Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of Faithfully Engaged.
So today's episode is going to be a little bit different than what you have been used
to.
I actually don't have a guest on the show today.
This is just going to be a solo episode and I would love to hear once you are done listening
to this episode.
Love to hear your comments on how this went for you.
If you would like for me to start incorporating some more solo podcast episodes or if by
the end of it you're like, dude, get off the screen, go back to the guests that are better
than you.
I don't want to hear your voice so much.
Either which way I want to hear your opinion.
If you've been here since the beginning of where the Truth and Grace Counseling Podcast
was at, you would remember the structure I had for the Truth and Grace Counseling Podcast
is I had several different segments and I actually really enjoyed doing those segments.
It was kind of a way for me to talk out loud a little bit, kind of give some updates of
what's been going on.
So doing these solo podcast episodes, I'm kind of tinkering around with this idea a
little bit.
I might have some different themes that I would like to talk about or have some different
topics, current events, things like that.
So anyways, I would just love to hear your opinion about how you felt like this episode
went.
A few things off the bat as far as ways that you can really help support the show.
First thing, I've mentioned this before, simply liking, commenting, sharing this show with
both your friends and family kind of offline and also even just sharing it to your Facebook
or Twitter or X, I guess, Instagram, whatever.
That really does go a long way towards just spreading the show and like I said, even just
hitting a quick like or if you're listening to the audio only version, giving this A5
star review on Apple podcast, Google podcast, Spotify, wherever you're listening to this.
Those little things, they just go a really long way towards working with the algorithm
and everything and really spreading the show.
So that means a lot.
A few new ways that you can help support the show.
These are both different affiliates that I am now working with.
One is called North Arrow Coffee.
So North Arrow Coffee is a really neat pro-life coffee resource.
So they've got great beans available.
You can either get them as whole beans or as grounded already beans.
And it kind of works like if you've done like Black Rifle coffee or there's several other
coffee places like that where you can also do a subscribe and kind of have your coffee
delivered to you at a certain frequency.
Now what I love about North Arrow Coffee is their mission.
They donate a portion of their proceeds to pro-life causes.
They are really heavily invested in babies getting appropriate care and making sure that
we're treating these mothers in difficult spots with compassion and care and yeah, just
making sure that there are babies that we're being taken care of in this world.
And I think that's just such a great mission.
I think abortion is really the great evil of our civilization.
It's evil just in the sense of dismembering unborn babies is obviously evil in my mind.
But it's also such a big evil because it's so accepted in our culture.
It's looked at not only as not a bad thing, but it's actually celebrated in a lot of ways.
So I love getting to partner with a coffee company like North Arrow and be able to support
some really great values.
So I have this link down in the show notes from now on.
This is going to be in all of my show notes and the show notes are listed on all the Audio
Only podcast.
They're also listed on YouTube, Brumble.
I'm trying to post these more often on X or Twitter, whatever you want to call it.
Elon Musk, if you're listening to this, which I know you're a big faithfully engaged fan,
the issue of why I don't post every episode there is while they do let you post longer
videos than previously, there is a limit on the gigabyte size and some of these conversations
that go on for over an hour actually end up going over that limit.
So Elon, if you get up that maximum file size, that would be great because I would absolutely
love to have all of my shows posted on X as well.
But that being said, I'm trying to put these affiliate links in the show notes and all
the places I put the show and obviously faithfullyengaged.com.
I have a both a newsletter, which you're more than welcome to sign up for.
I'll talk a little bit more about that in a little bit.
And then also just on the website itself, I have an episode kind of a list there and
you're able to watch it.
Have YouTube link and Spotify link and all that good stuff on there.
But I also have not only the show notes listed for every episode, but also have a transcript
that's that's down there as well.
So faithfullyengaged.com has some cool stuff, but I'm going to be posting this North Arrow
link on there every time.
And when you click on the link I give you, it actually automatically comes with a coupon
code.
