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.
Institutional Church
Anyone who's been around us "church people" (or any kind of people, for that matter!) for any length of time know about "people pleasing" and "tickling ears". While clergy may have enjoyed a sense of "control" over churches at one time, clearly church laity has a huge hand in who comes and goes. Now, though, clergy have broken ranks with one another and not only can they not control the congregations like they once did, they cannot control their own Orders and steer the UMC's expanding vessel in any way other than around in circles, it seems. Any illusion of "control" by clergy has...
Eschatological Hope
One of my devotionals this week asked where am I this Lent season with the way our world is- apocalyptic anxiety, apathetic indifference, or eschatological hope. JD Walt in a seedbed.com daily text this week wrote: “Rather than interpreting the Word of God in light of the times, we must learn to interpret the times in light of the Word of God." I remember the time, long before I went to seminary, over 25 years ago, when God began to speak about hope into my heart…. and it had absolutely nothing to do with being raptured …. It first moved me into the post- tribulation ranks. If God would...
The Best Advocate
Five years ago, a former Titus 2 student commented on a report of another student's experience with learning to stand up for herself: "My ordeal wasn't as serious as hers. I remember the day clearly when you told me I could stand up for myself. With you in the car waiting on me, and the Lord holding my hand. I walked up the steps and began to take control of my life." Woo hoo! Teaching women to be their own and their children's best advocates is the joy of being an advocate.....and at Titus 2 we do it through teaching them that THE ADVOCATE is with them, going before them, and equipping them...
My Take on UMC Chaos
In recent weeks I have read numerous opinions by various theologians and pastors whom I respect regarding contemporary issues that challenge us as Christians and as a church. Each strives to bring sound reasoning and passion to bear on subjects like same-sex marriage, ordination for homosexuals, defining hospitality and tolerance, and more. One after another, they call for reasoned discussions of the issues. Some are even openly beginning to offer division of the church as the only course of action. Dr. Riley Case, writing for The Confessing Movement within the United Methodist Church, in an...
Human Condition Grief
In a note from a friend, she shared that her pastor had preached a sermon on "the hells that can be present in one's life and how they burden others around them." Oh, my. I hope that was simply the perception of the listener and not the whole gist of the actual message. That wording and its implications distress me somewhat. Just yesterday, too, I learned about the suicide of a friend who had again lapsed in the battle with alcohol. In a conversation with this struggling friend a while back a promise was extracted not to inflict self-harm like that... Actions of the last few weeks, however,...
All In: Suffering
Simply admiring Jesus and being a member of a church does not constitute being a Christian. It is obedience in following him that defines a Christian. Francis Chan told of one leader of a group of underground house churches in China who said that Westerners seem to view sanctification as a life-long process of deciding what and when one will surrender bit by bit to Christ. In the persecuted church surrender of all to Christ is a prerequisite that is fulfilled immediately...….. and may cost one everything, including life itself. Jesus does not desire martyrs who seek suffering. He desires...
Accountability Vs. Blaming
This was from six years ago...... I’ve had this almost exact conversation more than a few times. “Last week I was talking with someone who had experienced disappointment in some people because they didn't let her do what she wanted. They held her to a covenant agreement and she was required to accept some undesirable and chafing consequences for having violated it. In venting her anger to me she said, "This isn't godly. It's unfair. God doesn't show favoritism." This last comment was intended to show how some others had not gotten consequences for the same behavior when she had. I said to...
Life Challenges Per Decade
A memory from Mar. 27, 2014: “May 1983- 2 couples died in a plane crash near Montgomery, AL in route home from a vacation.....Gloria Galloway was one of those people. She was a classy and kind lady, someone I admired. She and Michael left behind two children. Those of us who knew and served alongside Gloria in local civic activities experienced heart ache for their and our loss. I was 29 years old. I have often said that was one of the worst years of my life....not only for her death, but a multitude of other things that were going on. Until this last year I don't think I've had but one...
Signs Of Maturing
Io accompanied a friend who needed some assistance to a doctor visit with a female dermatologist this past week. My friend had a few skin lessons that concerned her. The doctor looked them over and treated two with nitrogen in places where clothing irritates them. For several others the doctor called them "maturing skin spots." My friend and I both laughed and we teased the doctor a bit about avoiding age discrimation with the delicate change in terminology from "age spots" to " maturing skin spots." She said, "Well, no one wants to hear "it's just an age spot!" We laughed and agreed. I...
“What Do You Do With A Diagnosis?”
Inspired by Bibical Counseling Coalition's "What Do You Do With A Diagnosis?", this is what we do at Titus 2 Partnership. Biblical understanding of one's true identity in Christ constructs a bridge from an individual's identification with a psychiatric label (“I am bipolar,” or “I have bipolar”) to “I am a child of God indwelt by the Holy Spirit who is struggling with bipolar”. Physical symptoms and root heart issues often arise from a host of broken, dysfunctional, even......let's just say the word!)....sin patterns that are endemic in a world that falls far from any ideal of wholesome and...