What if the person you're turning to for healing is actually keeping you stuck? (Cue dramatic music and flashbacks to church lady "counseling" that made you question your entire existence.)

Welcome to Season 2 of the Divorced Christian Woman Podcast! I’m kicking things off with my friend and fellow coach, Diana Swillinger. We’re diving headfirst into the sometimes-healing, sometimes-horrifying world of mentors, coaches, and therapists.

Not all helpers are created equal, my friend. And no, your cousin’s youth group leader who “feels called” to counsel probably isn’t qualified to help you unravel years of spiritual abuse.

This episode is your guide to sorting through the noise, finding the right kind of help for the season you're in, and learning how to trust your own gut again, especially after years of being told it was “deceitfully wicked.” (eye-roll)

What We Covered:

• Mentors, coaches, therapists, and how to know the difference
• Red flags in helping relationships
• Green flags in helping relationships
• What to do if you believe you are “too broken” or “not broken enough”
• The process of healing
• How community plays a role in our healing

Read the full show notes and/or ask Natalie a question here

Related Resources:

• Flying Higher (https://joinflyinghigher.com) is my live mentorship program for Christian women pursuing increased confidence, emotional management, relational health and empowered self-development.
• Feel like a hot mess after divorce? This 5-Day Workshop will teach you a mind-shift tool to help you learn a powerful way to manage your thoughts and emotions in order to navigate adult decisions with clarity and peace.
• Check out Diana’s website and explore some resources, listen to her podcast, The Renew Your Mind Podcast, and finally, connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.

Welcome to Season Two of the Christian Divorced Woman Podcast! This season, we'll be focusing on RELATIONSHIPS. Relationships with your kids, your ex, your friends, your family of origin, your colleagues, God, and even yourself. Join us as we dive deep into something that has a profound impact on our entire lives. Season two starts October 3, 2025. Subscribe to get notified when each new episode drops.

Welcome to the final episode of Season One of The Divorced Christian Woman Podcast! If you’ve made it through the first 365 days post-divorce without stabbing anyone (including yourself), congratulations. You’re our people.

In our finale I gather a roundtable of warrior women (Diana, Loretta, Lisa, and Marie) to talk about what comes after the ashes. (And it's NOT all sobbing into Häagen-Dazs while reading Leviticus. Haha)

What we talk about:

• Finding yourself again (and realizing she’s kind of amazing)
• The joy of owning a dog (and a massage chair)
• Discovering that you’re capable of fixing doors, traveling alone, and hanging out with bears (on purpose)
• Reclaiming your space without needing anyone’s approval
• Forming deep, soul-filling friendships that you didn’t know were missing
• Letting go of the fear-based god to embrace the real one who’s been there all along
• Creating peaceful parenting vibes after the chaos of control

And by the way, wondering what’s coming in Season 2? We’re diving into relationships: with yourself, your kids (even the adult ones), your ex, your God, your church, and maybe that suspiciously hot barista who always remembers your name. Starts October 4, so mark your calendars.

Read the full show notes, get the journal questions, and/or ask Natalie a question here

Related Resources:

• Flying Higher (https://joinflyinghigher.com) is my personal mentorship program for Christian women pursuing increased confidence, emotional management, relational health and empowered self-development. Want to work with me? This is how!
• Feel like a hot mess after divorce? This 5-Day Workshop will teach you a mind-shift tool to help you learn a powerful way to manage your thoughts and emotions in order to navigate adult decisions with clarity and peace.
• Connect with Marie on her blog, Live Like it Matters, and website, Spiritual Direction with Marie.
• Listen to Diana’s podcast, the Renew Your Mind Podcast.
• Connect with Lisa at her Linktree.
• Contact Loretta at Info@mycoachloretta.com
• Check out a Flying Free Podcast episode, “How Christian Women Resist Oppression in Their Marriages.”

What if the emotions you're trying to keep at arm’s length (like grief and rage) are actually the very things that will set you free?

In this episode, I’m joined by my friend and fellow coach, Diana Swillinger. Today we’re talking about the emotional whirlwind that follows a divorce, especially for Christian women who were taught to be nice, stay quiet, and for the love of God, never get angry.

Well. We got angry. (And we’re still alive!)

