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.
Moving Toward the Heart of God
This is a diagram that arose out of considerations of how we are called to be "light" in the world and what that looks like for one whose ministry is on the periphery...at the point where the culture and the Kingdom meet...connecting the church with the world and the world with the church, which is the calling of a deacon in the United Methodist Church. So, as I was thinking about how to draw people into the life of faith community, I realized that people operate out of greater or lesser degrees of closeness to the heart of Christ, depending on how much of God...
God’s Delights in His Servant
The Lord also says to you in Isaiah 42:1, "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight." God takes great delight in you. You give Him great joy. He finds pleasure and satisfaction in your worship and praise. And your obedience brings a smile to His face. Love Him today with all your heart. After all, every day His heart is full of love for you. - This reminder was observe...d today in my morning devotional from Joni Eareckson Tada. Such words are wonderfully sweet. Would that all would know the sweetness of feeling delighted in by God! All may..... Consider today that...
Cleansing the Temple
Yesterday my thoughts were on spiritual disciplines and the necessity for periodic inventory, as called for in Steps 4 and 10 of Twelve Step living. One must be courageous - and relentless- in rooting out idols in the heart. Today's devotional by Joni Eareckson Tada is an appropriate follow up to that. What do we do when a self examination through spiritual disciplines and life in accountable c...ommunity leads to the discovery of sin and idols in the Lord's temple? Do we excuse it? Do we turn aside and deny it? Jesus... Taking a Stand "Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who...
Personal inventory, spiritual discipline
Heard in a discussion this week: "We cannot just reject the things of the past...we have to run toward and embrace the future." This is a common theme in the life and addiction recovery philosophy of Titus 2 Partnership's ministry. This is the practical definition of "repentance".....it is what "redemption" looks like...a complete change, a transformation, a 180 degree redirection.This wa...s made clear to me in studying Jesus' teaching in Matthew 12:43-45 and Luke 11:23-27: “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it...
Loneliness…..the result of a gift from God?
Loneliness. It gets a bad rap. One reason for that is, I think, that when we feel it, if we have not learned to identify why we feel it and what to do with it, it can throw us back into an emotional state that we likely experienced early in life - for some in childhood, for some in adolescence, for others at some point of trial later in life. It is a universal emotion. And what we experience when... it occurs is sort of a PTSD reaction, triggering a response to something very deep and primeval in us that has traumatized us in the past. Psychological theorists have all kinds of thoughts on...
Listening to God in the little things…..
Funny how God works. This morning I took a copy of Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest" with me to church, which I never do. As I left for church I simply felt the urge to tuck it into the side pocket of my purse. Later, as I walked through the hallway, someone approached me and we talked a few minutes about his continued growth of his personal relationship with Christ...something that ...he and I have talked about several times in the past over meals with our spouses. I shared something with him from MUFHH's devotional this week and asked if he was familiar with this...
Grace and Truth Revisited
Grace and Truth Revisited“You want justice for everyone else and mercy for yourself.” That is a direct quote from a pastor spoken to a friend of mine that she shared with me this week as she and I were discussing a common tendency to put the cart before the horse with regard to John 1:14, 17. I was telling her that a thorn in the side in life, and in ministry, is the way in which I often violate the standard established by Christ to be the “fullness of grace and truth, ” two things that are very close to mercy and justice. Because of my coming to terms with ways...
The Spiritual Task of Henry Nouwen
"The great spiritual task facing me is to so fully trust that I belong to God that I can be free in the world--free to speak even when my words are not received; free to act even when my actions are criticized, ridiculed, or considered useless.... I am convinced that I will truly be able to love the world when I fully believe that I am loved far beyond its boundaries." -Henri J.M. Nouwen, "Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life"Henri Nouwen's work has always interested me. I haven't always understood it. His book, "Wounded Healer", was one I had...
Pill Popping Morality Examined
Pill Popping Morality June 17, 2014Breakpoint’s John Stonestreet writes about potential fallout from possible new prescription therapies on the horizon for PTSD or other mental health disorders involving flashbacks or bad memories or treatment to improve behavior in these articles: http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/25342 “Anesthetic or...
Emotional Ambush
Emotional Ambush April 28, 2014A life recovery student and I had a delightful lunch together today while we worked on case management. The chapter we were...