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.
Love Is……
1/22/25. CBB “Love is material investment in my neighbor.” Quote from participant in 2024 Summit of The Center for Christianity and Public Life (CCPL) I think that is the best definition of love I have heard. It’s not a feeling. It is a demonstrated commitment to actively seek what is best for another. That is agape, the love God has for all creation. Lord, let me always seek to love that way…..
Impact of People-Using
I don’t expect anyone to help me back…..but it does make me wonder when someone I'm helping thinks it's okay to play me and other Christians for fools……. take and take and take, all the while lying and faking how well they are doing while betraying me and others behind our backs. There are so many other places we could be making a difference while such a person is sucking up resources, even stealing and lying to everyone. CBB 1/21/19 1/21/26 The LORD God has really been pressing me, like olives in the Gethsemane press, squeezing out more and more understanding about myself, about others,...
Grace Across A Lifetime
Francis Chan and David Platt in talking about disciple making made the point that individuals have to stay focused on Christ….Keep pushing them toward relationship with him….Otherwise they will be tempted to become dependent on us as disciplers. Make Christ central!!! I see that again and again in recovery ministry. If an individual will not understand the gospel and move toward attachment to God, but rather wants to attach to me or others, the focus, motive, and attitude is not compatible with what we are doing here. As ministers of the gospel we are not about making individuals dependent...
Point Them To Christ
Francis Chan and David Platt in talking about disciple making made the point that individuals have to stay focused on Christ….Keep pushing them toward relationship with him….Otherwise they will be tempted to become dependent on us as disciplers. Make Christ central!!! I see that again and again in recovery ministry. If an individual will not understand the gospel and move toward attachment to God, but rather wants to attach to me or others, the focus, motive, and attitude is not compatible with what we are doing here. As ministers of the gospel we are not about making individuals dependent...
Tough Love, Like Jesus’
From my journal 3 years ago……. Jesus' tough love….. Jesus called Simon Peter "satan" for being used by the devil to try to dissuade Jesus from following through on his mission that included his own death. He told Simon Peter also that he knew he would betray him. He rebuked Peter for defending him with violence at his arrest. He confronted religious leaders for their hypocrisy and called them vipers and worse. He physically attacked the position of those opportunists who were taking advantage of God's people, charging exorbitant prices for sacrificial animals in the Temple. He let a stupid,...
Love, Not Love
Love is not a commodity that can be bought, possessed, or stolen….It is only given, and to be real, must be freely given, not coerced or demanded. If it is abusive, perverse, or manipulative it is something else…..not love. CBN. 1/21/22
What One Believes
Some will achieve sobriety because of what someone believes about them. Others will achieve sobriety in spite of what someone believes about them. But the point is not what anyone believes about a person. It is what a person believes about herself and how hard she is willing to work to make it visible in her life, not to show others but to be true to herself. CBB. 1/21/22
The Message On Perfect Love
Thinking about God's standard for Perfect Love and the desire to be perfected in such love as we grow: 1 Corinthians 13: 3-13 (From The Message) 3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. 4-7 Love never gives up.Love cares more for others than for self.Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.Love doesn’t strut,Doesn’t have a swelled head,Doesn’t force itself on others,Isn’t always “me first,”Doesn’t fly off the...
Sufficient Grace
From my journal on this day, 1/21/2014… Most of the time the things one fears the most fail to materialize. And the ways in which one anticipates obstacles simply fail to appear. Thank God that He runs before us more than we can ever realize and clears the path for us so that we are able to continue on the path……..And even when obstacles come, His grace is sufficient to see us over, through, or around them! CBB
Heart Friends
There are some few rare friends who, even though you may go months without seeing one another, when you make the time to be truly present to one another it's instantly the same closeness. You can be one another's encourager, admonisher, confidante, confessor/priest, and funny-bone tickler! Thank God for such friends! CBB 1/21/22