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.
Cherish Is A Word
Recently I changed the description of myself on my Facebook page from a group of noun descriptors (Christian. Wife. Mother. Grandmother. Daughter. Friend. Counselor. Teacher) to "Just plain 'ol Cathy"......this is a phrase I got to repeat many times as I was growing up and moving out into the world and that still gets employed from time to time. When I've met someone new they'd often say, "Cathy. Is that short for Catherine or Cathleen?" "No,“ I'd reply. "It's just plain 'ol 'Cathy'." I like being just plain 'ol Cathy. It's a good thing, too. I knew a woman who grew up with a "plain 'ol"...
Sharing Family Memories
At Christmas, I shared some memories of our Daddy with my siblings as a present to them. My younger brother, Dan Boyd, said he had some memories he cherished and had been thinking about. I encouraged him to write them down. This morning I found 5 emails from him, each with a memory from his past. Here is one of them..... This is just like my sweet Dan! Chicken livers The pretty red head asked me what I would like as I salivated over the chicken livers thru the glass cover. I told her my order. including mashed potatoes and butter beans. then after hesitating for a couple of seconds I said,...
Critical Transportation
Last week was one of accomplishing many goals for Titus 2 students: 1 passed her GED pretest and was recognized as "Student of the Week" at Haney, 2 got birth certificates, 2 secured drivers licenses, 2 secured replacement Social Security cards, 2 started banking accounts for the first time EVER, 1 started a part time job, 1 moved into transitional living in town after completing her Titus 2 program, 1 began Medication Assisted Treatment for alcohol abuse history, 1 completed community service hours on 2 cases and paid off a fine, and more..... These may seem like small and mundane things to...
Remembering Things Lost
One issue that we have to work on at Titus 2 is hoarding. Many of the women coming to us have had personal belongings stolen, had to abandon their possessions to get out of dangerous situations time and time again, or lost everything when they couldn't pay a monthly storage fee. When housing safety is in place, they may be tempted to gather up excess clothing, purses, shoes, accessories, and other items that they want. We talk about trusting God's provision and knowing that there will likely be more things made available over time, so they don't have to stock up on so much "stuff" all at...
God The Disturber
Alan Walker was an Australian Methodist pastor and administrator in the 60’s and 70’s, at a time when there was great anxiety over communism and wars and international tensions across the world. Fear of nuclear proliferation was widespread then as it is now. He was a pacifist who believed that people trusted God too little and relied too heavily on their own understanding. He wrote in 1972 in “God, The Disturber”: “The most important fact in the universe is expressed in the three-letter word GOD. After all, what we believe about God determines what we believe about everything else. And it...
Odious and Soon-touchie
Joni Eareckson Tada points to a trap that many of us fall into at times. A thoughtful devotional on conflict. A friend, Rev. Mike Roberts, one time did a devotional on this Scripture and talked about "Odious" and "Soon-Touchie"....a tongue in cheek play on the names of the parties Paul references in this Scripture! This event offers us perspective not only on our own individual responses to disagreement, but alon on the impact of our conflicts on those in the Body of Christ who observe them. Do we need to look at the log in our own eye? Are we overbearing, or "Odious"? Are we hypersensitive...
Humanness: Is It Enough?
https://www.ted.com/talks/anjali_kumar_my_failed_mission_to_find_god_and_what_i_found_instead?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button__2018-01-31 This TED talk presentation is an interesting perspective on the thinking of the religious “none’s” among us who profess spiritually- diverse, personal, self-defined and free- but disavow religion. This young woman's experience confirms to a degree what I have suspected. That the old ways of evangelizing people aren't working. Instead of starting with the Gospel and the Bible, it can be...
The Tears Mean I’m Alive
"Cry. Let out a wail if you have to. I am here to walk you safely away from the wreckage of your past. Your heavy heart can’t hold you back if you trust me to carry some of the weight. I will help you to whatever finish line you need to cross to feel you are enough." My word selected to reflect on for 2018 is "enough." Above is a quote from a website called The Mighty. It is supportive online community for those with bipolar, suicidal ideations, and other mental health challenges that found its way to me and which gives people rising to victory in their struggles a place to tell their...
Holy, Holy or Wholly Holy
As I was reorganizing my bookshelves recently, once again I came across a little paperback book published by a Methodist publishing house several decades ago: "Twentieth Century Mystics." It was about the lives of a half dozen ordinary men whose devotion to God was evident in particular ways- prayer, service, passion in evangelism, perseverance, etc. That little book and Evelyn Underhill's book "Mysticism" revolutionized my thinking about holiness 20+ years ago. Holiness appears to be of extreme importance to God, as it is mentioned 611 times in Scripture. Joel Scandrett, PhD (Drew...
All That There Is In The World
“All That Is In The World…” Gen 3:6, Matt 4:1-10, Luke 4;1-13, and 1 John 2:16 (CBB 2009) I had heard an evangelist preach that Jesus' temptations represent the same kinds of temptations that we all experience. When one looks at the three of them (Matthew 4:1-10; Luke 4:1-13) they seem to be the temptation to let ourselves be driven by our physical appetites, by the lure of the pleasure of materialism and accumulation of wealth and worldly power, and by the temptation to test our status or value to God, others, or ourselves (ego fulfillment). For a Disciple I class I was reading the Genesis...