You don't have to click on the link.
You can go on North Arrow yourself, but the coupon code is engaged.
And when you put engaged in there, when you're checking out, you actually get 10% off your
order there.
But if you click on the link I provide for you, you don't even have to put engaged in
there.
It's already in there for you and you get that discount.
So great way to support the show and support a great, a great cause.
Another affiliate that I'm going to start posting on all these shows is through Podmatch.
Now Podmatch is a really neat website.
I have been on it for, oh, three or four months, something, something of that nature.
And it's really neat for me as a podcast host.
That's actually where I've gotten the majority of my guest on the show.
I find them through Podmatch.
And Podmatch kind of works like a, it's almost like a dating site where it matches guest
people that want to be a guest on a podcast and people that host podcast.
And it matches similar interests, kind of has like an algorithm and ask you different
questions and things like that.
And you match with, you know, with guest or host and you're able to message each other
if you feel like that's a, that's a good fit.
So a lot of the guests I've had on either they message me first or I message them and
we decided for a good fit.
And then from there, I get them on the show.
And one of the benefits for me as a host is not only do I get some, some great guests
and have some great conversations, but as a host, be using Podmatch.
I actually get a little bit of a kickback there.
I actually turns out where I end up getting paid to have people on the show.
It's, it's not like a massive amount, but it's a nice little, little perk to find some
guest and get, get a little bit of commission there.
Now I don't just use it as a host though.
I also use it as a guest.
Now if you use it as a guest, you are not going to get paid a commission.
You actually have to pay a little bit more that way.
But the wonderful thing of being a guest and why I choose to be a guest on other podcast
is it is wonderful exposure.
It is a great way to pitch your services.
Typically what I do when I'm a guest on shows is I will talk about either counseling.
So I'll talk about truth and grace counseling, or I'll talk about this podcast, talk about
faithfully engaged.
And it's a really cheap way to kind of have yourself exposed to different podcast audiences
and to get, yeah, just a pretty, pretty cheap advertising dollar there.
So I love it.
I love it both as a host and as a, as a guest as well.
So I have a link down there.
It's again, another affiliate link.
So if you go on there and sign up as either a host or as a guest, I get again, a little
bit of a percentage of that kickback, but I'm not plugging this solely just for the affiliate
links.
Like, yeah, I mean, I like getting affiliate kickback.
Don't get me wrong.
That's why I'm discussing it.
But I actually really, I believe in both of these products.
I believe in North Arrow and their mission.
And I believe in Podmatch.
I think Podmatch has provided me great value already, just as a host and a guest.
And if you're out there, particularly if you're a guest and you're like, hey, I've really
got this cool idea out there.
And I don't want to float it or I've got a book that I want to promote my, my mom's
actually on there.
And she's out there promoting her new book that's about to come out.
So all sorts of cool things that you can do with that.
And it's really neat.
You can, if you don't want to be on a show or whatever, you can just hit decline and
then they won't bother you anymore.
It's just a really cool format.
So I got those links down there.
Feel free to check those out, another kind of quick update on other ways to help support
the show.
You can always get some March.
I've got those, those cool shirts.
I, I don't have my shirt on right now.
It's in the dryer.
I had it planned to have on for this episode, but life happens also there in the background.
I've got my mug also have a hoodie in the shop.
So that's always a great way to help support the show.
And then another good way, like I mentioned before, I have my newsletter.
This is part of why I like to do these solo episodes.
I like to kind of think out loud a little bit to the audience.
I'm considering expanding the newsletter.
Right now the newsletter I will send out on Monday mornings to kind of announce the new
show that airs every Monday morning and have little, just little blurbs in there about
the current show and about past shows and things of that nature.
I'm considering expanding it.
I still want to have the announcement newsletter, but considering doing kind of like a blog style
newsletter about different topics, different ways that you can engage the culture, things
of that nature.
So let me know if you're interested in that.
I'm thinking of, yeah, doing it.
