#Love4Real Relationship & Marriage Podcast

Content note: This episode includes candid discussions of sexual assault, harassment, sexual shame, and adult sexual topics. Please listen with discretion.

Why is sex sometimes so complicated in marriage—even when both people want intimacy?

In this episode of the Love4Real Podcast, we're having one of our most candid and vulnerable conversations yet.

We're talking about sexual expectations, differences in desire, and the importance of understanding our bodies. But the conversation goes much deeper.

We share personal experiences involving sexual trauma, harassment, shame, and the messages we received about our bodies. We explore how those experiences can continue to influence the way we see ourselves, respond to our spouses, and experience intimacy—even in loving, committed marriages.

We also discuss what it looks like when one spouse feels rejected, the other feels pressured or misunderstood, and both are trying to navigate something neither fully understands.

What if the challenge isn't just about sex? What if there's something deeper beneath the surface?

Our hope is that this conversation encourages husbands and wives to look beyond what they see on the surface and become more curious about what their spouse's lived experience.

LET'S TALK: How have your past experiences or the messages you received growing up shaped your expectations about intimacy in marriage?

Share your thoughts in the comments, and consider sharing this episode with a couple who could benefit from an honest conversation about sexual intimacy.

Subscribe to Love4Real for real conversations about marriage, relationships, and building a love that lasts.

We thought we were ready for marriage… but there were a few surprises waiting for us! 😂

You can go through premarital counseling, ask all the right questions, and feel completely prepared to say “I do.” But some marriage lessons can only be learned through experience.

In this episode of Love4Real, we're looking back at our early years of marriage and sharing some of the realities that caught us off guard.

From discovering unexpected sides of our spouses to navigating communication challenges, unmet expectations, and sexual intimacy, we're talking about what happens when expectations meet reality.

We also dive into living together before marriage, personal convictions, and why becoming one is a process—not something that happens automatically on your wedding day.

Whether you're engaged, newly married, or decades into your marriage, this conversation is full of honest reflections, laughter, and lessons learned along the way.

❤️ Your turn: What's one reality of marriage that caught YOU off guard?

Follow Love4Real for honest conversations about marriage, relationships, and building a love that lasts

Marriage counseling can give you tools, insight, and support, but it can’t do the work for you. And it definitely can’t work without honesty.

In this episode of the Love4Real Podcast, Daniel & Kendra Tillman and Dennis & Angela Bullock get real about what we’ve learned from counseling and coaching couples and how those lessons have challenged and strengthened our own marriages.

We talk about asking the hard questions before marriage, unhealthy coping mechanisms, supporting your spouse without enabling them, creating a safe space for honesty, and how busyness can quietly create distance between two people who love each other.

Whether you’re dating, engaged, newly married, or have been married for decades, we hope this conversation reminds you that healthy marriages aren't built by perfect people. They're built by people willing to keep doing the work.

❤️ Subscribe and join us each week as we talk about the real work of marriage. Love4Real: the kind of love that stays when expectations meet reality.

In this special father-son edition of the Love4Real Podcast, Daniel Tillman and Dennis Bullock sit down with their grown sons, Nathan and Chris, for an honest conversation about fatherhood, family, and marriage.

They talk about what made them feel loved, what was hard growing up, what they still remember, and how their relationships with their dads have changed as they’ve become adults.

Then the conversation turns to marriage: what did our sons learn just by watching us love, communicate, disagree, and stay connected to our wives?

This episode is funny, honest, and a good reminder that the everyday things dads do matter more than we realize.

#Love4Real #Fatherhood #Dads #FatherSon #Marriage #Family

You love each other. Could we tell by the way you talk to and about each other?

In this episode of the Love4Real Podcast, Daniel & Kendra Tillman and Dennis & Angela Bullock go a little deeper as we talk about some of the things the four of us have learned simply don’t work in marriage.

Verbal jabs. Belittling your spouse. Bad-mouthing them to other people. And a few others that came out during a very real conversation.

There are some things we’ve learned can slowly chip away at connection, respect, and friendship.

Listen with your spouse and ask each other: Is there anything we’ve allowed to become normal that isn't helping our marriage?

Real Conversations. Stronger Marriages.

Welcome to a new season of Love4Real!

Before we jump into this season's conversations, we thought it was time to reintroduce ourselves.

Daniel & Kendra Tillman and Dennis & Angela Bullock each bring more than 20 years of marriage experience to the table, along with over a decade of experience in marriage ministry, biblical counseling, coaching, and mentoring couples.

In this season premiere, we're pulling back the curtain on who we are, the experiences and training that shape our approach, why two couples can bring valuable perspectives to the table, and why we believe preparation through premarital counseling and tools like SYMBIS matters.

We have lived enough life together to know that strong marriages require humility, faith, laughter, grace, and a willingness to keep growing.

That's what Love4Real is about: the real work of marriage and the love that stays when expectation meets reality.

Whether you're preparing for marriage, just getting started, or you've been married for decades, there's a seat at the table for you.

New episodes weekly. Follow the podcast so you don't miss a conversation.

The #Love4Real podcast is a Living Well Marriage production. This is real talk about our expectations of marriage versus the reality of it.  This podcast is for you if you need encouragement, inspiration & practical info to help you experience your happily ever after.  

