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.
Bat-Craziness
SERIOUSLY????? I picked up a quarter and just glanced at it. It was a 2020 National Park edition. What did I see on it?? A fruit bat and her pup!!! You can't plan an irony this shocking and illustrative of the fact that there is something maliciously amiss in the whole way our nation was bombarded with a genetically engineered bat virus and our government PLANNED 12 YEARS EARLIER TO RELEASE COINAGE WITH A BAT ON IT IN THE SAME YEAR. The quarter and its story is shown below: "The obverse (heads) design features the familiar image of George Washington by John Flanagan, used on the quarter...
Religious Abuse
From Dec 17,2015 Question: What do a sci-fi horror B-movie and an individual employed in a local substance abuse program have in common? Answer: A reported covert, dark-of-night demonic exorcism in a church. Sadly, however, the apparent victim was in the throes of a full blown manic psychosis....not possessed. It makes me sad that anyone would be traumatized and confused by religiously abusive practices instead of getting the help and emotional support needed. If the details of this case are verified by investigation, this will be exposed and stopped. This is why we need a local discussion...
Just A Simple Phrase….
One never knows what simple phrase may be the thing that completely reorients a person's thinking. For me it was a simple phrase by a pastor over 25 years ago: "We give as much of ourselves as we can understand to as much of God as we can understand." That simple. It started me on a journey to understand both God and myself better in order to be able to trust God more fully. As a former student, Lisa Carter, notes, a simple concept in a quote by Zig Ziglar captured her imagination and gave her a paradigm for dealing with some challenges in her life. Dr. Mike Carns, a graduate professor of...
Anxiety Cure Is Not In A Pill
I am about to the point of banning the use of the word "anxiety" in my presence . It is a pervasive mental health diagnosis....with many DSM variations on the theme. As I pray about and explore issues with women in recovery either seeking medication or on medication for "anxiety", I am led again and again to see it for what it is....fear and impatience, worrying about things over which they have no control. They cannot have peace or contentment because they refuse to deal with the realities with which they are confronted. They are afraid of circumstances that may or may not ever arise or...
Change In Hindsight
Some things are only seen for the successes they are when viewed from a little distance. A student today paid off a fine from several years ago. She was so happy to have that task completed and said it such an accomplishment, something she'd been trying to do for a while. I asked her what else she'd accomplished since coming to Titus 2. She recounted to me on the way home from the courthouse all the things she’s accomplished since arriving at Titus 2 nearly six months ago- restored drivers’ license, employment, emotional and medical stabilization, forgiveness of self and others, completion...
Self-Care In Old Age
The risk associated with staying up too late engaged in a project: Hearing things that go "bump" in the night. About 11pm last evening I heard what sounded like a gunshot. It's not all that unusual to hear gunshots up here with woods all around the lake. A minute or so later I heard another one. Then again. Each time it sounded a little closer, as if someone could be creeping along in a vehicle moving closer to my location and shooting at something.....Animals? lights? Windows? I knew my doors were locked, but I got up, lowered the window shade which I have rarely felt compelled to do in the...
Just Me
I have neither the sovereignty nor the goodness of God. I am not Jesus. I do not always respond like Jesus. When I don't act in ways that please God I seek God's forgiveness. I am simply me. And, believe it or not, God loves and accepts and even delights in me. He is with me on good days and not so good days. And each day is a new opportunity to start afresh, to put aside the mistakes of the past and move forward in service to the Lord.
Dr Amen on Sheepdogs….
"Sheepdogs love their sheep, even when the love is not returned." Ha Ha! Funny image. Dr. Daniel Amen in his "brain warrior" talk. Sheep don't generally love sheepdogs, just the shepherd. And sheepdogs love the sheep because the shepherd does! I think I'm more of a sheepdog than a shepherd! Nipping at heels, looking to the shepherd for what he wants the sheep to do and simply herding them into doing that! Who knew a psychiatrist and neurobiologist could be so funny? The shepherd may sleep in the pen with the sheep, but the sheepdog sleeps snuggled up to the shepherd! That's where I want to be.
Purpose In Suffering
I have been part of several conversations recently about the purpose of suffering, teasing out the aspects of one's theology of suffering. Those most attuned to God seem to understand, there is a purpose in suffering. From Love Worth Finding: Follow Someone with a Limp.... Rev. Adrian Rogers (12/10/2014) "For our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:29 It has been said, "If you are looking for a leader to follow, find someone with a limp." The wounded in life are those who have learned difficult lessons through suffering. Do not resist the Shepherd's correction. Is wounding painful?...
Salvation or Sentimentality?
From a favorite writer, Jill Carattini, 12/10/2014 Salvation or Sentimentality? “Who has understood the mind of the LORD?”(Isaiah 40:13) This God who moves among people, touching all of life and history is certainly not the quiet and tame being we often imagine. God’s ways are not our ways. God’s stories are not the kind of stories we would write if the telling were up to us. God’s thoughts are the kind of thoughts that expose deception and shine in darkness, that shatter hearts and rewrite stories. It is the same with the child born in a stable two thousand years ago. The infant the world...