Is that a blog style, maybe 500 words or so once a week or something, but if that's something
you're interested in, I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.
And if so, what are some topics you would like to be covered?
Do you want me to talk about more current event things?
Do you want to talk about mental health issues?
Do you want to talk about ways that you can use social media for positivity and not for
negativity?
Anyways, I'd just love to hear your thought on that.
Another perk of being on the newsletter is if you're interested in merch, I do have some
exclusive codes there to be able to discount your purchases there.
And I would love to kind of expand upon that, maybe come up with some other member newsletter
member perks.
You recently had that giveaway for Soad's journal that she had released.
So I'm always loving new ideas.
I want to not just have you have your guys' emails and spame you all the time.
I want to bring you value.
And I would love to hear some ideas from you of ways that I could help bring you value
through those emails.
So all that being said, for today, I wanted to talk a little bit about a word that I think
is very important and that is gratitude.
So when I hear that word gratitude, I immediately think about a situation that happened with
my daughter.
So my daughter is almost four years old as of this recording.
And when my daughter was born, she had issues that it's a medical condition known as jaundice.
If you have had a baby that had jaundice, it's fairly common.
I don't know the statistics on how many babies have it.
I actually had it as a baby myself.
You can, the skin gets a little bit more yellowed.
It's an issue with your liver and something called bilirubin.
Essentially your bilirubin count is too high.
Relatively minor as long as you catch it and you get it treated.
When I was a baby, the course of treatment was to put me like in a windowsill, get a
lot of sunlight.
With my daughter, we called it when she was in the hospital and to have like this fancy
ultraviolet lamp essentially and she had to wear these specialized sunglasses type of
thing.
Kind of looks like what you put on your eyes if you go to a sun tainting place or whatever.
Anyways, so she had to do that and we were thinking that it wasn't going to take that
long and eventually we were going to get to go home and obviously we did go home eventually
but not when we wanted to.
We had to stay another night or two longer than we would have liked to in the hospital.
So my daughter, she was our firstborn.
We were ready to go home, sleep in our own bed to have our daughter back home, start
our life there with our baby out in the world.
We're just kind of bummed out.
Bummed out that we had to stay in the hospital a little bit longer.
I don't know if any of you listening to this have either one had a child or just have had
to sleep in the hospital.
It's not a restful spot.
Nobody likes having to sleep in the hospital.
So during the story, I ended up going back home for a short while just to grab some more
clothing, get some tulip tree items because we weren't planning on staying in the hospital
as long as we did.
And when I'm driving out of the hospital, I see this helicopter that's flying out.
It's a medical helicopter and that's fairly frequent.
That wasn't that out of an occurrence.
So what was odd as I'm driving out here, as I see this young lady that looked to be in
her 20s or something like that, but she was out there in a hospital gown and she's kind
of the positioning of her body.
She's looking up at that helicopter and as the helicopter flies off, she is being assisted.
She had like a nurse or something out there that was helping her and was assisted back
into the hospital.
I just thought at first glance, it's like, that's weird.
Why is she out there?
And I pieced this together.
Now I could be wrong.
I don't know this lady.
Nobody ever told me what happened, but just using context clues, I'm pretty sure what
happened is that lady that I saw was a new mom or at least a mom of a new child.
And that was more than likely her child, her baby that was up in that helicopter.
I say that because just basals off of her age, her looking up at the helicopter, the
fact that somebody was out there assisting her, where she was going back into the hospital
is kind of where the birthing wing is.
And also at my local hospital, it's not that uncommon for a baby to be taken into the medical
helicopter.
I just say that because our local hospital doesn't have a NICU.
So if there's any type of treatment that is a little bit more serious in nature, they
play it pretty safe and send most babies to OU medical and they just do that on the helicopter
there.
So I have no idea what happened to that baby, what happened to that mom.
I hope that everything went fine, but I'm sitting there in my car driving.
