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.
Deceptive Hearts and The Human Condition
"Do you desire to know the truth?" THIS is the truth of the human condition..... You may think you are a "good" person, but as Jesus observed, "None is good. No, not one." The heart , above all things, is deceitful. Because of the propensity of all of us to fail in the face of temptations to "lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life," any one of us is capable of great evil, just as we are capable of great good. The Christian faith alone expresses the reality of the human condition. "For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil I would not, that I do."
Heritage: A Little of This, A Little of That
Add to "Things I Never Knew" ...... My paternal great grandmother, (the Carroll family side) who died when my grandmother and her sister were less than 10, was Cherokee Indian. A cousin has done some family geneology and told me today....Great grandpa Carroll remarried in his 30s a much younger woman, still in her teens, if I recall correctly what I knew of him. His second wife was called "Aunt Arrie" by my Dad and his siblings. I met her one time that I can recall when I was about 3-4. I think Grandpa Carroll and Arrie had a son that my Dad's family called "Uncle Roy". He was a veteran who...
Wisdom and Salvation
I gave a devo this morning on 2 prayers in the Psalms-88 & 86. I included something a pastor told me several times..."There are 2 prayers God always answers- for wisdom and for salvation." As I reflected on his words this week, it seemed to me that when one has the presence of mind to call out to God for rescue it is because he has already been given the wisdom of God to know he can't live without God! And here today look at a picture Rosie Peiffer posts!! "But only wisdom can save your life...." ( vs. 13) in Ecclesiastes 7 Makes sense to me and I think Jesus' brother James would agree!...
Application Questions On Smoking
I have been advocating for addressing nicotine concurrently with other chemical addictions since I began in addiction recovery counseling in 2008. When I was able to start a program myself, smoke-free recovery was one of the criteria I insisted on. It was NOT a popular opinion, even with recovery ministry peers. So, in 2016 I put out this social media query: "Alright, ladies.......those of you who are former students of mine...weigh in on this issue of smoking and substance abuse. How do/did you feel about yourself when you quit smoking for good or when you weren't smoking during recovery?...
If Life Is A Test….
Here's "ponderable" that arose from a conversation ...One person has stated that "life is a test" and she sees everything through the lens of being tested. I asked if she felt the tests were from the devil or from God. "God." If she views everything in life through the lens of a test, then at least she has given the best answer for where that test is coming from. Okay, then, if the test is coming from God, you may rest assured that God will not let you fail. if you "score" poorly, he'll give you another opportunity. God is a god of "do-overs." If you think he will punish you for giving your...
Redemptive Reversals
"The first Adam fell from his humanity from eating a proscribed meal he was forbidden to eat. The last Adam showed us how to rise to our humanity from eating a prescribed meal we are bidden to eat." Leonard Sweet There is such beauty in the many ways we see the NT in Jesus Christ and through his church redeem the acts of man that separated mankind from God in the OT. This vision of Holy Communion is perhaps one of the simplest and most beautiful I have seen expressed. Consider these: 3000 died, after worshipping a golden calf that arose from flames of desecrating fire; 3000 were born into...
Can We Love Enemies, Even Judas?
Someone posted a meme in social media about the mark of Christianity being the ability to love Judas as well as Jesus. I actually have considered that before. If satan had to ask to sift Peter, then he would have also had to ask permission of the sovereign God to sift Judas, as well, it seems. Peter endured the pain of his shame and lived to see himself restored when he encountered the Risen Christ and repented in godly sorrow. Peter, however, had been told in advance he would be sifted and WHEN he returned, he was to encourage others. Peter, however, also had something to go back to...
Bible Stories By The Wayside
This morning's Wayside topic: setting out on journeys.....from "Bible Notes by the Wayside" by Rev. Horatio Hackett, written in 1852 following several months of travel in the Holy Land. He writes about the story of Jesus' parents starting out on their journey home to Nazareth from Jerusalem and finding Jesus missing from the group, returning to find him teaching in the Temple. (Luke 2:41-49) He notes how strange this seems to us. But the way of caravan travel, which he documents from several sources, was that on the first "day's journey", the travel would start late in the day, about 3pm....
Emotions: Inside Out
Speaking of Pixar's new film "Inside Out", consulting psychologist Dacher Keltner answered this question: What did the film get right? "Well, I think that the film really got a couple of big ideas about emotions right. One, [emotions] are really critical to how we look at the world—our perception and our attention and our memories and our judgment. They guide us in our handling of really important life circumstances, like moves and developmental changes. The second thing is more subtle to perceive in the movie, and it's something that we've been arguing for in my lab: People in different...
God Uses Broken Things
Brokenness is a regular theme at Titus 2 Our women are always surprised to find that it is the starting point of the Kingdom of God, the first of the Beatitudes, the point of entry for the Kingdom of Heaven. Have you considered that the Gates of Heaven are made of Pearls? And what is it that is required to make pearls......pain, perseverance, and patience. Jesus' suffering made the way for us to overcome death and know the joy of resurrection to eternal life! Nothing is ever wasted by God, even pain, if we surrender it to him to be redeemed. I tell them, " Your brokenness is your human...