Relationship Prescriptions with Dr. Carol

What happens when the person who was supposed to help you feel safe, loved, and known instead becomes a source of hurt? In this episode, Dr. Carol talks with Dr. Sarita Lyons, author, Bible teacher, and psychotherapist, about mother wounds—the emotional and spiritual wounds that can shape our identity, relationships, and even our picture of God. They explore how experiences with our mothers can contribute to people-pleasing, over-functioning, parentification, and difficulty trusting others, while also recognizing that many mothers who wound their children are carrying wounds of their own.
Healing doesn't require pretending the wound didn't happen or abandoning biblical honor. Dr. Carol and Dr. Lyons unpack the important difference between honoring a parent and obeying a parent, especially when an adult child needs healthy boundaries with an unsafe or unrepentant mother. Through honesty, grief, community, professional help, the Holy Spirit, and the healing love of Jesus, it is possible to face these wounds and move toward wholeness. The goal isn't to erase your mother from your story; it's to allow Jesus to redeem your story and become the perfectly loving parent to you that your heart ultimately needs.
Connect with Dr. Lyons on her website, Facebook, or Instagram.
Find Dr. Lyons' book Honor Thy Mother: How to Grieve, Heal, and Make Peace with Your Mother Wounds  
Find out more about the Honor Thy Mother conference coming up October 2-3, 2026
 
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 - A one-on-one format to help you navigate your personal journey through practical encouragement and scriptural-based perspective.

What if learning to follow Jesus more deeply also means learning to recognize what isn't from Him? In this conversation at Austin Christian University, Dr. Carol shares from her journey from medicine into ministry as she and her host Avery Montgomery explore spiritual growth, personal stories, and intimacy with God. They talk about why our stories matter, how shame drives us into hiding, and why bringing our whole story into the light can become part of our spiritual transformation. Rather than beginning with the brokenness of Genesis 3, our stories begin with the goodness and intention of God in Genesis 1—and our journey toward wholeness includes rediscovering that original design.
The conversation also explores the integration of what we know about God with what we experience in our hearts and bodies. Dr. Carol offers a practical framework for discerning the work of God from the work of the enemy: confusion, condemnation, and control are warning signs that "it ain't Him," while the Holy Spirit leads us toward conviction, freedom, and a way forward. The episode closes with three practices for spiritual health; stay clean, stay connected, and stay consecrated. You'll gain. a sense of what it looks like to stand firmly in the freedom Jesus offers while continuing the slow, sometimes difficult work of becoming whole.
You can learn more about Dr. Carol Ministries by clicking on the link. 
Dr. Carol's In-Person Intensive Weekend will help you experience true healing and wholeness as you unpack your personal story around intimacy and relationships in a safe, caring, Christ-filled environment.
Interested in a one-on-one format? Dr. Carol's practical encouragement and scriptural-based perspective can help through Individual Coaching with Dr. Carol.
Have a question for Dr. Carol? She loves to hear from you! You can send her a confidential message here.

What if the sexual struggle you're trying so hard to overcome isn't really about sex? In this conversation, Dr. Carol talks with Dr. Floyd Godfrey about the powerful connection between attachment, intimacy, mental health, and sexuality. We're born with a deep biological need for connection and belonging, but when those needs are wounded or unmet, they can sometimes become fused with sexual desire. Sexual behaviors or attractions may then become attempts to meet legitimate needs for connection, affirmation, comfort, belonging, or mentorship in ways that ultimately leave us even more empty.
Dr. Godfrey explains why lasting healing requires us to look "under the hood" rather than focusing only on behavior modification. Recovery may involve identifying old wounds, changing unhealthy patterns and environments, building intentional relationships and support, and most importantly, inviting Jesus into the deeper places of our story. The goal isn't to become nonsexual, but to become increasingly whole—to learn how to meet our God-given needs for intimacy and connection in healthy ways through relationship with God and with other people.
Learn more about Dr. Floyd Godfrey and his work here, including information about his book Healing and Recovery
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.  
Have a question for Dr. Carol? She loves to hear from you! You can send her a confidential message here.

What does it actually mean to follow Jesus—and what can Christians today learn from those who followed Him centuries before us? In this conversation, Dr. Gerald Sittser, professor emeritus at Whitworth University and author of Water from a Deep Well, takes us on a journey through Christian history, from the early martyrs and desert fathers to monasteries, mystics, and missionaries. We explore why early Christians developed rigorous processes for discipleship, what a Rule of Life can teach us today, and how learning to "inhabit time" through rhythms of prayer, work, silence, and stillness can reshape our lives with God.
But this conversation isn't simply about looking backward. It's about recovering something we desperately need today: a deeper, more embodied way of becoming like Jesus. Dr. Sittser explains the Christian understanding of union with God, the difference between relationship and absorption, and why serious discipleship ultimately moves us outward into mission. Following Jesus isn't merely about believing the right things; it's about closing the gap between who we are in Christ and how we actually live, trusting that grace is present from beginning to end.
Learn more about Dr. Sittser here. And be sure to check out his book Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries.
Follow him on Facebook: @jerrysittser and Instagram: @jerrysittser.
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 - A one-on-one format to help you navigate your personal journey through practical encouragement and scriptural- based perspective.  
Have a question for Dr. Carol? She loves to hear from you! You can send her a confidential message here.

Have you ever experienced a season where God felt distant, your prayers felt unanswered, or your faith seemed harder than it used to be? What if those moments are not signs that something is wrong, but invitations into a deeper kind of transformation? In this episode, Dr. Carol talks with author Tish Harrison Warren about the unexpected spiritual growth that can happen in seasons of uncertainty, weariness, and longing. Tish shares from her own journey of feeling distant from God and discovering that the way God meets us often changes as we mature. She reflects on how these seasons revealed her desire for control rather than surrender—and how learning to trust God's presence brought greater freedom, joy, and deeper relationships, including with her teenage daughter.
Together, they explore the ancient Christian understanding of "desert seasons" and why spiritual dryness has long been recognized as a place of profound formation. Drawing from the wisdom of the desert fathers and mothers, Tish explains why these seasons should not automatically be viewed as failures or evidence that we have done something wrong. Instead, they can become sacred spaces where God reshapes our desires, deepens our faith, and teaches us to live with greater openness and trust.
Learn more about Tish Harrison Warren and her new book, What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience.
Follow her on Instagram-@tishharrisonwarren; X/Twitter-@Tish_H_Warren;
Facebook-@Tish Harrison Warren Author.
 
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 - A one-on-one format to help you navigate your personal journey through practical encouragement and scriptural-based perspective.  
Have a question for Dr. Carol? She loves to hear from you! You can send her a confidential message here.