This is all going on in like 15, 20 seconds in my head.
And my mindset changed.
I'm still annoyed.
I'm still disappointed.
I still want to go home.
That desire didn't change.
But now all of a sudden my perspective changes.
I become grateful.
I become grateful that my wife is okay, that she wasn't having any major physical issues,
became grateful that my daughter was okay.
Sure.
She had jaundice.
I'm still annoyed that her level, Billy Rubin levels were higher and she had to stay in
the hospital a little bit longer, but no point was there ever a risk of her having to be
metaflighted or anything.
I was grateful.
And it took me seeing something outside of my own pity, outside of my own discomfort
and just being stuck in my head took me seeing outside a little bit for me to get more perspective.
Now, before I go further on this, I want to clarify that there are going to be times in
life that you are just in a big despair.
Maybe you have lost a loved one.
Maybe that is your kid that's being metaflighted.
Maybe you're just really dealing with massive hardship in your life.
There's one book of the Bible that I think is always a great one to go back to when you're
facing strife like that, and that's the book of Job.
Job is such a story of perseverance and trust in God.
I don't know anybody on earth that went through quite what Job went through.
His story of grief and despair and trust in God through it all is incredible.
So I don't want this story for me to say that, oh, just get over it.
If you're going through problems, just get over it.
It's no big deal.
And just think positive all the time.
No.
It's more so what do you do with your grief, with your loss?
Who are you going to with it?
Are you just saying, whoa, it was me and making it all about yourself and that you've got
it the worst?
I can understand that temptation.
I'm not going to say I haven't ever done that.
Obviously, in that story there in the beginning of it with my daughter, I had some, whoa,
it was me attitude.
But it's important that when we are disbared that we give it to God, that we don't hold
on to ourselves.
Job, he said, that the Lord giveth and the Lord takeeth away, blessed be the name of
the Lord.
That amount of faith that he showed is incredible.
We also see some of the Psalmists that whether they're in exile or whatever it may be, they
feel God is distant from them and they still cry out, God, why are you distant?
Why do I feel like you've abandoned me?
Blessed are you, blessed are your name.
That amount of faith to even go to God when you don't feel him, that's incredible.
That is some incredible faith to show.
So again, the point of me saying all of this is not to say that you won't experience despair
just to quickly get over it.
It's simply to say that when we're so focused on what's going wrong, we miss the blessings
around us.
Because the fact of the matter is the fact that we are here, the fact that I have this
microphone that I'm talking into, talking into my camera as my iPhone, I have a cell
phone.
Can you imagine what somebody 50 years ago that was looking at a cell phone, especially
a smartphone?
What kind of witchcraft is this?
It's incredible technology.
Again, the fact that I'm just able to get up, walk around, the fact that I have now three
kids, I have a newborn son, time of this recording was born two weeks ago.
So much to be grateful for in my life.
And I guarantee you, even if you are listening to this and you've gone through heartache,
you have things you're grateful for too.
It doesn't discount that you have struggles, but again, it gives you context.
And that is a big challenge I have for you is regardless of what you have going on in
life, regardless of what stage of life you're in, find something ideally daily that you're
grateful for.
I've challenged this with some of my clients before, some of my counseling clients.
And what I love about making a daily gratitude challenge is eventually you lose some of the
big ones.
Like I mentioned, I'm grateful for my son that was just born.
That's a good thing.
I should be grateful for that.
And I love him to death.
But if I'm going to say things I'm grateful for every day, I can still say that.
Like I'm grateful for my son, grateful for my kids, my wife.
I can still say that daily.
That's a good thing.
But I want us to go beyond that, to not just be grateful for the big things.
What about the small things?
Again, time of recording this, it's been a very hot summer, especially in the later
summer.
And the fact that we have air conditioning here is pretty incredible.
Another thing in the grand scheme of all time human history, air conditioning is a very
new invention.
Have you been grateful for it?