If you’ve ever wondered:

• “Am I losing it, or is this rage normal?”
• “Why am I grieving when I wanted this divorce?”
• “Do I actually miss him...what the hell is wrong with me?”
• “What does forgiveness really mean if reconciliation isn’t safe?”

… then this episode is for you, my buffalo-hearted sister. (Yes, we talk about buffalo. And you’re gonna want one as your life mascot by the end.)

Read the full show notes, get the journal questions, and/or ask Natalie a question here

Related Resources:

• Flying Higher (https://joinflyinghigher.com) is my personal mentorship program for Christian women pursuing increased confidence, emotional management, relational health and empowered self-development. Want to work with me? This is how!
• Feel like a hot mess after divorce? This 5-Day Workshop will teach you a mind-shift tool to help you learn a powerful way to manage your thoughts and emotions in order to navigate adult decisions with clarity and peace.
• Check out Diana’s podcast, The Renew Your Mind Podcast.
• Recommended books: Altogether You by Jenna Remiersma, No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz, Forgiveness After Trauma by Susannah Griffith, Finding Meaning: the Sixth Stage of Grief by David Kessler, The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner, and All the Scary Little Gods by yours truly.

This isn’t your grandma’s church talk on “biblical womanhood.” In this episode, I sit down with four divorced Christian women—Diana, Loretta, Lisa, and Marie—to unpack the sticky, often squirmy conversation around sex, dating, purity culture, and what it all means now that we’ve ditched the toxic marriage and are figuring out what we actually want.

Heads up: this is not a how-to guide for your post-divorce sex life. We’re not handing out purity rings or condoms. This is an open, judgment-free, thoughtful conversation about the messy intersection of desire, faith, and freedom.

Key Takeaways:

• Sex as a “duty” is a massive church-induced scam. Most of us were taught to “submit” and serve our husbands—without any conversation about pleasure, consent, or autonomy. That’s not holy. That’s control.
• Purity culture wrecked us. Whether you read Passion and Purity with a highlighter or came in late via Focus on the Family propaganda, the fear-based messages about sex left many of us feeling ashamed, confused, or broken.
• Desire isn’t sinful. In fact, as Marie shares, our desires are often holy breadcrumbs leading us toward the life God actually wants for us: connection, safety, joy, embodiment.
• Safety is non-negotiable. If you’re not enthusiastically consenting, it’s a no. Period.
• Dating after divorce is a weird buffet. Think: civil engineers, gay best friends, and “I’d rather be watching Netflix alone” moments. Still, it’s helping us learn how to trust ourselves again.
• You’re not spiritually defective if you don’t want sex—or if you do. Normalize your own experience, whatever it is.
• You don’t need a man to be whole. Turns out you’re already a whole dang loaf of bread, not someone’s missing rib.

Read the full show notes, get the journal questions, and/or ask Natalie a question here

Related Resources:

• Flying Higher (https://joinflyinghigher.com) is my live mentorship program for Christian women pursuing increased confidence, emotional management, relational health and empowered self-development.
• Feel like a hot mess after divorce? This 5-Day Workshop will teach you a mind-shift tool to help you learn a powerful way to manage your thoughts and emotions in order to navigate adult decisions with clarity and peace.
• Listen to Diana’s podcast, the Renew Your Mind Podcast.
• Connect with Marie on her blog, Live Like it Matters, and website, Spiritual Direction with Marie.
• Read Sheila Wray Gregoire’s The Great Sex Rescue.
• Check out one of my Flying Free Podcast episodes, “What to Do if You’re Married to a Fool.”

Have you ever felt like your faith packed a suitcase, jumped off a cliff, and left you blinking in the rubble of what used to be your spiritual life? In this episode, I’m joined by my good friend and fellow coach Diana Swillinger to talk about what it’s like when everything you thought you believed about God, church, and even yourself suddenly stops making sense.

We’re not sugarcoating it, friend. We're talking spiritual betrayal, religious trauma, excommunication (oh yes, I went there), and what happens when your church treats your divorce like an unpardonable sin.

If you've ever doubted your beliefs, lost your community, or felt spiritually homeless, this episode can be a much needed dose of validation and sanity.

And by the way, God’s still there. Even when you’re not sure who God even is anymore.

