Episode 386 - Blending Your Erotic Minds: How Novelty and Intimacy Keep Marriage Hot an Interview with Katie Runyan
Sex for Saints
In this episode, I welcome back Katie Runyon of Faithful Fling to explore how playfulness, novelty, and emotional intimacy can transform long-term marriages. Katie shares how role play dates help couples break free from routine, rediscover curiosity, and keep monogamy passionate. Together, we discuss why emotional connection and sexual novelty aren’t opposites but actually fuel each other, creating stronger trust and desire. With over 50 creative “flings,” Faithful Fling offers tools to bring fun, mystery, and intimacy back into your relationship. If you’ve ever wondered how to keep...
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Episode 385 - The Dangerous Illusion of Sexual Certainty
Sex for Saints
In this episode, we explore why sexual certainty, which is the belief that you already know exactly how intimacy should look, might actually be blocking passion and connection in your relationship. You’ll learn the difference between confidence and certainty, how curiosity creates space for growth, and why faith and openness are key to deeper intimacy. Through personal stories, brain science, and real-life coaching examples, you’ll see how letting go of rigid beliefs and asking better questions can transform your marriage, strengthen your connection, and help you discover new levels of joy...
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Episode 384 - The Difference Between Safety and Security in the Sexual Relationship
Sex for Saints
In this episode, we’re unpacking a powerful insight that could completely transform the way you experience intimacy in your marriage. It’s all about the surprising difference between safety and security in your sexual relationship and why understanding it might be the missing piece to reigniting the passion you’ve been longing for. Most people think they’re the same thing, but once you see the distinction, it can change everything about the way you connect with your spouse. Sources: Safety vs. Security concept credit: Whitni Miller (BDEmoves on Instagram) on "You Are Not Broken"...
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Episode 383 - Learning to Love Your Body: A Conversation with Boudoir Photographer Hope Orr
Sex for Saints
In this dynamic episode, Amanda sits down with Hope Orr, the owner of Elevated Boudoir, Utah’s premier boudoir photography studio. Hope shares her personal journey from body insecurity and diet culture to self-acceptance and how one DIY boudoir session completely shifted her mindset. Now, she helps other women (and couples) experience that same transformation through photography that’s more about healing than it is about posing. We dive into how boudoir photography can spark self-love, rebuild confidence after trauma, and even strengthen marriages and intimacy. You’ll hear deeply moving...
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Episode 382 - The Difference Between Sex Drive and Sexual Desire
Sex for Saints
In this episode, we’re diving into a powerful idea I recently heard on the Sex Therapy 101 podcast - a conversation between Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers and my friend Dr. Cami Hurst. Dr. Sellers shared a thought-provoking insight about the difference between sex drive and sexual desire. It’s something we’ve touched on before, but today I want to give it the attention it deserves. This is one of the most misunderstood concepts in marriage, and I truly believe that understanding this difference might just revolutionize your relationship. Let’s unpack it together.
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Episode 381 - Bad Marriage Advice
Sex for Saints
Is the marriage advice you’ve heard actually helping or quietly hurting your relationship? In this episode, Amanda interviews marriage coach and author Monica Tanner about her new book Bad Marriage Advice. They dive into common myths like “never go to bed angry” and “happy wife, happy life,” and explain why these well-meaning tips can lead to disconnection over time. You’ll hear real stories, modern insight, and practical ways to build a relationship rooted in choice, not obligation. Whether you're newlywed or decades in, this conversation is full of wisdom you won't want to miss....
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Episode 380 - Learning to Sit with Disappointment
Sex for Saints
What if the key to deeper intimacy was learning how to handle disappointment? In this episode, we’re talking about the one feeling most of us spend our lives avoiding, disappointment, and how that avoidance quietly chips away at connection in our relationships. Whether it’s a quiet letdown at the end of a long day or a pattern of unspoken hopes, we often sidestep the pain instead of sitting with it. But what if facing disappointment head-on could actually strengthen your relationship and even your sex life? We’ll walk through a moment that might feel all too familiar, unpack how we tend...
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Episode 379 - I Guess I'm a Terrible Spouse....
Sex for Saints
You finally build up the courage to say something vulnerable, maybe about feeling disconnected, wanting more intimacy, or missing the spark in your relationship. And then, instead of a conversation, you hear: “Well, I guess I’m just a terrible spouse then.” This podcast episode dives into what’s really going on when that phrase shows up. It’s not about blame or guilt. It’s often a sign of emotional overwhelm. We’ll explore why this defensive response shuts down connection, what’s happening under the surface, and how it can impact both emotional and sexual intimacy in your...
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Episode 378 - Maintenance Sex
Sex for Saints
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “maintenance sex”? For a lot of people, it feels unromantic - maybe even a little cringy. It doesn’t sound poetic or passionate. But what if we’re thinking about it all wrong? In this episode, we’re challenging the way we see maintenance sex. Instead of seeing it as leftovers or a chore, what if we saw it as a sacred act of love, something we choose to do, not because we’re wildly turned on, but because we care about keeping that thread of intimacy alive? Maintenance sex is about presence, not just passion. Intention, not obligation....
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Episode 377 - Good Enough Sex
Sex for Saints
Have you ever found yourself thinking, “We should have sex… but I’m just not feeling it” - only to go through the motions and walk away feeling disconnected? You’re not alone. In this episode, we’re talking about a concept that might just change how you think about intimacy: Good Enough Sex. It’s a model developed by sex therapists Barry and Emily McCarthy that shifts the goal of sex away from pressure and perfection and toward emotional connection. We’ll talk about why sex in long-term relationships doesn’t need to be earth-shattering every time to be meaningful. You'll hear...
info_outlineAt first thought, money and sex may not seem to have a lot in common. But if you think about it, when you improve something about your relationship, it often extends to all of your relationship. That’s why I asked Ruth Liebel to join me on the podcast to talk about money. Ruth is an amazing financial coach that will help you see that we often come into our marriages with different ideas of what it means to be “good” with money. Listen to get some clarity about how you manage your money in your marriage, and how improving that part of your relationship will improve your sexual relationship as well.
Ruth Liebel (Lee-bull) is a financial coach who teaches Christians how to make decisions with their resources that improve their quality of life and support their values. She specializes in helping couples get on the same page, and in creating healthy boundaries around money. Too many lives, marriages, and families are short-changed, even destroyed, by financial chaos. The solutions to so many financial problems are simple and can become commonplace in our homes.
Ruth got her bachelor’s degree in family finance (debt free) and did her practicum in financial counseling. She has worked with domestic violence shelters, HUD, Head Start, churches, and non-profit organizations. She is a certified YNAB Budget Coach, completed Ramsey Solutions Master.
Coach Training, and was a Ramsey Preferred Coach the first two years of her coaching business. Ruth is madly in love with her husband of 17 years, and the biggest fan of her four kids. Her husband came from a very different financial culture than her, and it has been a long, diligent process to create a financial theology and plan that satisfies them both. She knows "good debt" does NOT feel good; vulnerability is scary; healthy boundaries are the difference between joy and
hell; and having somewhere safe to process your thoughts and options is a total game-changer. She absolutely loves her life now, and loves helping people create a life they love as well.
You can find her:
At her website: www.ruthliebelcoaching.com
On Instagram: @ruthliebel
And by emailing her: [email protected]