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.
Natural Healing In An Unnatural World
“Jesus’ healings are not supernatural healings in a natural world. They are the only ‘natural’ thing in a world that is unnatural, demonized, and wounded.” German theologian Jurgen Moltmann quoted in Dana Ortlund’s Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners snd Sufferers. ( pg. 31)
Starry, Starry Nights
Sweet memories....... ”On the night that I first saw Bill Byrd, I was picked up at my dorm by one of his fraternity brothers and was escorted to a social event on Auburn's campus for those of us who were candidates for sweetheart of their fraternity. As my escort and I walked down the steps at the end of the walkway toward the car in front of the dorm, I saw a shooting star arc across the sky and thought how auspicious that seemed for that particular night. Twenty four years later our son had been dating a young lady for a couple of months when they called to tell us they were getting...
Subtleties In The Word
Sometimes I hear people carelessly use this phrase, "your ways are not our ways. Your thoughts are not our thoughts", to direct us toward the "what" of God's will and work in a circumstance is a scripture I have pondered a lot. The reference is to Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. The first part: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts...." This first-person order of God's declaration suggests 2...
In Between
Reading: "The Land Between, Finding God in Difficult Transitions" by Jeff Manion. Transition is a topic discussed often at Titus 2. The Father of one of our ladies gave this book to her, which his church small group had studied, and gave an impromptu testimony about his own life transition experience to the ladies in the house when he stopped by this week to do the inspection on our fire extinguishers. From the book: "I firmly believe that the Land Between - that space where we feel lost of lonely or deeply hurt -- is fertile ground for our spiritual transformation and for God's grace to be...
The Church Ladies
Cricket, Dixie Bell (Stephanie Wheat), and Eulalee (Emily Davis) all dolled up and ready to sing! Someone asked last night how we got our start....it started after I saw a group of ladies from a Pentacostal church sing some of these songs and I asked the writer if I could use them for a church camp event. She gave me permission and a tape of the songs. I tried for six months to find someone to harmonize with me and put it together. with no success. Then one weekend Emily Davis and I were working on a refreshment team together at an Emmaus Walk and I casually shared my dream with her, to...
A Plain Account of Perfect Love….
“You should be thoroughly aware of this—the heaven of heavens is love. There is nothing higher in religion; there is, in effect, nothing else; if you look for anything but more love, you are looking wide of the mark, you are getting out of the royal way. And when you are asking others, ‘have you received this or that blessing?’ if you mean anything but more love, you mean wrong; you are leading them out of the way, and putting them on a false scent. Settle it then in your heart, that from the moment God has saved you from all sin, you are to aim at nothing more but more of that love...
Undiplomatic Truth
From time to time I am called "mean" and "cruel" for speaking the truth I observe. People want to act like they are truth-tellers...they detest being lied to...… but you TELL them the truth and they bow up, call you mean, and have nothing more to say. (Ironically, they don't seem to have any difficulty lying to others, even when they don't want to be lied to!) They may acknowledge that what you have said is true, but just because it is, you didn't have to say it! Or they will disagree but refuse to even debate the point with you or challenge your perspective ..... more often they just walk...
The God Who Set You Free
When he sets you free, he decides how you will be known. He gives you your name...... his name..... and you are now free FROM the past, but also free TO live into the fullest of what he created you to be from the beginning.
Koinonia
One Sister-Friend heart to another: “Even though we hardly ever talk, I always feel close to you. We have been through a lot together! “ Her Sister-Friend’s reply: “Sister-Friends are like that. But Christ says those who are joined thru His Body enjoy fellowship that is “even closer than a brother.” The Jesus in us both loves and embraces the other.” THAT is the kind of unity we have in Christ Jesus! Nothing else in the world like it. A bond that transcends any distinctive or division you can list....male/female, slave/free, Jew/Gentile, nation/ethnicity, size, color..... Why wouldn’t...
WYSIWYG: For Real
2 components of extroversion: assertiveness and enthusiasm. I'm high in both. Which makes me a burden and a total "extra grace required" for many introverts. If I'd known this in my 20's and 30's and been more guarded about being true to who I am, worn masks better, "faked it to make it" more adeptly, I might have spared myself and others some awkward or painful moments, but God was present through it all and saw fit to preserve both traits, but with greater mercy for those who just can't tolerate either one! I'm good with that. Not all of us can be everyone else's cup of tea... some...