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.
“That Christ’s Joy May Be Complete”
Charles Spurgeon writes, "When you lean your head on His bosom, you not only receive, but you give Him joy; when you gaze with love upon His all-glorious face, you not only obtain comfort, but impart delight. Our praise, too gives Him joy--not the song of the lips alone, but the melody of the heart's deep gratitude. Our gifts, too, are very pleasant to Him; He loves to see us lay our time, our talents, our substance upon the altar, not for the value of what we give, but for t...he sake of the motive from which the gift springs. To Him the lowly offerings of His saints are more acceptable...
If Ever, If Ever A Wiz There Was…..
I write from time to time about “thoughts upon awaking”, the things that I find at the front of my mind as soon as my eyes are open. This morning it was “The Wizard of Oz” movie….of all things. I haven’t seen it in years. But somehow it played into my pre-awaking dream, as I thought about the scarecrow’s brain, the tin man’s heart, the lion’s courage, and Dorothy’s desire to get home. In the journey to seek each one’s longed-for desire from the wizard, they discovered in the end that those things were already right there, available to each of them. They simply had not realized it before....
Knocking Down Fences
I had studied the information cited below on children's status in ancient cultures in human development and social science classes through the years. It is also well documented that Methodists worked in the 18th century to eliminate child labor abuses and foster education. This is excerpted from Colson Center's devotional today on the beneficial social impact of Christianity. Eliminating it from the public square, scorning Judeo-Christian values, and dismissing the value of Christian lifestyles risks the most vulnerable being put at risk again. "In their rush to dismantle these irksome...
A Pearl of Great Value
Over the last year Titus 2’s ministry has received several gifts of jewelry. Most of it has been costume or vintage jewelry, although some gold chains were received from one donor. Sale of some of the pieces has provided over $450 of income to the ministry. Several items have been made available to the ladies for their use and enjoyment. Other items have been sold at yard sales. Among some of the items that have been retained are several pearl necklaces, earrings, and pins. It has been our plan to use pearls as a gift for the women as they exit the program. Why? As I have shared with the...
From Trauma to Transformation
In an article in a recent professional publication, William L. White, MA, an addiction counselor for 26 years, writes about a 17 year study in Illinois communities of traumatized women whose addiction led them to abuse or neglect their children. Project SAFE (1986-2003) yielded some interesting observations. All of the women studied had been traumatized at early ages, involving physically and psychologically invasive forms of victimization over long periods of time rather than a single event. Perpetrators were from within their own family or social network, marking a significant violation of...
“The Lasting Mark of Life’s Mistakes”
Titus 2 ladies know well the lasting scars that consequences of poor decisions and sinful behavior have. For many of them, they have come to believe that there was no way to get beyond them. They did not understand the power of Christ's redemptive work on the cross. And though scars remain, there is life, even joyful life, beyond the wounds. Ron Hutchcraft's devotional today speaks to that issue. (I couldn't get the link to post, so here it is, cut and pasted for you to view.) "My daughter and I had not been back to that camp in the Tetons since she was a little girl, like five years...
Divine Economy
"The word, “plan,” is, in the Greek, oikonomia – economy. It means an order, an administration, a way of “keeping house” that flows from a set of priorities through a bank of resources into a new order on earth, one that reflects the way things are in heaven. There is a divine economy, and God is setting it up in our midst, right now, today, and every day of our lives. We are part of that great plan, and thus it behooves us to understand as much as we can about it, so that we... can make our way in the divine economy according to God’s purposes and designs. “Go therefore and make disciples...
Thoughts on Titus 2 Ministry’s Theory of Change
Thoughts on Titus 2 Ministry’s Theory of Change Principle observed: "All behavior is purposeful. Everyone does what they do because they perceive that it works." Until it no longer provides the "payoff" they are seeking, they will not begin to contemplate change. Even infrequent, intermittent, periodic reinforcement can keep us doing it over and over, though it may be less effective than we are willing to admit. Statistically, I have heard that in golf only 1 in 32 hits is the "sweet one", but it is enough to keep the average golfer coming back! What most recovery programs are attempting...
Bold Hope
It is interesting to consider the things that are on one's mind and heart upon arising. Bill was telling me about his dream. It was about real people Just a brief cameo moment in which he recognized them. But it is a family that we hardly know in a distant locale.. It's odd how the brain picks obscure people or events on which to focus. How do such odd connections serve our brain's purposes - to process connections, create memories, heal, renew, or solve problems? He asked ...me, "Why would I think about them?" I don't know. Except that this Catholic family with six (I believe) children may...
A Severe Mercy
A severe mercy? "Practically speaking, disillusionment is the loss of illusion. In terms of larceny, then, it is the equivalent of having one’s high cholesterol or a perpetually bad habit stolen. Disillusionment, while painful, is evidence which shows the myths that enchant us need not blind us forever, a sign that what is falsely believed can be shattered by what is genuine. In such terms, disillusion is far less an unwanted intrusion than it is a severe mercy, far more lik...e a surgeon’s excising of a tumor than a cruel removal of hope.: Jill Carattini I was talking to a young lady in...