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.
Titus 2 Ministry Continuing to Grow
The photo at the top of this post was sent to me by a friend several years ago. I've seen a lot of what people called their own "rock bottom", but I had never seen one quite like this! This week we celebrate our 4th anniversary of Titus 2's ministry to women. A friend wrote on a personal FB post that Titus 2 is changing lives. Titus 2 Partnership, Inc. is also going to be changing its ministry outreach. We have sought to be proactive in helping to educate the community, to cooperate with various agencies to work for improved recovery outcomes, to make recovery support accessible to...
Hey, SJW, how’d that social action work out for you?
Thirteen years ago I engaged in some correspondence with a well-known social justice warrior (SJW) theologian/preacher. He did not like my read on what brings a person to salvation and a real relationship with Christ.....conviction, repentance, confession, belief in Jesus. Sadly, it has been borne out that his approach did not work with some key individuals in his own life who have forsaken the Christian faith to set up a SJW "church" that excludes Jesus altogether, denies the existence of heaven, and simply tries to love people in lieu of directing them to salvation.. Banking on "good...
And When I Die
Under the foggy haze of pain medication during my second child's delivery a problem in delivery gave me the impression that I was dying....I was not alarmed. I thought to myself simply, "This is what it feels like to die......" and prepared to surrender myself to death. It was not what it seemed and I later marveled at how easy it was to surrender without fear to the notion of death. I guess thinking of Barbara Bush's death has reminded me of that time....and this dream about which I wrote Awake from Dying…… by Cathy Boyd Byrd | posted at www.disciplerofself.com Jan 12, 2016 “There are times...
Grandfather God?
I shared this with a believer who expressed fawning adoration of several of her spiritual role models. "God has no grandchildren." There is no such thing as being "grandfathered" in to the Kingdom of God. Each person is adopted as a child and is a co-heir with Christ. So be sure you are connected by first-degree relationship to the Triune God......Not through clinging to the coat tail or pedestal or hanging on every word of a pastor, teacher, friend, family member, mentor, or televangelist whom you have made your spiritual parent, trusting that their knowledge of and relationship to God and...
Christian “Yoga”
Yoga: THINK Young Over Growing Aged You know, for years I resisted anything having to do with Yoga, associating it as I have with Eastern meditation techniques and Buddhist or New Age religion, which it has been and which can take one into a dangerous spiritual realm for those who are not well grounded and don't know how to guard their hearts and minds. But God, after all, created the human body and moving the human body in any configuration of positions and moves that increases flexibility, agility, strength, mobility, and balance is useful, especially as we age. A Christian who is...
Let’s Start At The Very Beginning
There are days when I begin discipleship work with someone new that we sit for three hours or longer….I have a prescribed list of topics that are necessary to cover in our first private session. Defining expectations, stating disclaimers, making the priorities and goals clear, introducing new terms, making assignments, and assuring mutual understanding right at the very start. Invariably, we wander off task into places that this new would-be disciple needs to go. She doesn’t feel safe. She’s not sure. She is afraid. Not of me, but of the process…..and sometimes of God. (Well, maybe sometimes...
Civil War In The Church…….Really?
Civil War In the Church…..Really? Jesus was a Jewish rabbi. What was his entire ministry but a civil war against the way the Jewish faith had been corrupted, had rebelled against God, its leadership having become a colluding partner with the culture of its day? What was it but civil war when Martin Luther opposed the corruption in the Roman Catholic Church, the selling of indulgences and the collusion with political entities of his day? When great revivals rise up what are they but civil unrest in opposition to systems that have become complacent and blind to their faults? I am not surprised...
Figures Lie, Liars Figure #boycottstupidmemes
Someone posted what seemed like a harmless math “IQ test” meme on Facebook: Several people quickly responded that it was a simple test and easy to discern. One gentleman, Richard P. Harris, who is apparently at least a math enthusiast if not a math instructor, wrote this: “ I dislike these things. Math is simple: 8+2=10 Any other answer is not correct. The proper way to state the above meme is f(8,2)=16106 etc... Yes, I am a purist but with the way kids are (not) taught proper math, this could be confusing to them.” I, too, posted in response to this meme: Cathy Boyd...
Choose Your Companions Wisely
"The people we surround ourselves with either raise or lower our standards. They either help us to become the best version of ourselves or encourage us to become lesser versions of ourselves. We become like our friends. No man becomes great on his own. No woman become great on her own. The people around them help to make them great. We all need people in our lives who raise our standards, remind us of our essential purpose, and challenge us to become the best version of ourselves. " Author unknown
Deacon Ordination Completed
Signed, Sealed, Delivered....for the benefit of Titus 2 Partnership, Inc.'s ministry to women, those in the community whom I serve, and my local church family. Although it was not by the means I had expected when I started the process 10 years ago, it is no less valuable, is recognized by the State of Florida, and is a statement of my faithfulness to complete what I know God called me to accomplish on behalf of those I serve! I could have saved myself a lot of time and aggravation the last 4 years if I had not been blinded by denominational loyalty! I know that God allowed me to go through...