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.
Reading the Signs
The is a post from December 2021, when I recognized the changing marketplace for addiction recovery as a result of “Obamacare.” I knew then it was time to consider future changes coming to my ministry. Now, with those changes behind me, I find myself just as busy, just as aware of the need for my ministry and far more relaxed in the doing of it than under the stress of the prior pattern in full time residential care. Titus 2 Partnership, Inc. Envisions the Future. CBB 12/6/21 We have available to our county several insurance-paid local 30-day in-patient substance abuse programs, a 60 day...
Get to the Source
"If we cared more about the source of a person’s pain than their reaction to it, we might have a better chance at speaking truth to the lies, light to the darkness, and Christ to the evil." Copied from an observed Twitter post.
”Fear Not”
"Names of Jesus used by the demons: Son of God (Mt 8:29) Jesus of Nazareth (Mk 1:24) Holy One of God (Lk 4:34) Son of the Most High God (Lk 8:28) Even the demons recognize Jesus as incarnate—truly God, truly man."Posted @ Twitter by Dustin Benge Today a Titus 2 lady told me about a dream she'd had in which an angel spoke to her, "Fear not. Something foreboding is going to happen. Stay focused on trusting in Christ." We talked about her dream. Later she said to me, "You know how to tell a demonic spirit from an angel? A demon never says, "Fear not." Demons feed on fear. They want you to be...
Titus 2 Ministry Report November 2025
11/2,11/5 Transportation provided for disabled woman to visit family out of state following personal emergency 11/12 Completed Meals on Wheels monthly route 11/6 Referral of a young mother from jail to long term recovery program 11/1 $500 Financial grant for emergency food assistance to PC Rescue Mission to prepare daily meal bags during government shutdown 11/10 Donation of 6 winter coats, 8 blankets, 6 pillows, 6 long sleeve t-shirts, 4 undershirts, 8 pr socks and 6 cases of bottled water delivered to emergency services for freeze warming shelter Teaching sessions at 3 programs in Bay...
Naomi Returning
I'm here, in Panama City Beach, Florida, finding my way as I come to a place where "family" may be found again, having returned from the far country of exile that was Hurricane Michael and COVID-19, where my husband died, like a modern day Naomi. I am in the care of Ruths who do not leave, but come alongside because we share the same grief. I look for familiar faces from an earlier once-and now-again place, from before the famine(s) that scattered so many. But so much has changed. I feel dis-placed. I push away the bitterness that some feel in this circumstance because I know God is with me....
Looking for an Elf on a Shelf or a Babe for a Manger?
Speaking of crèches and Christmas traditions, one person told me that instead of “Elf On A Shelf” her family would hide the Jesus figure from their creche’ daily until Christmas morning when He would be found in the manger on the mantel! What a great Christian interpretation of the family tradition of EOAS! This is the 20th anniversary of the Elf. Let’s some of us Christians interpret the tradition through the lens of our faith!”
Kingdom Work
I watched a video recap of the 2025 Summit by CCPL (Center for Christianity and Public Life) where our middle granddaughter is now employed, having transitioned from 9 years of working as a reporter and editor with several news organizations in D.C. covering the U.S. Congress. In the video one statement stood out to me: “Our ethics are not only to be effective, but also to be affective, to be relational.” This resonates with me. As a type A ‘doer,’ I can often get so focused on the goal, the destination, the outcome, that I overlook the miraculous daily ways of God working...
Curing Loneliness
Ten years ago I was posting about loneliness at holiday season and organizing “Neighbors’ Cookie Swap event in Lynn Haven. It seems to be a perpetual and pervasive experience in our culture today. A mere five years later I was widowed. The next year our daughter published a book on loneliness, “The Great Belonging.” She just celebrated its 5th anniversary of publication….. “The dis-ease that plagues contemporary society is isolation….feeling disconnected from one's own heart and that of others. People live next door to one another and may never even know one another's names. Many families...
Beatitude Themes Like Scattered Diamonds
God spoke words of comfort and hope to me over 20 years ago through the Beatitudes of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. In them He revealed a rich and beautiful path for moving from my brokenness ("poverty of spirit" Matt. 5:3) and reliance on things of the flesh to the joy of an abundant state of experiencing and loving life in the Spirit (comforted, meek, righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, at peace in peacemaking, persevering, and obtaining the "great reward" that is received through steadfast obedience that reflects that of the prophets…. willing and able to be used by God to bring a...
Grannies and Quilts
When I was a teenager, my paternal grandmother crafted a quilt for each of her grandchildren, with the help of her sister, Aunt Omi. She hung a large quilting frame from the ceiling in her cozy den area adjacent to her spacious kitchen. I fondly remember seeing them sitting around the quilting frame, laughing, chatting, listening to music, and passing the hours in warm camaraderie. Some quilts were delicate pastel feminine Sunbonnet Doll patterns, butterflies, or intricate geometrics. As I recall, all of them were made of soft cotton fabrics except the one I received, which is a vibrant...