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.
Ladybug Wings
As a ladybug fan, this little news tidbit was interesting to me! Nah, it couldn't be God, right? Ladybug wings a marvel of engineering, design A team of Japanese researchers has solved a puzzle surrounding ladybug wings that has stymied scientific engineers for years. Until now, researchers have been unable to observe the wing-folding process of the ladybug. The versatile little insect can unfold its wings in one-tenth of a second and take flight for up to two hours, reaching speeds of 37 miles per hour and achieving heights over 3,500 feet. But due to hardened forewings, called elytra, that...
Train Up A Child
I am so very blessed to have been raised in a family in which a commitment to being in church/VBS/Sunday School was made by our parents. There was a spiritual foundation that came from my early training that I was able to build on as an adult. (Hmmmmm, I think God said that would happen! "Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6) I have far too many conversations with young women with little or no spiritual foundation. There is a great deal of deception that is perpetrated on people by our culture when they have no training in...
Throwing Stones
I love, love, love Jill Carattini's devotionals. At Titus 2 we work a lot on understanding the human condition that plagues us all, as part of Step 1 and our powerlessness over it, as Paul says in Romans- "For the good that I would I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do." Any of us can assume the role of Pharisees at times. What would Jesus write in the sand that would cause us to drop our stones? From Jim Carattini 6/7/2017 Throwing Stones Each of us, in an instant, can drudge up a snapshot of humanity at its worst. Images of genocide in Germany, Rwanda, Bonia, or the Sudan...
Pharisaism and Jesus
In Scripture we do not observe Christ serving the Pharisees...except in the dark of night when one came to him to acknowledge that he recognized Christ's authority and to ask questions....Mostly we see Christ, as he was in their presence over meals, in the Temple, and walking the streets challenging the Pharisees for their judgement, their ignorance, their lack of humility, and for using religion to control and take advantage of God's people. They repeatedly asked him legalistic questions in public in an effort to trip him up and bring charges against him. What he preached and the miracles...
Driving Discipleship
From June 7,2017: Not all of what we do at Titus 2 happens in the classroom. In fact, much of it happens in the day to day coming and going and doing of life. One Sunday as we traveled to church, a young lady said to me, "Being a friend of Jesus is hard. No wonder so few are called God's friend." My response was that there really are quite a few who were God's friends.....Moses, David, Job, Joseph, Elijah, Joshua, Noah, Abraham, Esther, Mary Magdalene, John, Paul, and many more. They are characterized by their obedience to God. It doesn't mean they never made mistakes, never lacked...
Missional Minded Ministry
From June 7, 2017: ( Pentecost Sunday 2022 our church heard the witness of a young family called to missions, living among orphans in a facility in Ecuador. They have been foster parents already with 30+ kids in recent years. They leave in August from their years of living among us and leave a lasting g mark of living life on mission!) “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” 1 Thessalonians 2:8 This verse expresses the philosophy that I see lived out by Jesus, his disciples, in missional endeavors, and among...
Purgative –> Illuminative –> Unitive Life
Matthew 12: 43 “Now when the unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept clean, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they come in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.” One may push negative influences out of her life (the Purgative Way) to get...
Pentecost
Celebration of Pentecost- Pentecost is one of the most prominent days in the Christian calendar. It is often referred to as the "birthday of the church." It is the day when Christians around the world celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit broadly and permanently to all believers! The story of the Pentecost, which is marked 50 days after Easter, is recounted in the Book of Acts. The Old Testament says Pentecost was one of the Jewish feast days, however they did not call it Pentecost, which is a Greek name. The Jews called it the "Feast of Harvest" or the "Feast of Weeks." Jews from all over...
Pentecost Past
From June 4,2017 How appropriate that I should find myself being discontinued from Provisional Deacon status, ending my 9- year pursuit of ordained ministry, on Pentecost Sunday by the Alabama West Florida Conference tonight on recommendation of the Board of Ministry after a three year struggle with how to maintain my authentic self and try to meet the Board's expectations for ordained ministry. Somehow I don't think the early apostles and deacons that carried the gospel to the world faced such a gauntlet as I have felt that I have faced in pursuit of ordination to the ministry of Word,...
Recharge
Inertia: A body in motion remains in motion, a body at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by an external force. I think it is going to be an "at rest" inertia day..... Tuning out external forces for a while...…. . Will resume alternate mode, "in motion", when the battery is recharged..... Be blessed and carry on! (6/3/20)