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.
Let Your Yes Be Yes, Your No Be No
There is only 1 Jesus Christ. He sacrificed himself for each of us and for all of us.... If you don't like that I have boundaries that prohibit me from accepting responsibility for or making sacrifices on behalf of you or someone else against my will, contrary to my prayerfully considered judgment, or in the best interest of those involved, take it up with Jesus..... don't try to manipulate me, guilt trip or crucify me for failing to be your savior. I'll introduce you to mine and He can teach you to set your own boundaries...... If one does not feel free or is unable to say "No," then her...
Holy Exalted. Wholly Devoted.
The Holy Spirit distinguishes Himself from all other spirits by His holiness. The Bible uses "holy" in two ways. 1.) exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness. : divine. "Great is the Lord in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. Let them praise your great and awesome name— he is holy.Psalm 99:2-3 2.) devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity. 1 Peter 1:13-25 calls all people of faith to live a life of holiness. Holy living means that the Christian lives a life that is set apart, reserved to give glory to God. It is a life of...
Cut The Ropes
Today I was considering how often I have to hunt for scissors and I remembered how my Daddy always carried a knife. He was often using it. To cut a rope for a tarp on a truck, to clean out around the rim of something, to clean his nails while scrubbing his hands, etc. it crossed my mind how convenient it would be to have a knife in my pocket...... I actually do have a folding 6-in-1 tool in my car, but it’s a little cumbersome to carry in a pocket or purse. One never knows when a sharp blade may be needed to cut the strings that have one bound. In the spiritual or emotional realm, as the...
Church: Heart Habit to Wholeheartedness
Bill and I were young marrieds with a toddler and an infant. It was mid-1970s. We had made a commitment to join and attend a church, Whitfield United Methodist Church, in part because that was how we were raised. A Sunday School class for young marrieds was being led by an older military couple from Maxwell AFB, Ron and Carolyn Hoover. We settled in and attended weekly class and worship. I can't tell you about any particular lesson we had, but I can still see the faces of many of the people among whom we lived and sought the Lord together for several years. We eventually all went our...
Welcoming Space
I arrived early at my church one morning. It was quiet; staff members had not yet arrived. I sat on a comfortable sofa in the carpeted entry and just listened. I realized that even "quiet" isn't silent. The renovated building has a life of its own. Locks engage and disengage on a timed schedule. Systems run on power generated elsewhere and emit a low, barely audible vibrating hum that is almost more felt than heard. I had walked around the building earlier in the week and noted the multiple large utility boxes that control its power on the south side of the 60,000+ square foot box-configured...
Child Dependency Issues In News
Excessively aggressive child and infant removal from parents by Tennessee child services reported by WMBB on 3/19/23.....Shocking? Of local interest? This action in Tennessee doesn't make any more sense than when it happens in Bay County, too. Third party contractors with financial incentives to remove, shelter and place children in state supervised dependency foster care have too much unchallenged authority and parents have too little recourse in this abusive system that often places children in potentially worse risk in foster homes where they represent supplemental income to the foster...
Promoting Mental Fitness
Promoting Mental Fitness! 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 coping with bipolar symptoms." 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...
Sacred Geometry and Strength of Identity
At a particularly embattled and exhausting moment in my life, in a hospital emergency room after a brief evaluation by a psychiatric nurse and recommended for admission to a psychiatric unit, I took a brief trip, spiritually and psychologically, to another "place." It was a vaguely familiar place, recognizable from the shape, lights, and feel..... It was into a realm shaped like a geodesic dome. My only two frameworks for recognizing it from my own experience was a radar facility dome I had passed many times in route to my grandparents' homes in Alabama and a trip to Disney's Epcot Center...
Iron Triangles
"Triangles are very strong shapes which makes them important when building strong and stable structures." This Tweet by Eric Hoke caught my eye. This individual helps pastors leaving ministry find their place in the secular economy employment arena. This notion of an "iron triangle" resonated with me. It's thinking of something in terms of the lowest common denominators necessary for strength, stability, and value. This three-point concept is the same thing that appealed to me about Dr. Mark Ragins book on counseling and journeying alongside...
Asking
There are certain points in the faith journey that resonate with those who embark on it. Reading about the life of Oswald Chambers tonight I came across this gem: While in a church meeting as a college student he stood and said, "Either Christianity is a downright fraud, or I have not got hold of the right end of the stick." And then and there he claimed the gift of the Holy Spirit he had been praying for , "in dogged commitment to Luke 11:13. "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask...