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.
Letters to Jesus While Undertaking a Reading of Luke
Letters to Jesus While Undertaking a Reading Luke- July 29, 2019l Chapter 1 Dear Jesus: Several years before I discovered the difference between affirming faith in you as savior of humankind for the evil of the world and surrendering to Jesus Christ as master of my soul and personal savior for my own personal sinfulness, I engaged in behavior that I would have never considered that a “good little Christian girl” who grew up in the church”, as I had, would do. When I came to my senses, I clearly recall thinking, “I should be dead. Either there is not a god or God is not like what I thought...
Casting Pearls Before Swine or Casting Bread Upon the Waters…….
Casting pearls before swine or casting bread upon the waters...... some days I truly wonder which one I am about. Matthew 7:6: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." These words of Jesus are recorded by Matthew, whose Gospel is written primarily for the benefit of Jewish hearers. It fits in with other verses in which Jesus cautions against judging others. The immediate preceding verse cautions one to take the log out of his own eye, then he’ll be able to see clearly to remove...
Elijah and Moses…. Hard Lessons Learned
The Most Significant Transformations Take Time And Experience……. Several things in my life have led me to a place where I believe I can finally understand how the prophet Elijah felt after defeating the prophets of Baal in a showdown proposal to the evil King Ahab in Samaria and why God disciplined Moses for striking the rock the second time the children needed water instead of simply speaking to the rock, as instructed……. I won’t give specifics of my own circumstances, but I will say that God has used these two Scripture lessons to show me some potent lessons in my own life. First, the...
Professionals and Craftsmen- Two Necessary Parties To Winning the Battle- Wisdom of Exodus 17
Numbers 22:26 “Then the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a NARROW PLACE where there was NO WAY TO TURN TO THE LEFT OR THE RIGHT." Is this a prophetic glimpse of Jesus standing/walking in THE WAY that would set the direction and path of us? Psalms 91: 11 “For He will give His angels orders concerning you, To protect you in all your ways.” Is this evidence that we have spiritual beings who are assisting us to find and walk in THE WAY Mattew 6:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter...
Love and One’s Progress Toward Christian Perfection
Thinking About One’s Progress Toward Christian Perfection……… 6/9/21 CBB As part of a discussion of the Wesleyan doctrine of Christian perfection, we have been tossing around individual perspectives on what it looks like to pursue sanctification and arrive at Christian Perfection. One participant in the discussion observed: “We are sanctified and are moving to perfection when there is no point beyond which we allow the Holy Spirit to change us into the image of Jesus. As a mathematician I sometimes imagine where I might be on the number line of my sanctification process - our...
Christian Perfection: Getting A Grip On It
It is difficult to teach something that one does not feel she has a good grip on in her own thinking about it. I have generally been taught and have understood “justification” as occurring at a moment in time, an event, defined by the decision to trust in Jesus Christ. From that moment on, the Lord extends to us the same son of God adoption as heirs of the Kingdom with Christ. We ARE saved. Sanctification, as I have understood it, is a more time-related process that begins at the moment of justification and continues as we are being, as 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says,...
Motivating For The Narrow Way: Carrots and Sticks
Matthew 12: 43 “Now when the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept clean, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.” One may push negative influences out of her life (the Purgative Way)...
It Is What It Is, But Maybe Something Needs To Change
"Comprehension involves our ability to find patterns, consistency, and significance in the events and experiences of our lives." Mike Steger To have the ability to comprehend the patterns evidenced in one's life, to observe and embrace the fact that there is consistency in the ways in which we think, make decisions, and behave (and be willing to change the way we think, decide and behave when we can see that our patterns have been unhelpful), and to see the significance of events and experiences of our lives requires that one be well grounded in reality. "Wishful thinking" or...
A Friend Asked, “How Do You Account for Results?”
An individual asked in response to our spring announcement of two women launching into fully recovered lives: What do you feel are the experiences, new learning and resources that Titus 2 provides that resulted in an environment in which these women overcame their addiction and took advantage of your assistance to greater self sufficiency? Are there key characteristics to your recovery and restoration process? Our response: It’s not quick or easy, but it is pretty straight forward when the goal is firmly in mind and the means are in keeping with biblical principles and can be explained in...
Roses From Beloveds
From 5/16/20: I had posted this on FB and was reminded of it today in my news feed. A few months ago one of my former students was volunteering at Titus 2. She said she had something to tell me. She is a very devoted disciple of Christ and a careful Bible student. She said God had told her that I was “looking for my ‘John’….” Not as in a pimp john, but as in a biblical biographer John, a writer John. I laughed. The LAST thing I would desire is to be written about. I have strictly been forbidden by the Lord to publish. I have asked a certain friend who speaks and writes not to use...