The Intentional Parents Podcast

In this episode, Brook and Elizabeth sit down for an honest conversation about sex, intimacy, and connection in marriage. We begin with a few updates — including reflections from the Fatherhood Retreat, the upcoming Intentional Motherhood Retreat, and an update on Elizabeth’s back surgery — before diving into the topic.

Just as the gospel reminds us that we are fully known and fully loved, marriage invites that same kind of vulnerability. Yet many couples carry shame from past experiences, including sexual abuse, pornography, cultural messages, or purity culture wounds, and those things often affect intimacy in marriage.

We also discuss some of the common differences between men and women. Many men tend to feel emotionally connected after physical intimacy, while many women need emotional connection in order to feel open to physical intimacy. For many moms especially, exhaustion and constant demands can make intimacy feel like one more need to meet. Often, simple shifts in communication and care can make a significant difference.

Throughout the conversation, we emphasize that intimacy is not just about physical consumption or emotional communication alone — it’s about a deeper connection where emotional, spiritual, and physical intimacy work together. That requires honest conversations, clear expectations, and a willingness to serve one another rather than compare our marriage to outside expectations.

We close with a few practical invitations for couples this week: have one calm conversation about sex, initiate non-sexual affection, and spend time praying together. Husbands might also ask their wives a simple question: “What helps you feel safe with me?”

If this conversation was helpful and you’d like to hear a part two on this topic, email us at [email protected].

Scripture Mentioned: Genesis 2:25, 1 Corinthians 7:4 + Ephesians 5:22-33

Submit Questions: Send a voice recording to [email protected], mentioning your name and where you’re from.

Sowing a Hidden Seed

Intentional Motherhood Retreat: April 23-25, 2026 in Franklin, TN

Join Our Legacy Builders

Watch on YouTube

Follow Us on Instagram: 
@intentional_parents 
@brookmosser
@emosser

FREE Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Parenting PDF

FREE Text Message Daily Devotional

Raising Passionate Jesus Followers

The Intentional Film Series

In this follow-up episode on anger, the four of us sit down to respond to your honest, relatable questions — especially where anger shows up in parenting, marriage, and our own personal healing. We start with a common parenting struggle: when it feels like kids only listen after we get angry. We talk about identifying what’s underneath that reaction, learning to respond calmly, and following through with consistency. Sometimes that means creating space, by either separating kids in conflict or stepping away yourself, so you can respond with clarity and calmness instead of raw emotion.

We also address the discouragement of slow growth. When it feels like “one step forward, ten steps back,” it’s easy to lose heart, even in prayer. But real transformation takes time. Prayer is never wasted; it’s like small, faithful deposits that eventually lead to lasting change. We also explore how anger directed at us can leave deeper wounds, and what it looks like to begin healing by finding safety in God, telling the truth about our story, and grieving what was lost.

In marriage, we talk about the challenge of responding to a spouse’s anger without taking it on ourselves. We can’t control one another, but we can choose compassion, wisdom, and healthy boundaries. And for those navigating anger in young children, we highlight how normal those big emotions are developmentally, and how creating structure, paying attention to triggers, and patiently training over time can make a meaningful difference.

Finally, we touch on engaging with anger from our families of origin. Healing doesn’t require cutting people off, but it does require forgiveness and bringing our pain to Jesus, who understands and cares deeply for us.

Scripture Mentioned: Proverbs 4:7, Galatians 6:1-6, Hebrews 3:12, James 1:20, 1 Peter 3:1-2, Matthew 6:9-15, Isaiah 53:3 + 1 Peter 5:7

Submit Questions: Send a voice recording to [email protected], mentioning your name and where you’re from.

Sowing a Hidden Seed

Intentional Motherhood Retreat: April 23-25, 2026 in Franklin, TN

Join Our Legacy Builders

Watch on YouTube

Follow Us on Instagram: 
@intentional_parents 
@brookmosser
@emosser

FREE Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Parenting PDF

FREE Text Message Daily Devotional

Raising Passionate Jesus Followers

The Intentional Film Series

This week, all four of us sit down for an honest and hopeful conversation about anger — where it comes from, why it’s such a universal part of being human, and how pain so often fuels it. We share a few personal updates on what we’ve been up to, including an update on Elizabeth’s health, and then dive into the reality that simply being alive gives us plenty of opportunities to feel angry. Anger is something everyone experiences, but it’s often a secondary emotion pointing to deeper pain beneath the surface.

We talk about how hiding anger in shame can actually enslave us to it, while bringing it into the light opens the door to real transformation. Rather than just managing our anger, we explore the hope that Jesus can actually heal us from it. We discuss how anger can be generational, how we’re raising kids in an increasingly angry culture, and the different ways anger shows up — from explosive reactions to simmering resentment to an underlying critical spirit. We also reflect on righteous anger, the need to hold both justice and mercy together, and what this looks like, especially in motherhood.

We then turn to practical ways to engage our anger by slowing down to ask why we’re angry, inviting God to show us what needs healing or repentance, and taking responsibility for how we move toward repair. We talk about how anger is often a response to feeling threatened, the power of confession and bringing our struggles into the light, and the slow, faithful work of healing through the Holy Spirit. We end with real hope, as Diane shares how the anger she struggled with early in marriage and parenting no longer has the same hold on her by God’s grace — reminding us to be patient with ourselves and trust that anger can be transformed as we walk the path of humility and healing.

