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.
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...
Strong Emotions: Hissy Fits and Weeping Prayers
Christianne Squires is a trained spiritual director who shares her thoughts and insights through a weblog and online community called “Still Forming Land.” I have been a subscriber to her blogs for a while and find them often thoughtful and challenging. This one today, however, rather than challenging was suddenly simply illuminating….a real “aha” moment, as it helped me understand more clearly and articulate more beneficially some of my own otherwise inexplicable behaviors at times. Christianne writes: Yesterday, I exhibited what could be classified as a hissy fit — twice. (I'm quite...
Traveling Companions
Ron Hutchcraft writes about the people with whom we "travel" in life....This is a conversation we have as part of the Titus 2 program. Changing one's life often requires changing the people with whom one "travels". Learning to be more intentional about the people in one's life is a skill that demands realistic assessment of situations and behaviors, healthy boundaries, good judgment, godly discernment, and courage to say "no". But it also requires one to move into new venu...es to seek out new connections as one is distanced from old ones. As one young lady volunteered yesterday, though, the...
Staring in the Rearview Mirror….
When you’re staring at your past, strewn with disappointments, it’s difficult to see your future, just as it’s difficult to drive when you’re constantly looking in your rearview mirror. Tony Evans There was a time in my life when I was "stuck", looking in the rearview mirror.....our children were leaving home, we'd experienced a move, job changes, deaths, some other losses. I could not see a future that could offer anything as valuable as what I felt had been lost, includ...ing my own youth. It was a difficult place, characterized by depression, fear, and anger. As described by one person,...
Too Wonderful for Words….
"In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while they slumber in their beds, he opens the ears of men and seals their instruction." Job 33:15-16 The context for this scripture is that God warns us through dreams, to turn us away from bad choices or temptations so that we are not ensnared. But he can and does just as easily whisper sweet words of knowledge, peace, and grace. May your dreams tonight be filled with thoughts of God and desires from his heart to yours, words from his mind to yours...... Get in sync with the Lord, walk with him in humility and gratitude...
A Year to Remember…..
A year ago this week, after what seemed like the disastrous culmination of a difficult six months, as it became clear that the end was coming in an area that had been fulfilling and productive, a new journey began. As one ministry friend told me, sometimes it is necessary for God to allow a door to be firmly closed behind us before he allows us to see what awaits behind the next one. That was certainly the case. It is amazing what God's perfect timing can bring....almost ...warp speed progress from an afternoon conversation with a trusted mentor, to an evening in prayer, to a decision the...
A Busman’s Holiday
For years I was aware of my grandmother and at least two of her four sisters from time to time having yard sales together. They would gather at one another's homes, gather their excess items or handmade crafts or rooted plants they had cultivated and spend the day together having a nice visit and making a few dollars at the same time. Such days became social events, almost like a festive holiday, fun with a purpose. My Mother or others would sometimes join them for the fun. They would enjoy a picnic lunch while sitting in the shade of the carport and chatting with one another, neighbors,...
Seeing is Believing….an Easter Message
Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015 Trinity UMC "Seeing is Believing" Scripture: John 20:1-18 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb...
The Bond of Unity and Peace….God’s Covenant With Us
T.M. Moore of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview has authored an individual Bible study on Gods' Covenant. It is available on line. http://www.colsoncenter.org/images/content/wilberforce/ViewPoint_Studies/VP-Bond-of-Peace.pdf?spMailingID=11021023&spUserID=MTMyMjUxNzg1MAS2&spJobID=520275261&spReportId=NTIwMjc1MjYxS0 This study corresponds well to the goals of the Christian Twelve Steps that are taught in Titus 2's life recovery ministry for women. Steps 1-3 correspond to the Covenant's goal of peace with God. Steps 4-7 correspond to the Covenant's goal of peace...