In this heartfelt and honest conversation, Dr. Scott and Deana Thayer share the journey that brought them together from painful divorces and personal rebuilding to creating a thriving, blended family rooted in faith, grace, and intentionality. They open up about how difficult seasons unexpectedly became part of God's plan for their lives and how blending two families came with both beautiful moments and significant challenges. The conversation dives deep into the emotional realities of blended families, including the unexpected aspect of grief blending a family includes. Scott and Deana explain why stepfamily dynamics are frequently misunderstood and why healing, patience, and reassurance are essential for building trust and connection. Listeners will walk away encouraged by the Thayers' vulnerability and equipped with marriage-strengthening strategies to help couples blend their families with compassion, resilience, and purpose. For more about the Thayers, visit their website BlendingWell. Also check Deana's article in the Remarriage & Blended Families Resource List from Focus on the Family. More from Dr. Carol Ministries: In-Person Intensive Weekend - Experience true healing and wholeness as you unpack your personal story around intimacy and relationships in a safe, caring, Christ-filled environment. Individual Coaching with Dr. Carol provides a one-on-one format to help you navigate your personal journey through practical encouragement and scriptural-based perspective. Dr. Carol loves to hear from you! Send her a confidential message here.

What does take to really build a marriage that thrives, not just survives? In this episode, Pastor Mike Novotny discusses with Dr. Carol the foundational principles for building a lasting and healthy marriage, particularly during the first year of marriage. From issues like faith, communication, sex, finances, chores, in-laws, and more, Mike delves into one of the most common — and most overlooked — sources of conflict in marriage: colliding expectations.

Mike also opens up about his struggle with pornography, explaining how embracing vulnerability and living out the principle of confession (James 5:16) brought healing not only to his personal life, but to his marriage as well.

Whether you're a newlywed or decades in, this episode is packed with actionable insight and a reminder that marriage isn't a destination you reach on your wedding day; it's a lifelong journey. And the couples who thrive are the ones who keep showing up, keep investing, and keep choosing each other — one intentional day at a time.

You can learn more about Pastor Mike Novotny at Time of Grace Ministries, or Facebook, X, or Instagram

To order his book, go to Newlywed: A Christian Guide for Loving Year One

More from Dr. Carol Ministries:

In-Person Intensive Weekend - Experience true healing and wholeness as you unpack your personal story around intimacy and relationships in a safe, caring, Christ-filled environment.

Individual Coaching with Dr. Carol provides a one-on-one format to help you navigate your personal journey through practical encouragement and scriptural- based perspective.

Dr. Carol loves to hear from you! You can send her a confidential message here.

What if the inner conflict you feel isn't a sign that something is wrong with you, but a signal that healing is possible? In this powerful edition of our monthly feature Dr. Carol talks with Zion and Avery Montgomery to explore how sin, evil, and trauma fracture us internally and shape our emotions, relationships, and spiritual lives. Drawing from both Biblical truths and the psychological framework of Internal Family Systems (IFS), this conversation highlights how Jesus makes us whole as He brings healing and integration to every wounded or hidden part of the heart. Avery shares his personal journey from living with a performance-based identity to learning how to walk in authentic presence and intimacy with Him. The conversation also dives into the role of the inner child, explaining how younger, wounded versions of ourselves often continue influencing present-day behaviors and relationships. If you're carrying fractured places within yourself, this conversation will give you language, hope, and a next step. For more about the Montgomerys: Follow @averymont and @ztmont on Instagram. Visit Zion's website Therapy with Zion for more information about Couples and Family counseling. More from Dr. Carol Ministries: In-Person Intensive Weekend - Experience true healing and wholeness as you unpack your personal story around intimacy and relationships in a safe, caring, Christ-filled environment. Individual Coaching with Dr. Carol provides a one-on-one format to help you navigate your personal journey through practical encouragement and scriptural- based perspective. Dr. Carol loves to hear from you! You can send her a confidential message here.

In a culture that often treats sexual abstinence before marriage as outdated, unrealistic, or merely rule-following, Dr. Carol sits down with author, professor, and researcher Dr. Emily McKnight, lovingly known as Dr. Em, for an honest conversation about why waiting for sex before marriage still matters, and why it's about far more than behavior. Dr. Em shares her own journey from sexual brokenness to conviction-led abstinence, and how that season shaped her relationship with God, her sense of identity, and ultimately her marriage. Together, they explore the deeper purpose of sexual integrity and the kind of character it forms in us over time. This conversation also tackles the real-world challenges of singleness, dating, desire, and early marriage. Dr. Carol and Dr. Em discuss how abstinence can cultivate communication, trust, friendship, and discernment long before the wedding day, and why sexual intimacy in marriage is a journey to grow into, not a finish line to cross. Whether you're single, dating, engaged, or wrestling with your own difficult sexual story, this episode offers hope-filled wisdom for pursuing sexual wholeness, resisting cultural pressure, and seeking God's best without settling for less. Connect with Dr. Emily McKnight on her website, faculty page, Facebook, or Instagram Find Dr. Em's book The Don't Before I Do Find out more about Dr. Carol Ministries In-Person Intensives Interested in a one-on-one format? Find out more about individual coaching with Dr. Carol. Dr. Carol loves to hear from you! You can send a confidential message here.

