E13: Excerpts from the "Ruin" section of "the skies are full of us" by Sarah Carter and Corinne Shark   

At long last, Sarah and Corinne share excerpts from their upcoming book, "the skies are full of us: a true story of speaking up, burning down, and the unbreakable bond of friendship" releasing from Rebeca Books on October 21, 2025. Each of these readings is from the first of the three sections - Ruin, Rise, and Redemption - into which "the skies are full of us" is arranged. 

Sarah's excerpt pulls back the curtain on the intimate and excruciating experience of her and her husband, Steve Carter, pressing "Send" on his resignation from Willow Creek Community Church. By allowing listeners and readers into this sacred moment of ending, she allows us to witness the pain, fear, heartbreak, and devastation with which both she and Steve wrestled as they fought to walk with integrity and love, even as it cost them dearly. 

Corinne's excerpt recounts that moment where the insulating bubble of travel from Thailand burst and she, her husband, and their small children exited the airplane back onto U.S. soil. They returned as shells of the hopeful, excited selves they'd been when embarking on what they'd believed to be world shifting work with The Exodus Road to fight human trafficking. With these words, Corinne lets us see the heart and devastation roiling beneath ashen skin and broken spirits. 

To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram: @heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne 
For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com. 

S1E12 When Friendship Falters

Continuing their discussion of friendship from Episode 11, Sarah and Corinne delve deep into their evolved understanding of how to behave and be when the smooth waters of relationship get choppy. What do you do when you get to a point in a relationship where there's a miss, whether that's a misunderstanding, a miscommunication, or a misalignment? When fracture or disruption happens, both parties are then invited into a decision. Is this something to figure out and navigate and work toward repairing or rebuilding and moving forward? Or is this a type of disruption that signals the completion of the relationship? Sarah and Corinne discuss how they practice navigating disruption in relationships while honoring their new ways of being, but not requiring the abandonment of themselves or regression into old patterns and thought processes. 

Corinne dives into her realization of the collision of that old, ingrained desire to be right (which also meant she was “good”) with the newer, refreshing desire to grow in deep relationship. Sarah, too, is ever-learning to step away from an old way – the one that required her to have the appearance of submission and meekness – so that she can have authentically connected relationships rather than codependency that forces her to abandon her sense of justice.

Together, they explore the concept of forgiveness – both how to extend it, and how to vulnerably place yourself in a position of acknowledging the need for it.

To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram: @heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne 

For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com.

You Can't Find Your Pack Until You Howl

After decades of believing friendship would just happen naturally, midlife often reveals a different truth: finding your people is an intentional, soul-level pursuit. Sarah and Corinne talk about the ways we locate — and are located by — the women who feel like home. They explore Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ idea that sometimes we must howl to find our pack, and what it means to send out that call in a season of life when authenticity matters more than fitting in.
They share stories of friendships that were safe harbors, and others that became painful to leave behind — the slow grief of realizing someone no longer celebrates your growth, the courage it takes to walk away, and the quiet joy of finding friends who want you to become more of yourself, not less. 
Together, they unpack the difference between companions who hold you small and those who expand you. From coffee dates to late-night porch talks, from women who cheer you on in your most unvarnished moments to those who sit with you through heartbreak and reinvention, this conversation is about building a circle where mutual growth, accountability, and genuine delight live side by side. Sarah and Corinne also reflect on how friendship shifts in midlife — less about quantity, more about depth, alignment, and the kind of laughter that feels like medicine.
Listen in as they explore how to send out your howl, how to answer another’s, and how to honor the endings that make space for new beginnings. This episode is for anyone longing for community that feels like oxygen, for the reminder that healthy friendship is one of the most sacred relationships we get to build.

To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram:
@heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne 

For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com. 

Reconstruction

After you've deconstructed and set aside the beliefs that you've grown past, what's next? How do you go about rebuilding and reconstructing yourself? Sarah and Corinne explore the idea that leaving religion doesn't mean leaving yourself, though it may feel that way sometimes. They discuss the concept of benevolent patriarchy, which appears kind on its surface but actually serves as another way to negate a woman's agency over herself. Sarah explains more about IFS (Internal Family Systems) Therapy and the questions that are explored therein, specifically with regard to deconstruction and reconstruction.