Scripture Mentioned: John 17:20-23, Micah 6:8, Psalm 97:2, Proverbs 25:23, Proverbs 4:5, Genesis 4:6, Jonah 4:4, 1 John 3:12, James 4:1-3, James 5:16, Psalm 139:23-24, Romans 2:4, Galatians 5:22-23 + Exodus 34:6-7, Psalm 107:1-2 + Romans 8:29

Submit Questions: Send a voice recording to [email protected], mentioning your name and where you’re from.

Sowing a Hidden Seed

Intentional Fatherhood Retreat: February 19-21, 2026 in Costa Mesa, CA

Intentional Motherhood Retreat: April 23-25, 2026 in Franklin, TN

Join Our Legacy Builders

Watch on YouTube

Follow Us on Instagram: 
@intentional_parents 
@brookmosser
@emosser

FREE Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Parenting PDF

FREE Text Message Daily Devotional

Raising Passionate Jesus Followers

The Intentional Film Series

This episode features five of our most-listened-to moments from 2025. These conversations clearly resonated with listeners and sparked meaningful reflection for parents trying to follow Jesus in everyday family life. We reflect on how pride shows up when we’re corrected and how parenting gives us daily opportunities to model humility, drawing from Scripture to show why God consistently meets humility with grace and makes it the starting point of a usable life. We also talk about emotional intelligence, learning to name what’s happening inside us without letting emotions rule us, and how many of us are developing these skills in adulthood because they weren’t modeled for us growing up.

We explore the tension between wanting to shield our kids from pain and learning to trust God with their formation, emphasizing the importance of repair, helping our kids make sense of emotional pain, and trusting that God is present and purposeful even in what we can’t control. We unpack the biblical call to discipline as loving training rather than punishment, why passivity and harshness both exasperate our children, and how rupture and repair are central to healthy parent-child relationships. Finally, we reflect on daily spiritual habits, letting go of legalism, and forming simple, life-giving rhythms with God — following Jesus’ example of regularly withdrawing to meet with the Father, not out of obligation, but out of relationship.

These clips are taken from our five most-loved episodes of 2025. To hear the full episodes, click on your podcast platform of choice below.

5 Necessities to Being a Calm, Regulated Parent in the Midst of Chaos + the Power of Meekness and Humility (Spotify, Apple Podcasts + YouTube)

Unlocking the Power of Emotional Intelligence In Ourselves and In Our Kids (Spotify, Apple Podcasts + YouTube)

Being Emotionally Present with Toddlers Amidst Responsibilities, Dealing with Overstimulation as a Parent + Shielding Kids from Emotional Pain (Q+R) (Spotify, Apple Podcasts + YouTube)

Tools of Discipline: Gentle Correction, A Loving Rebuke, Patient Instruction and Encouragement (Spotify, Apple Podcasts + YouTube)

Daily Habits, Formation, Why Did God Create My Kids, and Authority (Spotify, Apple Podcasts + YouTube)

Scripture Mentioned: Ephesians 4:2, Matthew 11:28-30, Numbers 12:3, 1 Peter 5:5, Genesis 50:20, Genesis 39:21, Romans 8 + Psalm 91, Ephesians 6:4, Proverbs 29:17, Hebrews 12:11 + Ephesians 1:15-20

Books Mentioned: Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon, Streams in the Desert by L. B. Cowman and James Reimann + Edges of His Ways by Amy Carmichael

Submit Questions: Send a voice recording to [email protected], mentioning your name and where you’re from.

Sowing a Hidden Seed

Intentional Fatherhood Retreat: February 19-21, 2026 in Costa Mesa, CA

Intentional Motherhood Retreat: April 23-25, 2026 in Franklin, TN

Join Our Legacy Builders

Watch on YouTube

Follow Us on Instagram: 
@intentional_parents 
@brookmosser 
@emosser

FREE Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Parenting PDF

FREE Text Message Daily Devotional

Raising Passionate Jesus Followers

The Intentional Film Series

During the Intentional Motherhood Retreat 2025, Elizabeth sat down with her older brother, John Mark Comer, for a deeply honest and encouraging conversation about spiritual formation in the thick of motherhood. For so many mothers, life feels crowded with the dailyness and busyness of caring for little ones, making it easy to believe the lie that we must do more or try harder to grow spiritually. But what if spiritual formation isn’t something you add to your already overloaded life — what if it’s already happening?

John Mark and Elizabeth explore how every mom is being spiritually formed through the ordinary moments of motherhood, becoming a certain kind of person through how she lives, responds, and loves. Drawing from Dallas Willard’s teachings on practices of engagement vs. abstinence, they talk about removing rather than adding — taking an honest audit of your life and recognizing that so much of motherhood is already shaping your soul. They discuss the difference between active and passive spirituality, the surprising ways pain and sacrifice become places of growth, the generational shift in how we view parenting, and what it means to join Christ in His suffering. They also reflect on Jacques Philippe’s idea of “choosing what you have not chosen” and learning to respond to life’s constant interruptions with consent rather than contempt.

Ultimately, this conversation is an invitation back to relationship — with God, with others, and with your own soul. It’s about noticing and naming what you’re feeling, staying responsive instead of reactive, and returning again and again to the cross in the ordinary rhythms of your day.

Submit Questions: Send a voice recording to [email protected], mentioning your name and where you’re from.

Sowing a Hidden Seed

Intentional Fatherhood Retreat: February 19-21, 2026 in Costa Mesa, CA

Intentional Motherhood Retreat: April 23-25, 2026 in Franklin, TN

Join Our Legacy Builders

Watch on YouTube

Follow Us on Instagram: 
@intentional_parents 
@brook_mosser 
@emosser

FREE Bottom-Up vs. Top-Down Parenting PDF

FREE Text Message Daily Devotional

Raising Passionate Jesus Followers

The Intentional Film Series