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.
Overcoming Trauma’s Chains
When one can’t tolerate uncomfortable emotions, it can effectively put the person in a cage. The more she tries to avoid thoughts, people, and experiences that stir up uncomfortable emotions, the smaller and more isolated her life becomes...... even sometimes becoming anxious, paranoid, and experiencing altered reality. One can learn to confront trauma's emotional bondage, build distress tolerance, and open the door to life-changing freedom from trauma's grip.
Persevering In Tribulation
Tribulation brings perseverance (the ability to remain faithful under pressure). Perseverance leads to character. Character produces hope. The hope is that we will know the glory of God. " This is child's play down here, " David Jeremiah once said in a sermon. Really? It doesn't feel like play. It’s pretty brutal. I will learn everything God wants me to learn so I can do all he has planned for me to do. I may be still woefully inadequate in showing grace to others, but I know without a doubt I have God's grace to sustain me. Jeremiah reminds us that there are some of us whom only God's Holy...
Rat Park Lessons
Titus 2 students and Cathy Byrd had a lengthy discussion about depression, addiction, self care skills, and an oarticle about the "Rat Park" experiments that demonstrated that addiction recovery is more a matter of social support and attachment than anything else. At Titus 2 our staff has understood this for quite a while. Those who embrace building community, emotional intelligence training, accountability with a small supportive group, and conflict resolution skills do much better in long term outcomes. Today I received a message from a former student who was celebrating 4 years of being...
Disappointment
Occasional disappointment in other people is a given. Even disappointment in oneself for having let others down is common. Then there is disappointment in oneself for expecting too much of others that one has to contend with, too. It simply sends one closer and closer to the side of Christ where there is no disappointment and where one's expectations can never be too lofty. Perhaps in doing so one can avoid pulling away from others and be better prepared for the disappointments when they come. It is a given in life that ANY individual has the capacity to disappoint another person at...
Love God FIRST
Luke 2:52 b observes that among other things, like wisdom (intellectual and emotional growth) and stature (physical and moral growth), Jesus also grew......" in favor with God and in favor with man," ( that is, spiritually and THEN, lastly, socially in relationship to others.) Our parents are our first models of goodness, provision, safety, and security. Done well, parenting helps a child transfer his trust to God and learn healthy limits to trusting and engaging with other people. When Jesus articulated the most important commandment in response to the Scribes and Pharisees in (Matthew...
Living The Crazy Cycle Is A Choice
The "crazy cycle"......repeating the same behaviors over and over again, in spite of brokenness, grief, disastrous consequences, and attempts at bargaining with God. I've described this cycle many times to students through showing them how it is described by Jesus in the first three purgative steps of the Beatitudes process....Blessedness coming to one through poverty of spirit (brokenness), grieving, and meekness.....One attempts over and over again to deal with the consequences of her sinful behavior when it catches up with her. She gets to a place of recognizing the need to change as...
When Prayers Merge
This morning as I contemplated my prayer life, I realized that 2 decades-long-standing matters of prayer for me have been the cause of pro-life and renewal in The UMC ... Both of those prayer matters have broadened and matured into larger prayer foci for me. This morning the two merged in something that occurred to me as I prayed and I wrote about it elsewhere. I had commented about an article by an African Bishop about the delay in the UMC split. My comment was, "Instead of birthing fraternal twins ( or more offspring) what the episcopacy is doing by stalling and thwarting the split feels...
Welcome…in Jesus’ Name
I heard about someone who had started attending our church and is casting about trying to "find her place".....in need of discipleship and direction. I told the individual who was aware of this to give my number to this person and have her call me or get her permission for me to get her number and call her. One of my heartfelt desires is that our church would follow through on establishing a mentoring/discipleship program for new Christians and be more personally engaged in helping new attendees to find their place through personalized one on one connection with someone specific. While I am...
Goodness of God
The observation below was from 2016..... many times since then the Spirit has moved greatly in my life, at Titus 2, at Lynn Haven UMC and big changes are on the horizon for The UMC and the global church. So many things have changed. Good things continue to be manifest in the world......I prayed on more than one occasion that I might see “the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”........ and I do! “There's been a steady stream of prayer for revival going on at our church for a while....This morning, sometime around 2-3 am, I stirred from sleep and the Lord spoke to my heart. "A move...
Social Holiness Per John Wesley
“John Wesley once famously said, “There is no holiness apart from social holiness.” Over the years, many have mistakenly asserted that he was talking about social justice. In reality, he was talking about doing discipleship in the context of real relationships. In essence, you can’t become a real Christian alone. The way forward is as close as a few other people who are willing to band together.” JD Walt, Seedbed. I have been blessed to have had several women in my life who are my “band”..... sometimes in formal weekly meetings, other times as our lives’ demands permitted. The disruptions of...