Have you been grateful for the fact that you are breathing today, that God gave you another
day to live, another day to breathe?
Are you thankful for socks?
The fact that you're able to put them on your feet and not blister your feet when you wear
shoes.
Again, another thing to be grateful for.
Are you grateful for the fact that more than likely you did not go hungry or thirsty this
day?
There are things out there that you take for granted every single day.
And when things go wrong, again, it's okay to recognize that things aren't right and
that we want to correct some things and deal with that.
But are you missing the context?
Are you missing all the blessings that you have there in between?
You're not ever going to be perfect at this.
We're all sinful, sin impacts every single one of us.
But especially those of you that are listening that have been given that grace by God to
be set free from our sin, to be forgiven for that.
My goodness, there's nothing bigger in the world than to be grateful for having a God
that loves us so much, that sent us His Son and died for our sins and saved us from that.
Boy, that's a lot of gratitude.
That's huge gratitude.
So we need to practice that.
We need to model that.
If you're a mom, if you're a dad, model that for your kids to show that there's so much
to be grateful for.
If you listened to, again, the Truth and Grace Counseling Podcast, which proceeded faithfully
engaged, one of my last episodes, I was kind of explaining the change of going from the
Truth and Grace Counseling Podcast to faithfully engaged.
And one of the big reasons why I made the switch is I see so much content out there
that is either conservative in scope, more political in scope, or even just being more
Christian in scope.
That is focused on what's going wrong.
Again, there's nothing wrong with that.
There is lots going wrong in our culture.
No doubt.
You won't hear me say otherwise.
The issue is so much of that just leaves you listening to it, feeling down, feeling depressed,
feeling angry, feeling apathetic.
And then you just go into woe is me or even worse.
What's the point?
What's the point of me trying?
I don't believe God made us to feel that way or to be that way.
He wants us to be engaged in our lives, to make a difference in our lives.
And you personally probably aren't going to save the United States.
You're not going to save the whole world and change everything yourself.
But can you impact your kids?
Can you go say hi to your neighbor?
Can you be grateful for what God has gifted you with?
You can do those things.
And that's what I want to emphasize here is some real practical ways not to act like
nothing is wrong, but to actually do something with your life.
And you practicing feeling grateful for the things you already have, not coveting what
you don't have, not coveting what your neighbor has, but being grateful, being thankful for
what you do have is a really big deal.
And that's something in your control to think about every day.
Now again, wrapping up, let me know what you think of this episode, a little bit of a different
feel.
It's just me, a little bit more kind of casual in nature.
Where I might have themes like this kind of harkening back to Truth and Grace counseling
of the, the last word segment where I took a word.
That's kind of where I got this idea from using gratitude.
Let me know what you think of that.
Do you want a topic of the day?
Would you like to do solo podcasts half the time and interviews half the time, maybe once
a month for solo podcast?
Or what did you just say?
Again, Johnny, get out of here.
I want to, I want to talk to the cool guest that you have on and just be more of the interviewer.
Let me know.
Again, check out North Arrow Coffee.
Keep on code engaged, pod match.
If you want to start a podcast and have some guests on there, or if you have a really cool
product out there, a good book or want to advertise your company or something, go on
there, be a guest.
There's all sorts of podcasts out there.
It's really cheap, good advertising.
I'm actually going to be trying to pop up on some podcast here in the new future for
Truth or Grace Counseling.
I've got a new continuing education course that's coming out.
It's about evangelicalism and ways that counselors can be better for those that are evangelical
and in the counseling field.
I'm going to be talking about that hopefully soon on some podcast.
I might even talk about it a little bit more on this podcast later.
As always, thank you so much for listening.
Feel free to check out those links.
Please consider giving this a like, subscribe, share.
If you're listening on audio, give it a five-star review.
I know it doesn't seem like much.
It's really not, but it does add up quite a bit.
Thanks again for listening.
I hope you all have a great week.
I will talk to you guys soon next Monday.