in scripture we are given revelations of the truth of who he is through the eyes of first one person after another - Mary and Joseph, shepherds and Magi, Simeon and Anna, John the Baptist, satan (in the wilderness), wedding guests in Cana, his disciples, those who were healed, the centurion, Nicodemus, the Syro-Phoenician woman, Saul the persecutor, and on and on and on. But when WE behold what manner of love He has given unto us and experience the transforming work of His Holy Spirit in our own lives, becoming holy as He is...
Character of God Experienced In Friendship
Today I spent a couple of impromptu hours on an otherwise unscheduled Saturday at the home of a close friend..... We laughed about neither of us having a prior commitment and being free, it being such an uncommon experience in our frequently over-scheduled lives. Having interrupted her in the middle of her own Saturday morning skincare routine, she gave me a luxury facial as Alexa played instrumental hymns on Spotify. And she taught me how to make cold brew coffee and how to froth milk.... all of it a very special treat! Our conversation came around to how the things we focus on become what...
Early Morning Worship Joy
One thing I have enjoyed in the years since our church began really growing and added a contemporary worship service back in about 2000, was our 8:00 am worship for those desiring a more traditional worship experience. Rev. Doug Pennington used to say that those of us who came for early worship at Lynn Haven UMC were the ones who liked to "get up and get it over with"! (He was only kidding..,,) This morning as I and another LHUMC worshiper greeted one another in the hallway before 8 a.m., we laughed together that we were either very excited worshippers who couldn't wait to get to church or...
Flawed Families: Judah and Tamar
Continuing a Sunday morning study series on "Flawed Families of the Bible", this week we looked at Judah and Tamar (Genesis 37-38). Judah is an interesting character study.....and the transformation wrought in his life by Tamar's move to force him to accept his responsibility to her, as widow of his eldest son, and the later evidence of his changed heart toward his family in his behavior in protecting Benjamin in Egypt, show that people can change......not always because they want to, but sometimes because another person believes that they can and acts in a way that demands that they do so,...
WYSIWYG*
Some people do not know how to take my directness. Others, even when they will not admit it to anyone else, tell me privately that they are grateful for the fact that I am as transparent as I am, that it helps them examine and clarify some of their own thoughts and values (even when they are different from mine), especially about matters related to spiritual formation and personal faith. Many people are so private with their faith and the struggles they encounter that they miss the opportunity to experience the Holy Spirit's work in interdependent community...sharing in one another's lives...
Reciprocal Blessings: Serve One Another
I have heard individuals say to another to simply accept another's blessing with the phrase, "Don't blow out someone's candle! Let them shine Christ's light." Here's another way to think about what we do when we don't allow others to serve us..... "When Jesus taught the disciples to wash one another’s feet (John 13:14) that meant that, at some point, everyone would have the experience of being the recipient of the other’s grace or foot washing. When Peter wanted to refuse Jesus’ gesture of grace, Jesus told him, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8). Did you know that...
When You’re Living In The Flow….
August 10, 2017 When I was about 7, it was my birthday, I believe. This would have been February 1961. Several friends were over. (I didn't get a record player until Christmas of that year.) We were on the back patio of our home listening to WBAM radio....Joe Rumore's program..... and dancing, I think. I reached to change the station and Joe Rumore's signature radio tag line blared out, "Unh, unh, unh...Don't you touch that dial!" I must have jumped 3X my height, backwards, toward the edge of the patio....It seemed to me as a 7 year old that Joe Rumore was "seeing" me through space to...
Christian Meditation Practices
As a faith-founded ministry that partners with other agencies, we have had others suggest meditation practices focusing on a variety of things, but we prefer to assist our students in focusing on scripture and "things above"...... the attributes and character of God, the love of Christ, the presence and Peace of the Holy Spirit. This article from the Biblical Counseling Coalition on August 8th is a good overview. Meditation Isn't Missing... It's Just Misdirected by Kim Kira "Biblical counseling is the demanding yet indispensable exercise of joint meditation on biblical truth. Meditation,...
Don’t Run. Don’t Quit.
One of the most difficult tasks of communication that we find necessary to work on at Titus 2 is handling conflict. The first principle is "Don't RUN!" . Others might argue that the first principle is "Don't get defensive." If one herself or others she is witnessing have been subjected to a pattern of criticism and dismissal of her voice/feelings in the past and feels attacked, either directly or passively aggressively, that's likely to be the first reaction. Helping her move from defensiveness to openness in communication and asserting herself appropriately is a challenge. The Bible says,...