Dating God's Way: Preparing for a Marriage, Not Just a Wedding
Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol
The Bible doesn't talk specifically about dating. But that doesn't mean it has nothing to say on the subject. Dating as a Christian can seem confusing, and hard. There are questions not only about sexuality and sexual behavior, but about how to know if this is "the one," what makes a relationship healthy, and preparing for not just a wedding but a marriage. Tovares and Safa Gray talk with Dr. Carol in this authentic and fun conversation about Godly Dating 101 - their ministry to young Christians helping them navigate all the challenging questions and experiences they are faced with in...
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Raising Christian Kids in an LGBTQ+ World
Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol
The rapid increase in LGBTQ+ issues in our culture leaves many Christian parents struggling with how to navigate these realities with their children in ways that are both loving and aligned to their Christian faith. Dr. Carol's guest on today's episode is Ellen Radcliff. She was raised in a Christian home and also wrestles with same-sex attraction. As a faithful Christian wife and mother who holds to a Biblical sexual ethic, she now works with other parents and families navigating these challenging waters. From both her own experience and her theological training she can help you maintain...
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Authentic Intimacy, Sexual Wholeness, and Freedom from Shame for Christian Women
Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol
Christian women, young and old, often struggle with a disconnect between what their intellect may know is "right" about sexuality, God, and relationships, and what their own experience has been. Pornography or other ungodly sexual behaviors only add to their sexual shame and feeling of being stuck. On this episode Dr. Carol talks with Dr. Joy Skarka, director of discipleship for , about the journey God invites every woman into of discovering the full love of God, how to grow into freedom from sexual shame regardless of your story, and the experience of true intimacy as God originally...
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How Your Deepest Healing Comes From Allowing Jesus and Others Into Your Wounds
Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol
We all get wounded. What do you do with your wounds? As humans we naturally hide the parts of us we deem least presentable. And that very hiding is what prevents the deep healing and transformation Jesus longs to bring. In this moving and personal episode, author, pastor, and ministry director Russell Joyce talks with Dr. Carol about how Jesus finds us in our wounds. His own shame and physical pain he's lived with as a result of being born with Goldenhar syndrome becomes that metaphor for how God meets us most transformatively in the very places we find most challenging. Connect with Russell...
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Reclaiming the Way God Made You as a Man
Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol
Our culture seems obsessed with sex. Then why do so many men seem to experience sexual desire as a place of brokenness, shame, struggle, and confusion? Dr. Carol's guest on this episode asserts that men are oversexualized yet sexually undernourished, and that many men need more talk, not less, about sexuality. Experienced therapist and author Sam Jolman joins Dr. Carol to talk about masculine sexuality as God designed it to be, how evil has hijacked and distorted this critical part of a man's soul, and what the journey to sexual wholeness, wonder, freedom, and even innocence is all about. ...
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The Christian Single Experience: How to Navigate the Challenges to Living Fully Alive
Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol
While approximately 50% of those who call themselves Christian in the developed world are unmarried, only about 25% of the typical church attendees are unmarried. Where are the other single Christians? Many unmarried Christians report unique struggles in their walk with God. They often report feeling disconnected or even alienated from the body of Christ, like church isn't for them. On this episode Lisa Anderson, who manages Focus on the Family's young adult ministry, talks with Dr. Carol about what it's like to live as a Christian single - at any age. And Lisa has some helpful things to say...
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Your Desire to Belong: Finding Our Place in the World and in the Love of God
Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol
The need to belong is deep in our human souls. We are almost always asking, "Am I on the inside? Or on the outside?" Loneliness has strong negative impacts on our physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. Dr. Carol's conversation with writer, speaker, and podcaster Sarah E. Westfall will help you navigate your need to belong, and how that comes more from who you are than something you achieve. And they offer insight into how to move closer to both God and others. More resources: - Connect with Sarah Westfall on , , , or . - Get Sarah's book My article How...
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Securely Attached to God: Experiencing Being WITH Jesus
Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol
More religious stuff to do. So much performance leads to anxiety and exhaustion. When our attachment to God is insecure, or is based on our own activity and behavior, there's no life. Anglican priest and spiritual director Summer Joy Gross has walked the journey to become securely attached to God. She talks with Dr. Carol on this episode about how you can do the same. While offering practices that will help you, your biggest takeaway from this conversation is likely to be a deeper desire to be with Jesus. More resources: - Connect with Summer Joy Gross and the...
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A Story of Pursuing Wholeness in a Marriage Harmed by Betrayal, Emotional Deprivation, and Autism
Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol
Marriage is hard. And it can be really hard when you face betrayal, neurodiversity, old baggage, emotional deprivation, and more. Shawna Meek has faced all this, and has chosen to stay married. She talks with Dr. Carol about what helped her stay - and stay sane - in the middle of all the mess. You may or may not make the same choice Shawna has. But regardless, this conversation will help you feel validated and encouraged, and help you persevere regardless of what happens - or doesn't - with your marriage. More resources: - - Find Shawna Meek at , , or - Get...
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Resilience: How to Stand Firm When Facing Spiritual Opposition
Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol
Your journey to wholeness - sexually and otherwise - will be opposed. That opposition comes from both inside you and from outside you. That opposition includes pressure from the kingdom of darkness. Not everything is spiritual warfare, but understanding this aspect of what you will face helps you be prepared and successful in facing the opposition. Dr. Carol provides three specific strategies or things to do in facing spiritual opposition that will help you recognize when you're under spiritual attack, experience true freedom, and build a lifestyle that will maintain your...
info_outlineThe beauty standards promoted in culture are nearly impossible and destructive for many. Do we need a new and expanded perspective on beauty?
Today's guest helps us do that. Melissa Johnson, marriage and family therapist, and educator talks with Dr. Carol about her own story of leaving her distorted view of beauty behind to grasp God's perspective, and how she is now helping other people on the same journey.
Connect with Melissa Johnson on her website, Instagram, or Facebook.
Check out her Impossible Beauty podcast.
Check out the episode when Dr. Carol was on the Impossible Beauty podcast.
Dr. Carol would love to hear from you! You can leave a confidential message here.