Hosted by Daniel & Kendra Tillman and Dennis & Angela Bullock 

Marriage counseling isn't just for newlyweds and couples in crisis. It helps prevent and overcome dysfunction. It's a tool to strengthen a healthy relationship. This is third episode in a series on normalizing marriage therapy as a tool for happy marriages. We will be interviewing therapists, counselors and coaches who specialize in helping couples relate to each other. 

In this episode we discuss how our childhood impacts our marriage and how counseling can help. 

"You can't grow with someone you're hiding from." Kelli Center

How do I get my spouse to hear me? Why do we struggle to communicate what our needs are? What do we need to unlearn to be better communicators in marriage? These are some of the questions we're addressing with our guest for this episode: Kelli Center.  

Kelli Center is a Licensed Professional Counselor and the owner of Centered Living Counseling & Coaching Services, LLC.  Kelli is passionate about helping individuals to become mentally and spiritually whole so they can be free to live their best life. She feels especially called to bridge the gap between the spiritual and mental health communities, dispelling misconceptions that keep people of faith from receiving the support necessary to meet their mental and emotional needs.  With more than 16 years of experience, Kelli works with individuals, couples and families from all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. She has experience in addressing an array of needs, including depression, anxiety, relationship communication and trauma. Kelli also provides Christian counseling.   

Connect with Kelli Center:  

Website: www.CenteredLivingCounseling.com  

Facebook: facebook.com/kcenterLPC  

Instagram: @kellicenter_lpc  

We are a member supported show. To support the #Love4Real podcast visit patreon.com/livingwellmarriage.  

WATCH the show on YouTube here: 

Connect with Living Well Marriage on Instagram @livingwellmarriage or request to join our Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/livingwelltoday  

Special Thanks to Martin Flores at AZ Pod Studio.

The #Love4Real podcast is a Living Well Marriage production. This is real talk about our expectations of marriage versus the reality of it.

This podcast is for you if you need encouragement, inspiration & practical info to help you experience your happily ever after.

Hosted by Daniel & Kendra Tillman and Dennis & Angela Bullock

Marriage counseling isn't just for newlyweds and couples in crisis. It helps prevent and overcome dysfunction. It's a tool to strengthen a healthy relationship. This is the second episode in a series on normalizing marriage therapy as a tool for happy marriages. We will be interviewing therapists, counselors and coaches who specialize in helping couples relate to each other. In this episode we continue our discussion about how marriage counselors or other third party mediators help you and your spouse hear each other.

To Go or Not to Go to Therapy: What's at risk for couples? Is marriage counseling necessary and biblical? These are some of the questions we're asking our guest for this episode: Vickie Diemert.

Vicki is the director of counseling at Redemption Church in Mesa, Arizona and the author of When Help Heals.  She has been a biblically based counselor for over a decade and has a masters degree in counseling from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Family Social Sciences. Vickie began counseling classes from CCEF (Christian Counseling Education Foundation). The classes shifted her paradigm on how  she viewed and related to God and His Word. After finishing all 3 certificate levels, she decided to continue on and graduated from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2015 with a Masters in Biblical Counseling.  She has been counseling and teaching and training ever since. You can hear Vicki exploring the dynamics of relationships from a biblical perspective with her co-hosts on the Talking to Humans podcast.

SYMBIS Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts (SYMBIS) is a comprehensive marriage program designed specifically for today's couples by a couple. First published in 1995, and continually revised and updated, SYMBIS has become the gold standard in marriage preparation.

We are a member supported show. To support the #Love4Real podcast visit patreon.com/livingwellmarriage.

WATCH the show on YouTube here: Living Well Marriage.

Connect with Living Well Marriage on Instagram or Facebook.

Special Thanks to Martin Flores at AZ Pod Studio.

The #Love4Real podcast is a Living Well Marriage production. This is real talk about our expectations of marriage versus the reality of it.

This podcast is for you if you need encouragement, inspiration & practical info to help you experience your happily ever after.

Hosted by Daniel & Kendra Tillman and Dennis & Angela Bullock

Marriage counseling isn't just for newlyweds and couples in crisis. It helps prevent and overcome dysfunction. It's a tool to strengthen a healthy relationship. This is the first episode in a series on normalizing marriage therapy as a tool for happy marriages. We will be interviewing therapists, counselors and coaches who specialize in helping couples relate to each other. In this episode we discuss how marriage counselors or other third party mediators help you and your spouse hear each other. 

Our guests for this episode are Kenyon and Taccara Martin.

Leveraging their education in Theology, Psychology, and Christian Counseling, Kenyon and Taccara have designed counseling services, books, and virtual programs to help individuals and couples break toxic relationship habits, and learn the habits of healthy love. They are Gottman and are MBTI certified, and use their knowledge and research-backed concepts to help people overcome some of their most challenging relationship experiences. They are the authors of 2 books, Covered for marriages, and The Soul-Ties® Detox for singles. You can hear their raw and relatable relationship advice on their podcasts and learn more about them by visiting AskTheMartins.com,  @askthemartins on Instagram and Facebook.

SYMBIS Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts (SYMBIS) is a comprehensive marriage program designed specifically for today's couples by a couple. First published in 1995, and continually revised and updated, SYMBIS has become the gold standard in marriage preparation.

We are a member supported show. To support the #Love4Real podcast visit patreon.com/livingwellmarriage.

WATCH the show on YouTube here: Living Well Marriage. 

Connect with Living Well Marriage on Instagram or Facebook. 

Special Thanks to Martin Flores at AZ Pod Studio.