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.
Forgiveness: Rooting Out Schadenfreude
“Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping. (Rule 2) There are a trillion things to pay attention to. Almost all of them are irrelevant. I would argue there’s no better use of time than understanding your own personality and the personalities of those around you” (promo for Jordan B. Peterson’s Discovering Personality course) The Lord has been working on me the last few weeks, in terms of showing me some things about me… once in a while He seems to shake things up and carry me through a time of introspection. Not morbidly so, not necessarily with regrets….. just calling me...
Pentecost: The Consolation of The Holy Spirit
Reflection for tomorrow, Pentecost Sunday….. “The consolation of the Holy Spirit" is a phrase I have heard from time to time and I had imagined that it is the comfort of the Holy Spirit. But I read a brief essay by Ruth Haley Barton who has written about solitude, silence, and the rhythms of sacred living. She writes in Dicipleship Journal that consolation is "a deep sense of life-giving connection with God, with others, and with whom God created one to be. It is the sense that in some deep way all is right with the world, that we are free to be given over to God to love even in pain and...
Lost and Found
So….., I had been looking for my wedding rings for a week. Not even 30 minutes after posting about my fear that I might not find them (and feeling the sick sense of loss in my gut and praying for God to give me grace to accept their loss, if that was to be the case), I walked upstairs, saw my tray of vitamins and meds that I had sitting on the footstool of my glider rocker and casually glanced down in it. There the rings were neatly stacked in the corner behind a vitamin bottle. I have no recollection of sitting there with that tray in the last few weeks or of putting the rings in there. I...
Titus 2 Update
I developed a series of re-parenting classes based on Biblical principles and have taught them now for over 16 years as I’ve discipled women in life recovery. With the Titus 2 Ministry’s move away from 24/7 residential recovery care to out patient and community care, I am now scheduled for classes 4 days a week at three residential recovery facilities teaching about the human condition, how God created us to grow and thrive in a holistic spirit, soul, and body way, how God in Jesus Christ exemplified the principles and modeled The Way for us, and how God’s Holy Spirit guides and directs...
Prophet-able Fun or Fact?
You might be a prophet if... You’re combative. A prophet insists on battling bunkum and speaking truth to power with zero regard for honorariums or a Dove Award for being Prophet of the Year. You tell the hard truth in tough love. You weep before you whip. You fight the fog of falsity that envelops us all. You love candor and hate duplicity. You excel at being blunt. You have a well-developed BSDetector when it comes to unbiblical church stuff. You’re more like a Full Metal Jacket drill sergeant than a Mr. Rogers. You’re not so much into predicting the future. Your interest lies in getting...
In Dark Nights
I visited with a person who is in the midst of what was self- described as a “dark night of the soul” with depression and some health problems. I was reminded of something that I was told years ago by a pastor in a time of “darkness”……He said, “Go into the grave. Die to yourself. It is better to be in the darkness where God is than to be in the light where he is not.” I learned then that dark nights will come and go, but God is always with me. I must walk by faith, especially when what I can see in the light makes no sense at all.
“All Sin Equal?”
If all sin is equal……. “Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” Jesus’ own words. He also didn’t prescribe a millstone for just anything. (@seantology on Twitter) Sexual sin against children is right up there with premeditated serial murder…. anyone who uses scripture to excuse it is engaging in religious abuse, as well. And those who watch it for entertainment risk completely anesthetizing their conscience beyond redemption. Just sayin’….. For what it’s worth.
God Laughs
As I reflected on how much importance April 1st has had on my life and reading and hearing so many funny April Fool's Day jokes and pranks yesterday, it occurred to me how apropos this little sign truly is that is sitting on my dining table, not only for my little family, but for all of the Jesus tribe!! I can imagine God chuckling at the ways we amuse ourselves and delight Him! I have heard God laugh in prayer…. only once, but it was enough to give me relief that God has a sense of humor. When I saw this little painted clay sign about prayer, it made me smile to think how my prayers must...
Beagle Daisy
3/29:2017 Bill observed a scene in a TV series in which one character after being jailed unjustly and released said, "Sanity was touch and go there for a while." He laughed and said, "I can relate. Here I am 6'5", 250 lbs. and I have felt totally buffaloed and controlled at times by a BEAGLE DOG!" Ha Ha! Sometimes Daisy is so sweet and other times she is just off the chain! There are moments I wonder if we can hold out until she gets old enough to not be so rambunctious.
Boundaries and Differentiation
The importance of establishing healthy boundaries and a well- developed, positive, values-based self-identity when dealing with dysfunctional family members: "The core of Murray Bowen’s articulation of Family Systems Theory is the concept of differentiation: “Differentiation refers to how one functions in response to one’s level of anxiety” (John L. Winek, Systemic Family Therapy: From Theory to Practice, Sage Publications, 2009, 83). In other words, differentiation is the ability for an individual to respond to either external or internal situations without succumbing to emotional pressures...