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.
Memories of Trains
I spent most of my school years living just a block from a train track... We didn't have lot of trains running through our small Georgia town, but it is still memorable. There was an afternoon train I recall Snd the engineer would through wrapped small candies out to kids who might be standing close by watching it pass. Our daughter and her husband built a home alongside a much busier track in Birmingham, AL many years later. The trains on the trestle next door seemed to run through Birmingham all night long. Some were Amtrak passenger trains. Others were cargo. It was disconcerting the...
Asking to Listen With A Heart Like His
Listening. It is a special gift that the Holy Spirit gives when one asks God to let you serve his people with a heart like his. . It is not always done with the ears. It is done with the heart. One can hear things with the heart.... and the eyes.... that the ears will miss. It takes a little more effort and time and leaning in to a life. It can be exhausting. And sometimes you have to walk away and ask God, "Did I hear that right?" But when God nods and you know that you have heard a whispered secret that needs to be given voice, you may need to call everyone to attention, tell them to be...
Redemption’s Blessings
Joni Eareckson in 2017 observed the following about her devastating accident that had left her paralyzed for 50 years: "God allows all sorts of things he doesn’t approve of. God hated the torture, injustice, and treason that led to the crucifixion. Yet he permitted it so that the world’s worst murder could become the world’s only salvation." Charles Stanley in his book "Facing Adversity", talked about Paul's 'thorn in the flesh' that kept Paul humble. He added that it additionally may have kept Paul from burning himself out! How likely is it Paul would have taken the time he did in places...
What To Do With Shame
Feeling shame, in and of itself, is not bad. In fact, as Dr. Sally Satel notes in this brief excerpt from a longer interview, shame is a good indicator of an active conscience. What we do with our feelings of shame divides victims from overcomers. Victims allow their shame to morph into additional feelings of condemnation and try to hide it from themselves and others to avoid dealing with it. They run away from it or cover it up....oftentimes with substance abuse or other self-destructive behaviors. Overcomers acknowledge the behavior or beliefs that led to feelings of shame, take those...
Abuse of Girls and Women
The lie men tell little girls when they are grooming them and earning their trust and loyalty: "You didn't do anything wrong." And when an abusive controlling 'boyfriend" turns his "girlfriend" into his pimped out asset and tells her "It's just sex. You didn't do anything wrong. It doesn't have anything to do with my love for you" to make money off her.. And what Epstein told Maxwell as he had her prep young girls for happy hooker duties for his rich clients, "You did nothing wrong." You were just being dutiful and meeting the needs of your man, being a good little girl, doing what you're...
Anxiety As Innate Idolatry
“Boston pastor Adam Mabry’s book Stop Taking Sides reminded Christians to take elections seriously, but also “trust Jesus, receive peace, and refuse the anxiety that betrays an innate political idolatry.” I never thought about how “anxiety betrays an innate idolatry…. “That is a helpful insight and something to be aware of in the future. Anxiety, also expressed as “worry”, suggests that we are desiring an outcome that we fear we may not get. That does seem quite contrary to trusting God who is our all-sufficient “I Am.” We still may not get what we want or had hoped for, but our Loving...
Entrepreneurial Ministry
Last night a friend an I went to Niceville for an event in support of a new entrepreneurial women's transitional residence ministry. It has been in the planning for several years, arising out of one woman's passion, experience, and calling... We are pleased to cheer them on as they get housing for six women up and running. Congratulations Freedom House and Stephanie Wedel! From 7 years ago today in my journal: "Six years of employment as director of women's ministry for a rescue mission (to which I was appointed as a provisional deacon from 2012-2014) ended in April 2014 after a new...
See the Light. Be the Light.
I have written before about the phenomenon of observing light in a person. The first time I witnessed it was in 1995. It was in an individual with terminal cancer with whom I had prayed for months about issues of unforgiveness. I had been under a heavy burden of intercession on behalf of the person. I went to see her a few days before her death and I witnessed a soft translucent glow emanating from her and heard the Lord speak in my spirit," This is Christ." I knew the work of forgiveness I had been praying for was complete and that Christ was present to her with the full measure of...
Grace Flowing
Justification is a solitary covenant with God. He extends grace to us e RN when we are still in our sin. We repent and receive it by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Sanctification is a communal process of shared covenant to encourage and live out the "one another's" lived and taught by Christ. Justification occurs at a point in time, individually, with God, as Christ's new garment or mantle of imputed righteousness is placed upon us. Sanctification progresses over a course of time in Christ and in community with others. The problem is that in community we can get distracted by...
God Is Faithful and Trustworthy To Bring Good
"Flawed Families of the Bible".....a very interesting book that shows a variety of multi-generational dysfunctions, but with God's grace co-mingled so that ultimately, good results. An interesting lesson in "Flawed Families of the Bible" is the story of Leah...the firstborn of Laban, Leah- who was always second to her favored and beautiful sister, Rachel. But God saw her pain and in the end she had many progeny and outlasted Rachel, becoming the wife beside whom Jacob was buried, next to his own parents. Interestingly, we may suffer disregard in this life and feeling unloved, but God sees...