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.
Spiritual Gluttony
What a blessing it is to have a close spiritual friend, actually a couple of them or a handful of them, with whom one can share the joys and hurts of life! There are some of us, (okay, Sisters, you know who you are) who process emotions and seek understanding by talking things through out loud. When our hearts and minds include our ears in hearing and our tears and facial muscles in expressions of laughter or pain, and our eyes in seeing the empathy of a loving and compassionate friend, there is something miraculous that happens. Emotions get processed better by the brain. Sleep comes more...
How Honest Are You? A Truth Assessment by Ansley Roan
How Honest Are You? By Ansley Roan Take this quiz to check your honesty quotient. Circle the number of your response. Give yourself 1 point for each #1 response, 2 points for each #2 response, and 3 points for each #3 response. Q1. You're online and accidentally discover someone in your apartment building has unprotected wireless Internet access. You: Put up a notice in your lobby, alerting everyone to the importance of password protection Use it occasionally, when your connection is down Are using it right now, what's the problem? Q2. As you're about to drive out of the grocery...
To Tell the Truth
Do you or someone you know have a problem with telling lies? Are the lies to avoid consequences? (Blaming others, lack of personal responsibility for behavior) To make oneself look better than she is? (self-centered, even narcissistic) To put others down? (insecure, bullying) To get one's way or control situation? (manipulative, controlling) To avoid responding to a request for help? (self-centered and self-absorbed) To buy time? (procrastinator) To protect others? ('savior" complex, co-dependent) Other reasons? No reason is a good reason for lying. I don't think it's necessary to lie even...
Accountability, John Wesley Style
Do You Desire to be Told of Your Faults?' How early Methodists practiced small-group accountability. John Wesley and his friends were appalled at what the Church of England had become. In the words of Wesley historian Kenneth Collins, the church "had grown quite comfortable with and had been compromised by broader cultural trends." In addition, Wesley was concerned that "the articulate and well-constructed theologies" of his day "left men and women in their sins under the most grievous bondages." In late 1738 and early 1739, under the influence of Moravian pietists, the Wesleys began...
How Is Discipline to Be Done According to Christ?
This is a process for dealing with people who are violating moral conduct rules and creating problems in community (family, church, etc.) A Biblical Process for a Conflict Resolution Model Matthew 18:15-17 One thing that is clear in the Lord’s teaching is the potential of conflict. He said, “For offenses must come…,” (v.7). It is expected, therefore, that the Lord address the matter we commonly call Conflict Resolution. Here is His word on that subject. “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained...
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...