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.
Wounded or Broken?
Wounded or Broken? by John Coblentz (Gleaned from the June 1998 newsletter of Deeper Life Ministries) In the Bible we read about a "wounded spirit" and also about a "broken spirit." In some ways the meaning of these two terms is similar. Both terms indicate distress. It is possible even that one person may have a wounded spirit in response to the same situation that results in a broken spirit for another person. But the two terms stand in contrast. First let's consider how they are used in Scripture. "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a...
Meditation on Isaiah 6
Meditation on Isaiah 6. Seeing the difference between God and oneself. I'll gladly be a stump, Lord With trunk and branches gone Bare and stripped of anything... To which I'm holding on. No leafy new growth twig Or thick and sturdy limb Shall be exempt from pruning work As you shape and saw and trim. With eyes made blind and ears made deaf And ruined cities lying bare A remnant God will still preserve, Burned pure, still in his care. As shoots arise from ashen stumps And seeds spring up again God finds repentant messengers Who yet will speak for him. CBByrd. 7/19/2015
To Stop the Lie
Recently I have had to deal with a habit of lying by some students in the Titus 2 program. This is a fundamental pre-requisite for recovery. One must be willing to accept the requirement to live according to truth….telling it, living it, and calling out those who try to avoid it. Some lie to avoid consequences. Some lie to continue in behavior that is not acceptable. Some lie to make themselves look better. Some lie to make others look worse. Some lie to express their rebellion against authority. Some lie to “protect” others. Some just lie because they have done so for as long as they...
Thinking About the Will of God….
A dozen or so of us have been working through a study of Living the Will of God. As part of my preparation for leading that study, I have been reading J. Ellsworth Kalas’ The Will of God in an Unwilling World. It’s very concise and readable. From J. Ellsworth Kalas, The Will of God in an Unwilling World: "By no means will I subscribe to the idea that everything that happens on our planet is God's will. I can hardly imagine a more profane, more obscene idea...... At the same time, I believe that God can bring the divine will to pass, regardless of the ugliness of any situation. While not...
Mark Tooley on the new Gnosticism
An interesting take on the Supreme Court majority opinion authored by Justice Kennedy: Another Perspective: Justice Kennedy’s Pursuit of Gnosis By Mark Tooley 7/1/15 Self-deification now works hand in hand with government’s therapeutic designs on its subjects. image: http://cdn.spectator.org/styles/article_page/s3/AnthonyKennedyCSpan1.png?itok=zNvTOF_Y America’s errors typically aren’t due to secularism or revived paganism but some form of Christian heresy. The Supreme Court’s creation of a right to same-sex marriage seems mostly Gnostic, not rooted in concrete law...
“No Patience for Anyone….”
“I no longer have patience for certain things, not because I’ve become arrogant, but simply because I reached a point in my life where I do not want to waste more time with what displeases me or hurts me. I have no patience for cynicism, excessive criticism and demands of any nature. I lost the will to please those who do not like me, to love those who do not love me and to smile at those who do not want to smile at me. I no longer spend a single minute on those who lie or want to manipulate. I decided not to coexist anymore with pretense, hypocrisy, dishonesty and cheap praise. I do not...
Praying for Children, Families, and All of Us
Pew Research Center on Family Structures Dec 2014 (Gretchen Livingston is a senior researcher focusing on fertility and family demographics at Pew Research Center.) “Less than half (46%) of U.S. kids younger than 18 years of age are living in a home with two married heterosexual parents in their first marriage. This is a marked change from 1960, when 73% of children fit this description, and 1980, when 61% did, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of recently-released American Community Survey (ACS) and Decennial Census data. Less than half of U.S. kids today live in a ‘traditional’...
The Addicted Narcissist
In nearly 10 years of working with women with addictive behaviors, I have encountered fewer than a half dozen individuals whom I would consider to be bona fide "narcissists" according to the profile drawn here by Christine Hammond. When I have, however, they have been the most resistant to education and care, the most destructive to others around them, and the least likely to actually make any meaningful change in their lives. As she says, "It is far more loving to accept someone within their own limitations than to insist they become someone they are not." This usually requires that...
A Cycle of Holiness
There have been criticisms of Christian evangelicals as being so focused on personal holiness that they have been neglectful of social holiness....of acts of mercy, compassion, and justice. As I am studying this morning I am hearing the Apostle Paul speak to the Corinthians. He applauds their growth in personal piety- faith, exhortation, knowledge, earnestness in love...and also directs them to excel in the grace of giving and that their spirits be willing in the act. The point, as he references in verses 13-15, is not that one group should suffer (be hard pressed) so that others...
Snarling Threats
WHEN THE LEFT SNARLS (By Dr. Bill Bouknight) "When liberals are a minority, they usually talk about diversity and tolerance. But when they form a majority they often snarl at their conservative opponents. Conversely, I cannot think of a single responsible conservative who disputes the right of liberals to state their points of view. But when liberals are in charge, as is often the case on college campuses, every degree of leftist is entitled to speak at commencement ceremonies but conservatives are routinely rejected. Tolerance is replaced by a snarl. The snarl of liberalism was on...