Corinne discusses her surprise during a visit to an indie bookstore when she opened a book on whales and read, "Show me the difference between a cathedral and physics." She recalls her time at Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona and its massive painting above the votive candles: a portrait of a woman, draped in reds, purples, and blues and staring evocatively at the parishioners. Her mind wanders to other examples of "cathedrals" she's encountered in both the natural and human-made worlds. 

Listen in as Sarah and Corinne discuss what it looks like to walk away from religion...and into an authentic life of spirituality and the sacred.

To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram:
@heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne 

For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com.

Episode 9 - Phantom Faith

While they’ve left their former religious tradition behind, Sarah and Corinne now must begin the arduous task of creating a new paradigm through which to live and understand. When Sarah’s beloved father-in-law passes, she falls back on her old ways and walks into a Christian church – only to be confronted with triggering music and environment that send her running outside in a panic. Corinne listens to Robyn Sherwell’s cover of “Landslide” and begins to identify with it in ways she did not before.

Both women come to see that they gave up their own agency in order to live within the Christian tradition and that stepping outside of it requires a conscious change in habitual behaviors. Echoes of their former belief structure and church ecosystem ripple through their lives, leaving in their wake a phantom faith akin to an amputee’s sensation of the lost limb.

They examine the intentions behind the oft-repeated Christian phrase, “I’ll pray for you,” and find that, while it could be about trying to affect a desired outcome, it also could simply be an expression of “with you.” It is this latter sentiment that still rings true amidst the ghostly waves of the phantom faith reverberations.

Far from needing answers or outcomes for everything, they’re learning that questions don’t always need answers. Unknowing from an attitude of marvel and presence – sitting with each other in the uncertainty - can sometimes be the full experience.

In the Christianity they practiced before, they outsourced wisdom and power to a being beyond themselves. Now they’re now coming to wonder if what they’ve been waiting for and needing has actually been within them all along.

To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram:
@heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne 

For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com.

Deconstruction Part 2 - Learning and Leaving

Sarah and Corinne discuss the experiences within and outside the church that led to their independent deconstructions of faith. From seeing behind the curtain of how churches operate to experiencing other faiths, they each came to similar places in a similar timeframe. 

To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram:
@heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne 

For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com.

Deconstruction Part 1 - What We Were Handed

Sarah and Corinne look back on the stories from their early years in Christianity, before the Willow Creek and Exodus Road debacles. From purity rings to liturgy, youth groups to evangelical t-shirts, their sincerity and commitment were everything the Christian church hopes for in a believer. 

To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram:
@heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne 

For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com.

Ep. 6 Telling Stories

So far, Sarah and Corinne have shared some of the hardest stories of their lives. In this episode, they share some of the easier, beautiful ones and the nuggets of insight that accompanied them. Pull up around this bonfire and join in the laughter and wonder that come when wise women share life in story. 


To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram:
@heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne 

For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com.

S1E5: Bonfires on the Bluff

Sarah and Corinne are grateful for the outpouring of feedback from you, letting them know how their experiences are feeding into your own as we all live into through the cycles of life and healing in whatever ways are available to us. In this episode, they discuss various resources that have given insight along the way, including IFS-based therapy (Internal Family Systems) and the books No Bad Parts : Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model by Richard C. Schwartz, When the Body Says No: Exporing the Stress-Disease Connection by Gabor Mate, M.D., and The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel A. van der Kolk, M.D., as well as movies like Young Woman and the Sea and Inside-Out 2 and even Taylor Swift's music video for "Look What You Made Me Do."  They also explore the concepts of societal barriers toward women's health and wholeness, the power inherent in getting healthy, and consider aloud whether sacrificing ourselves for everyone else truly is the best way to be a loving human.   

To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram:
@heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne 

For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com.

S1E4: The Damn Yellow Notebook

Healing isn’t a grand finale — it’s a thousand tiny rebellions.

This week, Sarah and Corinne share the fires they lit along the way: voice memos and therapy sessions, a yellow notebook full of unfiltered truth, and the forgotten joy of playing again after years of survival mode.

This isn’t a blueprint. It’s a conversation around the fire — tender, true, sometimes messy, and full of warmth. If you’re somewhere in the middle of your own healing process, they’re right there with you.

Strike a match, settle in, and join them around the fire.

To connect with Sarah or Corinne, find them on Instagram:
@heysarahcarter @thesaltyshark @sarahandcorinne 

For more information about Spiritual Pyro, visit www.spiritualpyro.com.