My Delight with Sarah Bartel

Most marriages have one spouse who is more interested in sex, and another who is less interested. This is desire difference. While this is normal--most marriages have a desire difference one way or another--it causes a lot of tension in marriages.
Sarah brings on her husband, Nathan, to talk about understanding desire difference from a husband's point of view at a deeper level. Beyond just physical libido, he shares about the yearning for connection with their wives he hears from men he's worked with who have the higher desire. He also shares what it's like for the husband who has the lower desire.
Understanding is key, and so are actionable skills that couples can use to help navigate the different factors at work.
Sarah and Nathan point some paths forward to creating more connection--including not making sex the only source of connection in the marriage. 
They discuss the importance of recognizing the wife's mental load, and how the wife and husband can work with that. 
Affirmation and gratitude, non-sexual touch, empathy, and curiousity all help husbands and wives grow closer, feel seen, feel like they matter to the other, and grow in their unity and emotional connection.
Catholic husbands interested in Nathan's free Desires Differences workshop can join here through March 12th. Replays of past calls are available.
Desires Differences Workshop:
https://canafeast.com/desire
MORE RESOURCES
Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women)
Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10)
Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

When we fast, we can expect a pattern of five spiritual attacks--whether the fast is from food, behaviors like scrolling, people-pleasing, or other comforts.
The enemy works in our false attachments: to things, to false gods, and to false comforts. He likes to get us to put something above God in our life, and that creates disorder.
Fasting restores order.
It puts God back as the center of our life.
Of course the enemy will pursue our soul when we do this. 
Learn his tactics, learn that this is normal (you are not failing), and then learn how to gently and lovingly restore proper order after an attack. 
Denise Jelinek joins Sarah to break down the play book for each of these five attacks... and shares what to do about them.
They touch on authentic self-care and tie it all in to 
Join Denise in fasting from the scale and finding peace with food this Lent in her beautiful and deeply transformative 63 Surrendered Program! 

Ash Wednesday Sale: Get it for $1 a day (coupon code: Lent63)
Join here: https://weightlosswiththeholyspirit.com/

MORE RESOURCES
Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women)
Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10)
Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

It's almost Lent! Listen to the voice of the Lord speak:
"I will lead her into the desert, and there I will speak to her heart." Hos 2:14
So many good Catholic married women feel like there's a desert of some kind in their love life. Maybe it's a libido desert, or a postpartum desert, or a menopause desert. Maybe it's the ache of not feeling as desired by your husband as you'd like. Maybe lovemaking just feels humdrum and routine So many different kinds of deserts!
The scriptures can renew our minds and bring supernatural inspiration. In this episode, Sarah shares three lessons from the Song of Songs to help guide your love life. As she reads this scripture through the lens of a Catholic sex and marriage coach, she sees:
1. The Bride's body image is very positive!
2. Great use of words and talking between the Bridegroom and the Bride. More Catholic couples should be talking about their love life with each other and talking while making love. You have a love story. Keep telling the story!
3. Use all 5 senses. The Song of Songs uses vivid language for all five senses. How can you incorporate and highlight the sense of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing in different ways to enliven your time coming together? 
Sarah shares just a few examples of ideas in this episode, but more is available in her Bloom in the Desert virtual retreat happening Feb. 18-24. It's free! Learn more from the Song of Songs to inspire your love life, do fun homework, win prizes, enjoy a safe Catholic community of sisters in Christ all committed to growing together. 
Enroll here:
https://canafeast.com/desertbloom

MORE RESOURCES
Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women)
Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10)
Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

Making you feel guilty for saying "no."
Wearing you down with asking over and over.
You just want to get some sleep... the babies will be up at 5 am, so you just give in to get it over with.
...These are all examples of sexual coercion, which is a form of emotional abuse. 
Sarah is joined by Jenny DuBay, a certified trauma-informed Catholic coach, certified deconstructing gaslighting specialist, and certified narcissistic abuse specialist to talk about sexual coercion in marriage and the importance of consent to sex in Catholic marriage.
Just because you're married doesn't mean you have to be constantly sexually available. 
That's not the teaching of the Catholic Church, and Jenny uses her theology degree and deep knowledge of TOB and Church teaching to dive into this topic.

Listen in if you want to hear about the many different forms sexual coercion can take in Catholic marriage... and what to do about it.

Get Jenny's DuBay's book Don't Plant Your Seeds Among Thorns: A Catholic's Guide to Recognizing and Healing from Domestic Abuse (EnRoute Books and Media, 2024)
Learn more about Jenny at
https://www.jennydubay.com
and learn more about healthy relationships in the articles on her SubStack at:
https://www.createsoulspace.org/

MORE RESOURCES
Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women)
Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10)
Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

How does nutrition impact our hormones for libido and perimenopause thriving? 
Sarah is joined by Catholic nutritionist Rita Johnson of the Health and Hormones podcast to chat about how what you eat can impact your libido and perimenopause hormones. 
Along the way they chat about the power of dreaming, mindset shifts, and four high-protein breakfast ideas to anchor your blood sugar and set you up for a stable day... the kind of day more likely to leave with with some extra energy for intimacy at the end of it, if you want!
You can find Rita at https://healthandhormones.org.
Interested in the 5-day Perimenopause Workshop that Rita, Sarah, and other Catholic experts are offering Jan. 26-30? All sessions will be recorded so you can catch the replays. Walk away with a workbook full of practical strategies.
https://healthandhormones.org/perimenopause-workshop 
Want Rita's free handout on hormone health?
https://birdsend.page/forms/9473/cDk9YT4KSn

MORE RESOURCES
Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women)
Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10)
Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.