In this honest and hope-filled Q&A episode, Dr. Carol tackles some of the most tender and complicated questions surrounding faith, sexuality, betrayal, intimacy, and emotional healing. From pornography and painful marriage dynamics to shame, loneliness, and the longing for deeper connection, this conversation explores what it means to be fully human while following Jesus. Along the way, Dr. Carol addresses an often-overlooked question: If Jesus was fully human, what does that mean for understanding desire, embodiment, and intimacy today? Drawing from both Scripture and neurobiology, this episode moves beyond behavior management into the deeper work of wholeness. Dr. Carol explains why transformation requires more than head knowledge—it requires bringing your whole self into the presence of Jesus, including your emotions, wounds, fears, and desires. Whether you're struggling in your marriage, carrying hidden shame, or longing to experience God more deeply, this conversation offers compassionate insight and practical hope for healing, connection, and lasting change. For further resources, check Dr. Carol's articles here:

• Learning from How Jesus Handled His Need for Intimacy
• 7 Ingredients to Rebuilding Trust Between You and Your Spouse
• How to Consecrate Your Sex Life to Jesus Daily
• From Hurt to Whole: The Power of Making the Choice to Heal
• Is My Marriage Toxic?
• Being With Jesus in Ways that Bring Transformation

Find out more about Dr. Carol Ministries In-Person Intensives - Experience true healing and wholeness in a safe environment as you unpack your story around intimacy and relationships while inviting Jesus to be part of that story. Interested in a one-on-one format? Find out more about individual coaching with Dr. Carol. Dr. Carol loves to hear from you! You can send a confidential message here.

In this enlightening episode, Dr. Carol and Beth Broom dive deep into the complexities of trauma and its profound impact on relationships, particularly within the Christian community. Beth shares her unique perspective, distinguishing between traumatic experiences and the internal responses that shape how we process pain including how to rebuilding trust. Together, they explore the Christian Trauma Healing Network and the SAFE model—an innovative framework designed to offer accessible resources for trauma survivors and their supporters. The conversation reminds us of the importance of bringing our pain and emotions before God, framing this act as both a step of faith and wisdom.

You can connect with Beth Broom on her website, Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.

Check out the Counsel for Life podcast Beth Broom co-hosts with Eliza Huie.

Find out more about the Christian Trauma Healing Network

Find out more about Dr. Carol Ministries In-Person Intensives - Experience true healing and wholeness in a safe environment as you unpack your story around intimacy and relationships while inviting Jesus to be part of that story. Interested in a one-on-one format? Find out more about individual coaching with Dr. Carol. Dr. Carol loves to hear from you! You can send a confidential message here.

What if the reason you still feel stuck spiritually isn't a lack of information, but a lack of integration? In this monthly feature, Dr. Carol, Avery Montgomery, and Zion Montgomery explore why so many sincere followers of Jesus may know the right answers intellectually yet still struggle with fear, shame, disconnection, or recurring unhealthy patterns. Together they unpack the difference between a faith that lives only in the left brain—focused on logic, information, and performance—and the kind of whole-brain connection that actually leads to transformation. Because becoming like Jesus requires more than learning about Him; it requires being with Him. Drawing from both neuroscience and spiritual formation, this episode explores how the right brain shapes identity, emotion, attachment, and experience, and why slowing down is essential for real healing and growth. The conversation offers practical ways to engage God more fully through prayer, Scripture, embodied practices, confession, and authentic community. If you've ever wondered why trying harder hasn't produced lasting change, this episode offers a hopeful invitation into a different way of relating to God, yourself, and others—one rooted not merely in knowledge, but in connection. Find out more about Dr. Carol Ministries In-Person Intensives Interested in a one-on-one format? Find out more about individual coaching with Dr. Carol. Dr. Carol loves to hear from you! You can send a confidential message here.

