My Delight with Sarah Bartel

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.

Ladies, this is your invitation from Sarah to join her on a "Daughters of Grace" Women's pilgrimage to France in May 2026!
It's this May 4-13th, in the footsteps of St. Thérèse, her mama St. Zélie, St. Joan of Arc ("I was born to do this!"), and of course, all guided, inspired, and devoted to Our Lady. You'll pray at Notre Dame cathedral, the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal, Mont St. Michel where we'll seek the archangel's strength and protection, and culminate with a healing of hearts at Lourdes.
The themes of the dignity of women, feminine genius, the theology of the body throughout  a woman's life cycle, and healing the heart of a woman will all be woven throughout the pilgrimage.
Sarah shares her pivotal memory of encountering St. John Paul II at World Youth Day in Paris in 1997 in an atmosphere of joy, gathered with thousands of youth from around by the Holy Spirit. 
In this episode, Sarah shares seven reasons why she loves France and wants to take you there with her. 
1. The country's devotion to Our Lady
2. French saints! 
3. Breathtaking cathedrals (French Gothic architecture 😍)
4. Beauty 
5. Intelligence + Elegance
6. The French Language
7. The Food
The pilgrimage costs $4,199 for the land-only package in which you arrange your travel to and from France, or $4,999 flying from Seattle. 
More info at
https://canafeast.com/france
Want to go, but can't? 
Pray this novena to see if a way might open up through the Little Flower's prayers!
My Novena Rose Prayer
O Little Therese of the Child Jesus, please pick for me a rose
from the heavenly gardens and send it to me as a message of love.
O Little Flower of Jesus, ask God to grant the favors
I now place with confidence in your hands . .
(mention in silence here)
St. Therese, help me to always believe as you did in
God’s great love for me, so that I might imitate your “Little Way” each day.
Amen
Want to join the free online formation on the pilgrimage themes? 
Sign up at:
https://canafeast.com/france
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.