S1 Ep 40: Standing Stones of Thanksgiving

Honey from the Rock has made it to FORTY episodes! Today, I'll be sharing from a heart full of thanksgiving. The Lord has blessed me immensely with His goodness, both through His person and Word, and through His body. It's easy to hop from thing to thing and stay busy and hustle and grind, but today I want to pause and give thanks to the Lord for His many, many gifts and blessings. 

Scriptures Referenced:

• Psalm 100
• Colossians 3:15-17
• 1 Peter 5
• Exodus 24:1-2
• Joshua 4:2-3, 8-9
• Ephesians 3

You can find me on Instagram / Threads

Transcript

Carrie 0:00

Psalm 100, a psalm for thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with jubilation. Come before him with rejoicing. Know that the Lord Himself is God. It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him. Bless His name. For the Lord is good, and His mercy is everlasting, and His faithfulness is to all generations.

Carrie 0:38

Colossians 3, 15 through 17. Let the peace of Christ, to which you were indeed called in one body, rule your hearts and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Carrie 1:19

Hey everyone, welcome to the 40th episode of Honey from the Rock. I am your host, Carrie, and I am so glad you're here. And I am so excited to be doing the 40th episode of this show and for it to be the standing stone, the end cap, if you will, on season one. And in talking about what I wanted this episode to be with my mom and um a couple other friends, I had thought a lot about what I was going to do, what I was going to say, how I kind of wanted to mark the occasion. And initially I had thought, oh, I'm gonna pull four episodes from the first season and share with you uh why I think you should go back and listen to these. And and maybe I'll throw those episodes in the show notes, maybe I'll throw the titles in at the end.

Carrie 2:17

But the longer I sat with the Lord and and the more I thought about this podcast and what showing up every week has meant to me, I wanted to actually take a moment and pause. And I wanted to take this episode to really give glory to the Lord and to thank him for all he has done. And to thank all of you for being with me on this journey, for encouraging me and and letting me know when an episode has really touched your heart or the the Lord has ministered to you, for you know, asking good questions and praying for me. Oh my goodness, praying for me and praying for me. Um, I my heart, I sit here today really, really overwhelmed by the goodness of God, which is significant for me, and I think it's significant for any of us when we've walked through difficulty and we've walked through loss or grief or disappointment or sickness or affliction, is when we get to a point in that journey and we're able to turn around and look back and say, though the Lord led me through the desert, he did not leave me alone. He kept his pillar of fire with me at night and his cloud, the that pillar of cloud by day with me.

Carrie 3:56

And while I haven't literally seen those things in my life, uh your encouragement, your prayers have have been those things of the Lord to me. And so today I want to sit and thank the Lord for 40 episodes of Honey from the Rock. And I want to think about and talk about some of the amazing things that he has done. So when I started this show, which I actually think it was 42 weeks ago, because I think I've missed two weeks, one due to sickness, and one when I went to go see my favorite boy band in concert, um, which was good, you know. I needed, I needed the uh, I needed the experience. It was so fun.

Carrie 4:47

But sitting here and showing up every week to share the word of the Lord, his scriptures, what he's taught me about himself, how he's shown up for me to share lessons of his faithfulness in the dark, in the wrestle, in the good times, and in the really ugly, desperate times of my life has been a privilege and an honor. And I will say I I've said this to a few people, and I've probably said it on the show, I can't remember at this point, because I mean, 40 episodes is a lot. That's a lot. But I when I went to start this show, one of the concerns and one of the fears really that I had was that I would get feedback that it was too soon because I started this podcast about six months after my dad passed away, uh, which was about four and a half months after then my youngest sister or my middle sister passed away. And that brings a lot of grief, uh, a lot of loss, a lot of life upheaval.

Carrie 6:03

And I've wanted to do a podcast on and off for years, and it was either never the right time, or I really did let fear get the best of me, or you know, insert random circumstance here. But honestly, a huge part of me can see now that it wasn't the right time, that there were things that that Jesus had to work in me, areas of my life that needed his tender hand of pruning and and encouragement and discipline and maturation. I needed maturation in my life in a lot of ways before the Lord made a way for me to sit down and then share what I've walked through with him so far. And it's been a blessing to sit here, it's been a blessing to share God's word and to have a place where I can be honest about what I'm currently walking through and not just share things after I've gone through them. And there has been some of that.

Carrie 7:15

But as Roy Baldwin and I talked about uh in the episode that's coming out next week, which I'm so excited for you guys to hear, you know, there is a lot of, we see a lot of going through things and getting out the other side and then people sharing their stories. But there is value and I think real encouragement to the body of Jesus when we allow ourselves and we allow the Holy Spirit in our vulnerability and in the difficulty of our life and and really the mess that we can be sometimes to thoughtfully and strategically share what He is doing in our lives. And I say thoughtfully and strategically because there are plenty of times in my life where I should have been nowhere near a microphone sharing anything.