What if the church's approach to relationships between men and women has been doing more harm than good? In this episode, we sit down with author Bronwyn Lea to unpack the ideas behind her book Beyond Awkward Side Hugs — a thoughtful challenge to the rules-heavy, fear-driven culture that has left many Christians, especially singles, feeling like second-class members of the body of Christ. Bronwyn makes the case that healthy, embodied community isn't built on caution tape and rigid boundaries, but on an inner transformation of character that allows men and women to relate to one another as true brothers and sisters in Christ. We also dig into some of the more countercultural ideas in Bronwyn's work — from the healing power of non-sexual touch, to what it truly means to be a "friend to a marriage," to how church leaders can break down gender silos and create the conditions for genuine belonging. As loneliness reaches epidemic levels in our culture, Bronwyn argues the church is uniquely positioned to a powerful antidote — but only if it's willing to move past awkwardness and into authentic, whole-person community. This is a conversation that will challenge how you think about friendship, integrity, and what it truly means to live as brothers and sisters in Christ. More from Bronwyn Lea on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn Find Bronwyn's book Beyond Awkward Side Hugs: Living as Christian Brothers and Sisters in a Sex-Crazed World More about Dr. Carol Ministries:

• Dr. Carol Ministries In-Person Intensives. A multi-day way to experience true healing and wholeness in a safe environment as you unpack your story around intimacy and relationships while inviting Jesus to be part of that story.
• Individual coaching with Dr. Carol provides a one-on-one format to help you navigate your personal journey through practical encouragement and scriptural based perspective.

Dr. Carol loves to hear from you! You can send a confidential message here.

Vaneetha Risner grew up believing that faithfully following Jesus would ensure a stable, fulfilling life. So when her marriage collapsed, it didn't just break her heart; it shattered the framework upon which she had built her identity. In this deeply personal conversation, Vaneetha opens up about the layered grief of divorce — a loss she describes as a kind of death that the church too often meets with judgment instead of compassion — and how that pain sat alongside other devastating trials, including contracting polio as a child, losing an infant son, and a later post-polio diagnosis. Though Vaneetha experienced deep heartache and betrayal, her story centers around a renewed and reconstructed faith. She shares how reaching the absolute end of herself forced a new and desperate hunger for God, and how the biblical practice of lament became a lifeline, a place to pour out bitterness without fear of judgment. She offers candid wisdom on forgiveness (including why forgiving too quickly can actually delay healing) and the importance of becoming whole before pursuing remarriage. Listeners will also gain practical insight on how to support others in crisis through her "SHOWUP" framework. This episode is a powerful reminder that even when life doesn't go according to plan, faith can be rebuilt in the most unexpected and beautiful ways. For more about Vaneetha Risner, check out her website, Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram Find Vaneetha's book: This Was Never the Plan: Walking with God Through the Heartache of Divorce (A Practical Christian Guide to Healing, Hope, and Strength After Separation) Here's my previous conversation with Vaneetha. For more from Dr. Carol, check out her article When One Flesh Tears Apart: The Trauma of Broken Covenant

Find out more about Dr. Carol Ministries:

• Dr. Carol Ministries In-Person Intensives. Experience true healing and wholeness in a safe environment as you unpack your story around intimacy and relationships while inviting Jesus to be part of that story.
• Individual coaching with Dr. Carol. This provides a one-on-one format to help you navigate your personal journey.

Dr. Carol loves to hear from you! You can send a confidential message here.

Have you ever felt a quiet, persistent restlessness — a sense that no matter how good life gets, something still feels off? In this episode, Niki Kirby unpacks the powerful biblical theme of "exile" from her book The Garden of Exile, revealing how the human story—from Eden to eternity—is one of displacement and longing for true home. She reframes modern discomfort as a spiritual ache for shalom, inviting listeners to see their discontent not as something to numb, but as something that points to God's greater restoration story. Drawing from Scripture, Niki shares how we can live faithfully in exile as she explores how we are called to build, plant, love, and multiply even in a broken world. From navigating spiritual warfare and avoiding distraction, to embracing relationships as tools of sanctification, she offers a grounded and hopeful vision for everyday faithfulness. With a powerful emphasis on lament as holy ground and hope as a daily fight, this conversation reminds us that while we may not feel at home here, we are not without purpose—and restoration is coming. For more about Niki Kirby, check out her website, Facebook, or Instagram. Find Niki's book The Garden of Exile: How to Flourish in a World that's Not Your Home For more from Dr. Carol, check out:

• Dr. Carol's article Jesus, What's Going On Here?
• Dr. Carol Ministries In-Person Intensives. Experience true healing and wholeness in a safe environment as you unpack your story around intimacy and relationships while inviting Jesus to be part of that story.

Dr. Carol loves to hear from you! You can send a confidential message here.