Key Takeaways:

• Spiritual freefall is real – especially after religious betrayal, loss of community, or family rejection post-divorce.
• Doubt isn’t the enemy. It’s the beginning of real faith. (And no, you’re not going to hell for asking hard questions.)
• You can let go of the Jenga tower of theology you built—and still find Jesus standing there, patiently waiting.
• Creativity heals. Music, writing, quilting—whatever helps you access that divine spark inside you is sacred ground.
• You’re not alone, even if you feel like you’ve been spiritually ghosted by everyone you trusted.
• Religious certainty ≠ spiritual maturity. Sometimes the most faithful thing you can do is say, “I don’t know.”

Read the full show notes, get the journal questions, and/or ask Natalie a question here

Related Resources:

• Flying Higher (https://joinflyinghigher.com) is my group of badass divorced Christian women who are learning and growing along with me through classes, coaching, book studies, and Bible studies.
• Flying Free (https://joinflyingfree.com) is for Christian women in emotionally abusive marriages who are looking for support and healing. Apply to join today!
• Feel like a hot mess after divorce? This 5-Day Workshop will teach you a cool mind-shift tool to help you learn a powerful way to manage your thoughts and emotions in order to navigate adult decisions with clarity and peace.
• Check out Diana’s podcast, The Renew Your Mind Podcast.
• Books mentioned in this episode: The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by David Johnson and Jeff Van Vonderen, Love Wins by Rob Bell, and Faith After Doubt by Brian McLaren.

In this episode, I sit down with Diana, Marie, Michele, Grace, and Rochelle—five divorced Christian women—to dish on how the first 365 days post-divorce can feel like navigating an emotional minefield with a blindfold on and flip-flops. We're talking the first holidays that smacked us sideways, the unexpected emotional triggers, practical, real-life survival tips to make it through without self-combusting, and why “just be grateful” is not the ministry you need right now.

Key Takeaways:

• Grief is sneaky—you might be totally fine… until you’re not.
• Freedom is real—and sometimes it shows up in a firework-lit sky.
• People still say the worst things—yes, even the ones at church.
• Your triggers are valid—you don’t owe anyone an apology for how your body remembers pain.
• You’re not the only one crying in the car—and you don’t have to pretend you’re fine.

Read the full show notes, get the journal questions, and/or ask Natalie a question here

Related Resources:

• Flying Higher (https://joinflyinghigher.com) is my live mentorship program for Christian women pursuing increased confidence, emotional management, relational health and empowered self-development.
• Feel like a hot mess after divorce? This 5-Day Workshop will teach you a mind-shift tool to help you learn a powerful way to manage your thoughts and emotions in order to navigate adult decisions with clarity and peace.
• Listen to Diana’s podcast, the Renew Your Mind Podcast.
• Connect with Marie on her blog, Live Like it Matters, and website, Spiritual Direction with Marie.

This episode is the pep talk every divorced Christian woman didn’t know she needed. I sat down with five divorced Christian women—Diana, Marie, Michele, Grace, and Rochelle—to talk about what it really looks like to take your life back after divorce.

We’re talking loud smoothies, solo vacations, buying swimsuits without crying, and daring to want things. I know. Scandalous.

Key Takeaways:

• Taking up space is sacred. Whether it’s dancing, resting, or saying “no,” your presence matters.
• Your voice is yours. Use it. Even if it shakes. Even if it’s only to ask, “What do I want?”
• There’s power in reclaiming your body. From piercings to pole dancing (yep), nothing’s off-limits when it comes to feeling alive again.
• You are allowed to have fun. Yes, you. Especially you.

Read the full show notes, get the journal questions, and/or ask Natalie a question here

Related Resources:

• Flying Higher (https://joinflyinghigher.com) is my live mentorship program for Christian divorced women who want to work more closely with me and an AMAZING group of women every week. And it won’t cost you your mortgage payment. Just a couple bucks a day.
• Feel like a hot mess after divorce? This 5-Day Workshop will teach you a mind-shift tool to help you learn a powerful way to manage your thoughts and emotions in order to navigate adult decisions with clarity and peace. (It will give you a taste of the classes you’ll get every month in Flying Higher.)
• Listen to Diana’s podcast, the Renew Your Mind Podcast.
• Connect with Marie on her blog, Live Like it Matters, and website, Spiritual Direction with Marie.
• Some recommended books: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk, MD, How to Do the Work by Dr. Nicole LePera, and Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend.
• The app Marie mentioned, meetup.com.