Carrie 8:06

And it's not like I've reached some level of maturity to where that's allowed. And Jesus is like, okay, I think you're mature enough and and you know, you've suffered enough that you can start talking about this. The maturity part, maybe. Maybe that that's probably actually pretty accurate. But I think for me, I the reason why this podcast has been such a gift, and I said this to someone, um, a friend that I was talking to over the weekend, in doing this podcast, even if nobody had listened to it, and I just kept showing up every week, this podcast still would have been for me. Because Jesus has has made sure that in my showing up each week, even when I really didn't want to, you know, those those days where you're just like, I just don't want to do anything, or you feel too messy to show up. You feel like what you're working through is is is just gonna is gonna kind of go sideways and and kind of land on people, and it could get weird and awkward and you know, all that kind of stuff.

Carrie 9:19

But for me, this podcast and coming through every week to share an episode and to share what Jesus was doing in my life, it was it was a literal touchstone to reality for me. Knowing that I was doing this podcast kept me in the word, especially in some times and some dark times where I was really wrestling with the Lord and being able to identify his goodness and his truth and ferret out the lies of the enemy and his that stinking discouragement that can so overwhelm were really, really difficult to do. And it was the process of every week sitting here and saying, I Lord, you've called me to do this podcast, and I don't know what to say. I don't, I don't know how to talk about your word or what you're doing when I'm wrestling, and just feeling the freedom and the permission from Jesus to say, talk about that. Jesus has taught me so much about himself through doing this podcast. Things that I have been sharing that I have been learning, I've been learning in real time as as I talk about them.

Carrie 10:39

The Lord has deepened my understanding in an in in an intangible way of just how big he is and how capable he is to take on whatever I throw at him. I mean, you think about the verses in 1 Peter 5 where it says, cast all of your anxieties on him, for he cares for you. And we tend to think that that's a small thing. But I don't know about you, but there are times when my anxiety is is overwhelming and massive and giant. I mean, it's again going back to last week, my anxiety has been a giant in my land. It's been something that's that's colored the edges of the places where I know the Lord is leading me, and yet I've I've been crippled by it. And but to the Lord, my anxiety is a grasshopper and he says, give it to me, cast it on me. And that's I I love the imagery of that, not just, you know, just hand it over, just you know, if you could put that anxiety in like a little doggy bag, that would be great. And just give it to Jesus. No, I mean the language is cast, chuck it, throw, throw it on the Lord, give it all to him because he cares for you.

Carrie 11:54

That's just one of the many, many lessons that I have learned while doing this podcast. And one of the other things that I have learned, and this is probably where I will actually just start breaking down and crying. I hope I I, you know, it's been a while since I've cried on the podcast, so you know, we're probably due for it. But the other thing that I realized and that Jesus has shown me in the midst of doing this podcast is the beauty of his body, the gift that is the kindness of other people, the enthusiasm, the support, the cheerleading, the prayers. Oh my gosh, the prayers that you all have put forth on my behalf was a balm that Jesus ministered to my heart and soul in a way that I can never express to you all, and in a way I can never say thank you enough for.

Carrie 13:05

You know, if I try to start naming people, I will probably forget someone, but I feel like I want to just honor a few people who have absolutely just so blessed me. I I don't I've mentioned it probably a couple of times, um, but I have a prayer team. It's a small team of five women who regularly pray for me, for the show, for my listeners. And so I want to take a moment just to thank my mom, Jackie, my dear friends, Gina, Emily, Teryl, and Taylor. Uh the gift that you all have been to me, and your willingness to say yes, to intercede for this show has been absolutely mind-blowing. And I know that the Lord has absolutely heard your prayers for me and my crazy coming up in here. And I just want to thank you. I want to publicly acknowledge what a gift your intercession has been to me and to thank you. And I want people to know the importance of having people in your life who you can really trust, who who just who faithfully show up for you, and not even in in loud ways, but just to look and say, I know I've got people in my life who pray for me, who love me enough to lift me to the Lord. And I know that there are others who do that for me, and I'm I'm so thankful. But I I just I want to shout out those five women.

Carrie 14:50

And I also really want to thank Gary Schneeberger, my dear friend Emily, my friend Roy Baldwin, and my friend Nicole Jacobs Meyer, those last two who will be on the show, and the first two who have been on the show for their generosity of time and sharing their walks with Jesus. And to Roy and Gary in particular, both of you have been so kind to me in your encouragement and in your cheerleading, in your support. I I am thankful to the Lord for the way that you modeled Jesus and the way that you've modeled Jesus in my life. And I thanked my mom in the prayer team, but I also want to thank my brother who listens to me prattle on about all sorts of stuff, but is just the best brother and is so supportive, and I know he he prays for me as well and intercedes for me constantly. And then I just want to thank every single listener.

