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.
Remember This: Jesus Knows
Jesus knows. He felt the pain of betrayal. He experienced being misunderstood. He was connived against. He felt the righteous flush of anger at those whose motives and actions damaged innocents. He was pulled into battles that should not even have been being fought. He celebrated with those who were beginning new lives and he sorrowed with those who lost someone they loved. He healed spirits, minds, and bodies and had compassion for broken people. He sat with the outcasts and gave them a spiritual home. He called evil by its name and knew when it was present in the hearts of men. He called...
A Call to Ministry…..(reprise)
In August 2008, just about six weeks after completing my master's degree in counseling, I began my application for ministry candidacy and was preparing to meet for the first time with the District Board of Ministry. I was putting together a plan for attending seminary and felt that God's call on my life was to a specific people and purpose. My understanding of that call has been re-examined several times in the nearly 7 years since then. Nothing has changed. In fact, there is even more conviction and clarity about what God has called me to do, how, with whom, and where. This Scripture...
Ministry of Compassion
Several times during the Annual Conference meeting of the Alabama-West Florida UMC Conference, as deacons were talking among themselves I heard references to “compassion”. Compassion is part of the specific ministry of deacons, according to our church’s Discipline. What, exactly does that mean? Research on the “ministry of compassion” yielded some thoughts worth sharing. The ministry of compassion is an important element of the church’s ministry. Paul outlined four elements of the ministry of compassion as revealed in Jesus’ life in Hebrews 2: 9-18. These are the characteristics that should...
Psychiatric Medications: Good Medicine or Quackery and Profit Motive at Work?
The philosophy presented in the link below, it has been reported, represents the basis on which some recovery programs deny any use of psychiatric medications, often coupled with a religious view that dismisses God's participation in medical science's advances. While psychiatry and medical science may not yet be so sophisticated as to accurately and immediately diagnose and treat every behavioral problem that arises, in part, due to bio-diverse physiological differences and changes in neurological elements, there have been significant advancements in treating a number of mental health...
Can One Be A Christian And Still Have Fun?
Titus 2 students and I attended the Amy Grant concert at the Panama City Marina Civic Center last evening thanks to the generosity of donors who provided free tickets. The concert was a delightful evening for Titus 2. There were moments when each of us was singing along with songs we've known for years. Amy Grant has been performing for 4 decades! Afterward we stopped to get a frozen lemonade and food. One young lady shared that she had never attended a concert before. It is interesting to see women in recovery discover that there is joy in a wholesome evening of entertainment shared with...
What Determines One’s Success in Recovery?
When women first come into Titus 2, they are generally emotional, conflicted, broken, fuzzy-headed, and anxious. It takes time to feel "safe" in the midst of a new environment and new people. It takes time for the mind to begin to work again as it is intended...sober. We give them time to settle in, begin slowly, expose them to new people and ideas for a while....After a few weeks they are feeling more relaxed and secure. When they begin to be able to express their feelings honestly and ask for things they want or need, it is a joy. At that point, we are able to give them more...
By My Hand
The tragedy this week of a forgotten infant’s death in a hot car in our community grieves us all. I cannot imagine the pain this family, their friends, and others close to them must be experiencing. To lose a child by any means, at any age is grievous, but to have it occur due to one’s haste, neglect, oversight, or failure to anticipate the possibility of such an occurrence seems too great to bear. While statistically the percentage of parents who experience such a loss, due to their own accidental and unintentional actions is small, the actual number is probably more than we realize…....
He Knows My Name
Revelation 2:17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. I have pondered Jesus giving Simon a new name, “Peter”. This is the only case in which I see Christ actually, literally, giving someone a “new” name. It was done publicly to make a strong statement about Peter’s changed identity and the purpose to which God was calling him. As I have reflected on this idea of Christ giving...
Ed Welch on Sanctification
One of my favorite Christian counseling educators is Edward Welch. Edward Welch, M.Div., Ph.D. is a counselor and faculty member at Christian Counseling Education Foundation. He writes about topics I deal with daily - addictive behaviors, depression, co-occurring disorders, family relationships, God's purpose in the midst of pain, etc. Here he writes about Sanctification: What the Church Really Believes about Sanctification By: Ed Welch Published: November 18, 2012 Each generation of believers develops its own weird convictions about Scripture. Though confessions and creeds...
A Woman’s Personal Testimony June 3, 2015
Cathy Byrd reports on a woman's testimony: This is a personal text received this afternoon, June 3, 2015. It is from a woman who was a discipleship student in substance abuse recovery in Fall 2009- Summer 2010 under my care. "I am so amazed how God is working in my life, I got a promotion at work, I'm now the Trainer and shift lead for Honda, if someone would have told me 6 years ago that I would be drug free, living on my own,without a man, paying my own bills with a great job, my family restored back to me and being able to bless others, and I would be having a deep personal...