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.
“When I Was A Child…”
A child's thinking: My Mommy (or Daddy or sister or whoever) doesn't love me (in the self- gratifying way I want to be loved.) Therefore, I must not be good enough....(or smart enough or pretty enough or strong enough or ……. just enough.) A mature adult's thinking: I am enough. I am loved by God and can live happily knowing that I am important to God and to those whom God puts in my life for this season and purpose now. 1 Corinthians 13:11 "When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became an adult, I did away with childish things."...
You Are Not Your DSM Label
Many times on applications to Titus 2 I see mental health diagnoses written. I hear others speak of diagnoses of children, spouses, friends..... I have a masters degree in counseling and psychology and I understand the use of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition ... DSM-5.... and the need of the mental health community to categorize and systemize observed behaviors for diagnosis and treatment. But God has a system and categories, too, for defining his cherished children. While the DSM views individuals through the lens of pathology, of brokenness, of...
Turning Around
I've always loved this story of how pilots out of Eglin use the Blue Lake crosses as a landmark! And how once, when they were turned out to conserve energy and money the Air Force contacted Blue Lake and asked that they be turned back on, reportedly even offering to pay! By Walter Matthew Albritton 1/1/2016 Turning Around Point: There's a great story about the two crosses that are lit up every night at Blue Lake camp. Because these crosses can be seen at night from the air they're the turning around point for Air Force jets flying out of Eglin Air Force Base. In 2017 Jesus Christ can be...
To My Dearly Loved Child….
1/5/2014. By Joanna Lynn, Criwned With Beauty Blog My dearly loved child, You are so precious to Me and I love you more than you can ever realize. I want to be a part of everything in your life. But I love you so much that I allow you the gift of deciding what you will do and who you will follow. I will never force you to follow Me. That wouldn’t be love. Even before you come to Me, I love you. I’ve provided the Way for you to be with Me forever through My Son, Jesus. When you accept Me into your life I adopt you into My family. When you come to Me, I will guide you in all you do and I will...
Lot Escaping Destruction
Reviewing a recap of reading from a couple of years ago.... Lot was being urged out of Sodom by the two "visitors" (Angels) ahead of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorah. But instead of going to the mountains as directed he asked for a close by town Zoar. The visitors acquiesced. From where he was he could see the rising smoke of the devastation and of course he'd already witnessed the sudden death of his wife as she looked back after being told not to do so. Pretty quickly though he and his daughters went on to the mountains where they'd been directed to go to in the beginning, out of fear...
Jesus and Journal Notes
Jesus Christ chose to come to us to show us the depth and steadfastness of God’s love AND the demands of his righteous justice, while taking upon himself the price required by that justice upon his own body. I am without words to express my own gratitude and love for so much love expressed to me by Jesus Christ, my Lord and God! 12/29/19 CBB Me: I journal and study to share myself with God and to share God with others. #journalonthejourney 1/5/22. CBB Seen “Voice is not just the result of a single sentence or paragraph or page. It’s not even the sum total of a whole story. It’s all your work...
Purposeful
Reflecting as another year begins.... It was a gradual process as God led me to His purpose for my life....to teach and open up the Word of God for others .... to challenge and invite them into a deeper contemplative life in Christ. It seems that many want short, quick, easy to understand mini-inspirations..... to be given life’s cliff notes. At Titus 2's ministry discipling women we can regularly have long discussions- 2 hours or more- covering principles in God’s Word and applying them to our lives. Institutional church and religious habit train us to expect 20 minute, 3 point devotional...
Worship
JD Walt pre-empted me today with the Wake Up Call from seedbed.com writing on a "word" for the year. I had been occupied with personal ministry, church, and family activities the last two weeks and had not been prodded to think of a "word for 2023", as I have in recent years past. Some of my previous years' words have been generosity, faith-full, know, gentleness, wisdom....mostly along the line of ways I felt deficient and needful. When that realization occurred to me yesterday morning, I thought, "I don't feel the least bit led to seek out a specific single focus word this year." And I...
Bucket List
I had written this as part of a Facebook post on Dec 31, 2015: "Three things I am looking forward to: 1. Being hugged by Jesus 2. Seeing my great grandchildren 3. Tomorrow morning" Since then God has given me 2557 tomorrows. Having been blessed to see Lewis, I am now humbled to believe that God may give me enough days to see another great-grandchild born. And I'm pretty sure that I've already been hugged by Jesus somewhere along the way, maybe even more than once..... Since that was all that was on my bucket list then, since God has seen fit already to give them to me, I think I'm just...
Rhythms of Life- Seasons
This article came to me over 10 years ago. I saved it at the time because its timing spoke to me.... From a publication called "Explorations", Liturgical Ministry 2003 Living by Seasons "I was enjoying an hour with a new friend last winter, watching flakes of snow flutter past the coffee shop window as he described the outline of his life: his career, his family, places he had lived. A native of Colorado, he had spent a number of years living in southern California but had returned to Denver a couple of years ago. I asked him why he had moved back – a work opportunity? He looked...