Carrie 16:10

If you've ever listened to this show and you are listening to what probably amounts to or sounds like I'm accepting some sort of award when I'm not, I want to thank you too. I just want to pause. I just like I'm just so overwhelmed today by the goodness of the Lord. And every single listener, I mean, from from episode one, where I explained my heart and my vision about this show to today's episode, you've listened to me talk. If you've listened to every episode, number one, God bless you. I feel like I should send you some sort of like care package. But I've recorded, not counting this episode because I don't know how long it'll be yet, but it'll be probably math things, all the stuff. 1,000, probably close to 1,500 minutes. That's how many minutes I've like actually put into the show that's gone out. We won't talk about the multiple intros I do every week that I delete.

Carrie 17:18

But you've so many of you have been here every step of the way. And if there's one thing that I've learned, having lost, and I hate that word, having watched my dad and my sister translate to heaven, go to be with the Lord, and have a having experienced a lot of loss and upheaval in in my life, is that I want to grow and I want to be better, and hopefully also be an example of taking time and thanking people for the way that they've changed my life. And every single listener of this show has changed my life. Jesus has changed my life through this show. And I pray that as long as he lets me keep doing this, and you know, pretty soon you'll see you'll be able to see me and what I look like when I try not to cry. Again, not I'm like, I'm not a cute crier, it's gross, but you're gonna get to see it.

Carrie 18:22

But seriously, life is so short. You know, James, I think's I think he's the one that tells us that it's a vapor. And we never know when things are gonna change on a dime. We never know when life is all of a sudden going to look very different than what we probably anticipated at different points. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's it's that it's never too much to stop and say thank you. It's never too much to stop and tell someone you've had impact on my life and you've changed me. You've changed me for the better. You've taught me more about Jesus, no matter what that looks like or what that what I've experienced.

Carrie 19:14

And so I'm so thrilled to be here on episode 40 to reflect back each episode being a standing stone to the Lord of His faithfulness, of his goodness, of his kindness. And that he has trusted me. He's trusted me with the opportunity to share what he's done in my life and to preach his gospel. Friends, I hope that we never lose sight of what a privilege it is to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ in the happiness, the mountaintops, the joys, the feasts and celebrations of life, and also in the darkest valleys of the shadow of death and in our dark nights of the soul, and in our wrestles with the Lord to keep trusting again and again and again that he is good and that we can trust his character and we can trust his hand and we can trust his heart. Whatever and wherever the Lord calls you to share those things and how that he's manifested them in your life, I pray that you will take a hold of that opportunity with both hands. With both hands. Find that faint thread of hope in your life to grab on to that we wouldn't fall into complete and total despair, but that even when we're at the end of our rope, that the Lord is there, and even when we feel like we want to let go, he's there to catch us.

Carrie 21:18

And so I just I uh as the Israelites raised standing stones throughout different points in their journey with the Lord throughout different generations, I wanted to take the opportunity to make episode 40 a standing stone, a marker, a marker in the sand, a line in the sand to say, I want to pause and look back at all the amazing things that the Lord has done. And I wanted to take the time to thank you for any way by listening, by sharing, by talking and telling me that you've listened, by sharing the show with other people, by Praying for me, praying for my family to just thank every single one of you for your kindness and your ministry to me. Even in the most invisible ways, you have been a balm and a real testimony of the Lord's goodness and kindness to me.

Carrie 22:30

And so I can't wait for what the Lord has next. I can't wait to see what he has planned, what more he's going to show us on this journey together, how he's going to lead us deeper into his word and open up ways that he wants us to know him even more deeply and richly. You know, as Paul writes in Ephesians 3, above anything we can think or imagine. So if you've made it this far, congratulations. I will shoot me a message and I will um probably mail you a sticker for getting for getting this far. Um thank you for, you know, this is just a place for me to share my heart and to share the deep emotion that I feel. Again, today is just a day where I feel extremely overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord. And I am so excited for the future of this podcast. However long the Lord wants it to go. I want to keep showing up each week, encouraging you in your discipleship walk with Jesus, challenging you as the Lord challenges all of us to know him more deeply, to be just absolutely ministered to by the Holy Spirit, as he leads us into all truth.

Carrie 23:58

And as the Father continues to give us witness and to show us his goodness and his kindness and everything that he has poured out on us through the gift of his son Jesus, it is a privilege and an honor to walk alongside you on this journey. And I thank you for walking alongside me as well. And I am so looking forward to the fact that the next time I see you, well, really, you'll see me. We'll be on video. And I just look forward in deep anticipation for what Jesus is going to do in the next season, in the next 40 episodes and beyond, to make his name known, to bring himself glory, that we would know him, the one true God and Jesus Christ, whom whom he has sent. And that in loving his word and and being filled with his spirit and following the Holy Spirit's leading, we would truly know the Lord and live. Live with joy unspeakable and full of glory to make him known. Amen.