The Thing Beneath the Thing

What's Hidden Inside (and What God Helps Us Do About It)

By: Steve Carter

Narrated by: Steve Carter

Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Read by the author!

We all have a surface self we present to the world, but our smiling faces often hide our pain that comes from unsuccessful attempts to find relief through harmful choices. How can we keep past wounds from damaging us? Learn to allow God to heal triggers, insecurities, and more so you can experience spiritual health and wholeness.

Every driver knows the importance of avoiding potholes when navigating a route. Besides the uncomfortable bump, they can create permanent damage to vehicles and endanger entire roadway systems.

The same is true of our lives. We all have potholes that have been formed by pain, trauma, or choices that we’ve made. Usually we find a quick fix, filling the hole with activities and even addictions disguised as culturally acceptable life choices. But before long, the hole is back—and often wider and deeper—waiting to catch us off-guard, which in the end creates even more permanent damage.

In The Thing Beneath the Thing, pastor Steve Carter asks the simple question, “How is life working for you?” He knows that potholes exist and that the longer we live disconnected from answering this question, the more we will fill those holes with harmful choices. The solution? Allow God to fill them with His grace and love so that we can discover the beauty of peace and wholeness He has for us.

The process lies in discovering our:

• Triggers: the setup that sets us off
• Hideouts: where we go to escape the pain of our story
• Insecurities: the false stories we create about ourselves
• Narratives: the false stories we create about others
• Grace: the place where we discover how to become whole, holy, and spiritually healthy

Journey with a seasoned fellow traveler who has learned how to ask key questions that help us unlock the places where we’ve buried things. Then we can dig deep, invite healing, and learn new ways to operate so we can begin experiencing the life of freedom Jesus promised.

Reflection questions are available in the audiobook companion PDF download.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Steve Carter (P)2021 Thomas Nelson

Engaging and enlightening

This book is a fun, story-filled ride through working out the things that set you up and set you off. It’s helpful and encouraging, but also not sappy or overly sentimental. It takes you places you need to go but in a way that’s real and funny and even fun.

Deep dive into self

Fantastic reminder that we're all human and we all have baggage, and we choose what to do with that. I got so much from this book, and can't wait to listen to it again.

Truth in a time when it's so hard to find

Steve Carter uses his gift of communicating to issue a challenge to allow God to reveal what's below all of our protective layers. His vulnerability and honesty about parts of his own story, as well as his knowledge of scripture, present a unique approach to writing that welcomes the reader in as if they are in the presence of a caring friend.

Excellent Book

I absolutely have loved and enjoyed this book. So many things to apply to our lives to help us create the life God wants us to live. Wonderful reflection of learning wh we are and and how to come out from hiding and live our full potential in Christ!

Steve has a passion in what he has to say

Steve Carter’s voice is full of passion and truth. His words take you into the story he wants to share. His words he speaks and shares encourage us to dig deep into God’s Word, Show up, and live out our faith in God. Thank you, Steve for this.

Super helpful

Thank you for sharing your personal story and struggles. This book was very helpful. Thank you.

I loved it, and… I hated it. BUT for good reason.

Simply… I loved this book…. And I hated it!!! I loved it because it gave me incredible insight. I hated it because it stealth-fully (is that a word?) made me examine myself… AND I DONT LIKE DOING THAT! I highly recommend this to EVERYONE! I got it to help me understand people but I’ve ended up better
understanding me!

Powerful!

After completing some in depth, personal and struggling story work this book was a gift to my soul!! Yes and amen! Honored to read! Highly recommend to anyone who is open to courageous curiosity and accepting even more “grace & peace”!!! ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Joanie S

An honest review of an honest book

Grace, community, understanding the why behind the reasons we do things that we do and how we react to them. This book is a wonderful experience in an adventure into your own heart and mind. A deep and thoughtful journey down the road of your life and an in-depth examination of the potholes along the way that can easily detour you in a disastrous direction if left uncorrected.
This book is eye-opening and well-written, eliciting laugh out loud moments and some that make you go "whoa." Steve Carter has put into words what everyone who has ever struggled with receiving Grace or felt like they have veered off of the path because of a few bad potholes that festered into something worse. I cannot praise Steve or this book highly enough to really give it justice, only that I felt so deeply connected to the messages and wisdom within to write this review. The Think Beneath the Thing is truly an outstanding read that is thought provoking and reader friendly.
I also very highly recommend the audio version, which I used to first "read" the book while I drive. Steve reads it himself, which adds tremendously to the words because he reads it to you the way he meant it to be read, lending powerful emphasis where it counts and driving home the point with ease.

Life changing perspective

The brilliance of Steve Ryan Carter is on full display as he guides us through an understanding of how to live more fully, happily, meaningfully, and impactfully

The core of this message seems simple enough. Get to the heart of what is driving your own behavior. Brilliance of the book is that Carter shows us how to do that. This is no simple five step plan. This is a deep, thoughtful prescription for how to rearrange our thinking and our actions.

I am a fast reader. But this book took me a long time to finish because I had to stop after every chapter, sometimes after every paragraph to really evaluate my own actions and thinking.

It can be a cliché to refer to a book as “life-changing.” This book IS life-changing. Highest possible recommendation.