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.
Faith-Informed Care for Life-Limiting Dysfunctions
We can do a much better job of dealing with substance abuse if we recognize it is not just a "medical problem, " as some say. It is also a mental health problem, a spiritual problem and for some it is a moral problem, a financial problem, and a relational problem. It will not be solved with a single approach. I have advocated for inclusion of spiritual education and faith-informed counseling for years.......but it simply doesn't seem to have traction with agencies and thought leaders, although individuals, especially if they themselves have a strong spiritually-directed life, will...
Spiritual Senses
I had a sweet conversation with someone who shared that she had realized that all these years she'd been reading the Bible in a literal sense only and missing some of its meaning and richness. She said she has begun to recognize that there is spiritual vision and spiritual hearing and spiritual understanding that goes above and beyond reading words at face value. With tears in her eyes she said, "I think I have begun to receive spiritual eyes and ears! And reading the Bible is becoming so much more personal." We talked about Paul's experience after his Damascus Rd. encounter. We talked about...
Simple Apology
Mother’s Day remembrances have a way of stirring tender and also sometimes painful memories in hearts. I recall a friend who years ago shared a story about a family member, a young girl, who was a lovely child and very sweet. She was also a child who, like myself, was sturdily built. She often endured bullying from other children. But more sad and unfortunate, was that she experienced some of the same from her own grandmother. The child’s grandmother was slim and attractive. Unfortunately, she often made references to the child’s weight, size, and her eating habits in front of and to the...
Teaching Talkers to Become Walkers
Virtually all of the women who come to us for residential recovery profess faith in Christ. Some have been baptized multiple times. They generally hope ( and some have assurance) that their profession of faith frees them from the penalty of eternity in hell. But somehow the victorious life of freedom from the power of temptation and sin in the here and now has eluded them. Our task is to help them come to know freedom from the power of temptation and sin by coming to know themselves better and to know Christ more intimately and personally through study of and obedience to the principles,...
“Only God is good.”
In counseling with a woman in relapse to drugs she said, “I’m a good person.” That is an attempt to excuse and justify her addiction. Every time I hear that statement the thought occurs, “Compared to whom?” The only standard of comparison for a believer is Christ. Just because you have no felonies, your family still speaks to you, you have avoided jail and have no severe medical consequences from your addiction does not constitute good. Jesus asked the rich young ruler who called him “good teacher”, “Why do you call me of ‘good’? Only God is good.” Jesus is in essence saying to him, for the...
Strangely Warmed Hearts
I have many times observed the dual nature of fire. Rightly controlled and contained to accomplish particular tasks, it is tremendous tool for humanity…….smelting iron ore, refining precious metals, cooking, heating a home, as well as in in the production of many products that make life comfortable, efficient and safe. When it is allowed outside of contained and controlled uses it can be a terrible, wide-spread destructive force. Refining Fire or Fire of Self Righteous Justification For several weeks God has been giving me little nudges and reminders to do a word study on “fire” and...
Smoldering Wicks to Flaming Fires
Pondering "fire"...... I was at a restaurant with a couple of Titus 2 ladies at lunch and a woman with her back to me at the next table had a tee-shirt that said, "Be what God created you to be and set the world on fire." It reminded me of a number of Scriptures....about the world ending in fire, about the fire of the Holy Spirit, about the Holy Spirit being poured out on God's sons and daughters in the end days, about so many others and a thought occurred to me. What if God's Word means that the earthly realm of the flesh is going to be ended by the wild fire of the Holy Spirit coming upon...
How Will One Be Defined?
Like the unamed “rich young ruler” in the Gospels, anything one is unwilling to surrender for the sake of following Christ becomes the source and basis of one’s identity…….. and is her true god. It may be a relationship, material security, vanity, sexuality, career, or any number of other things one withholds from God for her own pleasure or peace that defines one’s identity. If that is the case, one will never know the fullness of pleasure or peace one can know in intimate relationship with God. The young ruler who came to Jesus had his own idea of what constituted righteousness….....
Whose Gospel?
A person came for Christian counseling and substance abuse care who immediately began to tell me about all of the religious teachers under whom she had studied, most of whom I did not know. She told me how she had been “in ministry” for several years and what her office, gifts and calling were…..and yet, here she was, asking me to help her with some profound issues. Among my first directives to her was to read selected sections of the Bible. After several days it was clear she was not doing that. As I talked to her about Christian principles from Scripture she lacked knowledge of some...
God in the Day’s Details
Give me a sign of your goodness. Psalm 86:17 "Our lives are stories built of small moments. Ordinary experiences. It is too easy to forget that our days are adding up to something astonishing. We do not often stop to notice the signs and wonders. The writing on the wall. But some days we do." Christie Purifoy (Roots and Sky) I am grateful for another day in which to observe God's goodness as God reveals himself in the small moments of life. CBB 5/11/18