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.
WYSIWYG*
Some people do not know how to take my directness. Others, even when they will not admit it to anyone else, tell me privately that they are grateful for the fact that I am as transparent as I am, that it helps them examine and clarify some of their own thoughts and values (even when they are different from mine), especially about matters related to spiritual formation and personal faith. Many people are so private with their faith and the struggles they encounter that they miss the opportunity to experience the Holy Spirit's work in interdependent community...sharing in one another's lives...
Reciprocal Blessings: Serve One Another
I have heard individuals say to another to simply accept another's blessing with the phrase, "Don't blow out someone's candle! Let them shine Christ's light." Here's another way to think about what we do when we don't allow others to serve us..... "When Jesus taught the disciples to wash one another’s feet (John 13:14) that meant that, at some point, everyone would have the experience of being the recipient of the other’s grace or foot washing. When Peter wanted to refuse Jesus’ gesture of grace, Jesus told him, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8). Did you know that...
When You’re Living In The Flow….
August 10, 2017 When I was about 7, it was my birthday, I believe. This would have been February 1961. Several friends were over. (I didn't get a record player until Christmas of that year.) We were on the back patio of our home listening to WBAM radio....Joe Rumore's program..... and dancing, I think. I reached to change the station and Joe Rumore's signature radio tag line blared out, "Unh, unh, unh...Don't you touch that dial!" I must have jumped 3X my height, backwards, toward the edge of the patio....It seemed to me as a 7 year old that Joe Rumore was "seeing" me through space to...
Christian Meditation Practices
As a faith-founded ministry that partners with other agencies, we have had others suggest meditation practices focusing on a variety of things, but we prefer to assist our students in focusing on scripture and "things above"...... the attributes and character of God, the love of Christ, the presence and Peace of the Holy Spirit. This article from the Biblical Counseling Coalition on August 8th is a good overview. Meditation Isn't Missing... It's Just Misdirected by Kim Kira "Biblical counseling is the demanding yet indispensable exercise of joint meditation on biblical truth. Meditation,...
Don’t Run. Don’t Quit.
One of the most difficult tasks of communication that we find necessary to work on at Titus 2 is handling conflict. The first principle is "Don't RUN!" . Others might argue that the first principle is "Don't get defensive." If one herself or others she is witnessing have been subjected to a pattern of criticism and dismissal of her voice/feelings in the past and feels attacked, either directly or passively aggressively, that's likely to be the first reaction. Helping her move from defensiveness to openness in communication and asserting herself appropriately is a challenge. The Bible says,...
Persevering Beyond Forgiveness of “Sin” To Repentance and Forgiveness of “sins”
I had written about Judas and his descent into despair and suicide after his betrayal of Jesus and about Peter's response to the same sense of failure and betrayal. When one rejects condemnation from the enemy, embraces the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and feels godly sorrow and repentance, the outcome is dramatically different after moral and spiritual failure resulting from fear, doubt, disobedience, deception, or any other cause. During that same week I reflected of the difference between the two men's responses, the Lord put a big question mark in the forefront of my mind as I sat...
Bill-Home Going
8/7/2020: Our daughter, Charlotte Donlon, is getting out some requested information today. Further details on the memorial celebration service will be available after the weekend. Thank you all for your outpouring of love and comfort to us. Your kind words and stories about how Bill touched your lives are a joy to us in our sorrow! "Cathy Boyd Byrd, Billy Byrd, Joni Byrd, Carol Boyd Andrews, and I are working on plans for an outdoor celebration (with masks required) honoring and remembering Bill Byrd's life. This service will be in the Panama City, Florida area in the near future. We...
Take Down
There are times when one may find it necessary to step into the ring, even if it means hitting the mat after a few rounds......to let those who are unable to fight for themselves and those who are accustomed to taking vulnerable people to the mat on the first ring of the bell know that there are those willing to battle for what's right. It may not always result in a win, but it will force those with the power to exert some effort instead of just assuming no one is watching or will challenge them. Otherwise, there can be a lack of compassion and accountability for doing what's right.
Trusting Healing Faith
"Your faith has made you whole..." Jesus said it so many times in regard to healing...that one's faith has the power to heal, even the faith of one's friends has the power to heal . What does that kind of faith look like? I have observed some things that I am pretty sure are not part of that picture....clutching at specific people in the midst of the trial as if they have the solution; The Lord desires that we should fully rely on him. (Psalm118:8) In the case of awareness of a potential physical illness, not running ahead of even the diagnosis and beginning to plan one's own strategy for...
Double Grief
The Boyd Boys- sons of William Nicky and Annie Elma Boyd- circa 1933. L to R- Cecil (deceased 2003), Hilly (deceased 2013) and Dempsey (deceased 2012). I can imagine them sitting together in the shade somewhere in heaven in aluminum lawn furniture as they did as young adults at their parents' home, visiting with their Mom and Dad right now! What a good time Daddy is having with them! I can hardly wait to be with them some day, too! In a strange display of God's timing, my Daddy, pictured in the center above with his brothers, died seven years earlier on 2013 on the same date, August 6th, and...