Dating and Desire Podcast

The Dating & Desire Podcast is a Christian dating and sexuality podcast for singles and dating adults who want more than rules or fear-based answers. Hosted by relationship coaches Bridgett Blood and Lauren Mathues, the show explores Christian dating, sexual desire, emotional safety, boundaries, and integrity. Through honest conversations with pastors, therapists, and relationship experts, we help you navigate physical boundaries and sexual formation with faith and self-trust. Because your desire is holy, your body is good, and your story matters.

Dating and Desire Podcast is a religion podcast hosted by Bridgett Blood and Lauren Mathues, with 26 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Bridgett Blood and Lauren Mathues hosts Dating and Desire Podcast, a religion show with 26 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #26

  EP.26 How to Heal After a Breakup

  Aug 18, 202649 minS1

  Lauren and Bridgett tackle one of the hardest parts of dating: Breakups. From the disappointment of ending early connections to the heartbreak of losing a relationship you thought might become your forever person, they explore what it means to grieve with honesty, dignity, and self-trust. Because dating requires risk, and risk sometimes leads to loss. Instead of minimizing grief, over-spiritualizing it, or avoiding hard conversations, they offer a different path: ownership, kindness, and compassion for your own heart. If you're discerning or healing from a breakup, this conversation is an invitation to ask not just, "How do I move on?" but, "What did this experience reveal about where I need to grow and what I really want in a partner ?" Watch this episode on YouTube Want help applying this to your dating life? If something in this episode resonated with you, here are two ways to go deeper depending on what you need: Work with Bridgett You don’t need more rules. You need a deeper understanding of your sexual desire.If you still feel confused about how to navigate dating without shutting down or crossing your boundaries, Bridgett helps you build sexual self-trust and honor your values → ⁠⁠⁠ RECLAIM Cohort⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Guides and Ecourse⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠ Work with Lauren If you’re feeling unsure what to do next— whether that’s meeting people, choosing who to pursue, or trusting your judgment in dating, Lauren helps you move forward with clarity and confidence. → Work with Lauren Get the free guide ⁠⁠⁠Dating Apps Don’t Have to Be Confusing⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠ Have more questions? Email us at datinganddesirepodcast@gmail.com

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  Episode #25

  EP.25 Reclaiming Wholeness After Sexual Abuse with Tabitha Westbrook

  Aug 11, 202648 minS1

  Tabitha Westbrook, a trauma therapist and author, brings clarity, courage, and compassion to the tender realities of sexual abuse, healing, and dating after harm. With deep honesty and a fierce belief in God’s good design, she helps name what has been distorted, what has been taken, and what restoration can actually look like. A central tension in this conversation is how often abuse is hidden under confusion, grooming, niceness, spiritual language, or pressure that slowly erodes a person’s boundaries. Tabitha speaks directly to the body’s experience of fear, freezing, shame, and self-doubt, while reminding listeners that consent, dignity, and personhood matter deeply to God. Her teaching offers a path toward formation that is honest, embodied, and full of integrity. Healing is not about pretending the harm did not happen or rushing back into romance before the story has been tended. It is about reclaiming wholeness, learning to recognize coercion, honoring the body’s wisdom, and rebuilding connection with God, self, and safe community. For anyone dating after pain, or wondering whether healthy sexuality can still be possible, this conversation is a compassionate invitation to slow down and trust what your body is telling you. What to pay attention to… is whether someone respects your no, honors your personhood, receives your boundaries, and helps you feel more safe, clear, and whole. That is where discernment, clarity, and self-trust begin to return. Watch this episode on YouTube Connect with Tabitha Westbrook Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tabithathecounselor/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_tjatp Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TabithaTheCounselor Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thejourneyandtheprocess Mindful Connection - faith-based, self-paced skills course on mindfulness which includes a private podcast. Use code MINDFUL for 80% off. Want help applying this to your dating life? If something in this episode resonated with you, here are two ways to go deeper depending on what you need: Work with Bridgett You don’t need more rules. You need a deeper understanding of your sexual desire.If you still feel confused about how to navigate dating without shutting down or crossing your boundaries, Bridgett helps you build sexual self-trust and honor your values → ⁠⁠⁠ RECLAIM Cohort⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Guides and Ecourse⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠ Work with Lauren If you’re feeling unsure what to do next— whether that’s meeting people, choosing who to pursue, or trusting your judgment in dating, Lauren helps you move forward with clarity and confidence. → Work with Lauren Get the free guide ⁠⁠⁠Dating Apps Don’t Have to Be Confusing⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠ Have more questions? Email us at datinganddesirepodcast@gmail.com

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  Episode #24

  EP.24 The Cost of Avoiding Rupture & Repair in Dating with Dr. Jake Porter

  Aug 4, 20261h 9mS1

  Dr. Jake Porter, a couples therapist who specializes in betrayal and repair, offers a grounded conversation about how people actually grow in faith, love, and relational maturity. With insight from neuroscience, Scripture, and human development, he helps name why dating is not just about finding the right person, but about becoming someone capable of healthy connection. The deeper tension here is that many of us interpret struggle as failure. If a relationship feels hard, if desire feels complicated, or if conflict appears early, we may assume something is wrong. Jake reframes those moments as opportunities for formation, where the body, the nervous system, and the Spirit meet us in the real work of learning how to love. His teaching moves beyond information and into embodied integrity. We are not formed only by what we believe, but by what we practice: how we text, how we show up, how we repair, how we tell the truth, and how we stay present when connection becomes complex. Wholeness grows as we learn to name rupture, move toward repair, and let relationship become part of our formation. For dating and relationships, this matters because healthy love is not built by avoiding all discomfort. What to pay attention to… is whether you can be honest about what is happening, stay curious instead of reactive, and notice if the relationship is helping you become more grounded, connected, and whole. That is where discernment, clarity, and self-trust begin to take shape. Connect with Dr. Jake Porter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn YouTube eBook and webinar on healing from betrayal for $9: https://helpafterbetrayal.com/ Want help applying this to your dating life? If something in this episode resonated with you, here are two ways to go deeper depending on what you need: Work with Bridgett You don’t need more rules. You need a deeper understanding of your sexual desire.If you still feel confused about how to navigate dating without shutting down or crossing your boundaries, Bridgett helps you build sexual self-trust and honor your values → ⁠⁠⁠ RECLAIM Cohort⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Free Guides and Ecourse⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠ Work with Lauren If you’re feeling unsure what to do next— whether that’s meeting people, choosing who to pursue, or trusting your judgment in dating, Lauren helps you move forward with clarity and confidence. → Work with Lauren Get the free guide ⁠⁠⁠Dating Apps Don’t Have to Be Confusing⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠ Have more questions? Email us at datinganddesirepodcast@gmail.com

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  Episode #23

  EP.23 Singleness, Sexuality, and the Desire to Be Known with Dr. Carol Tanksley

  Jun 30, 202659 minS1

  Dr. Carol Tanksley, a physician and minister, brings a rare blend of medical wisdom, theological depth, and lived experience to the conversation around singleness and sexuality. Having lived through long-term singleness, a cherished marriage, widowhood, and singleness again, she speaks with honesty about desire, intimacy, the body, and what healthy sexual formation actually takes. One of the deeper tensions she names is the way many singles have been given information about what not to do, but very little formation around what to do with longing, touch, sexual desire, and the need to be known. Dr. Carol invites a more embodied understanding of discipleship, one that does not reduce desire to sin or collapse intimacy into sexual activity, but honors the emotional reality beneath the ache. Her teaching moves toward a more connected vision of integrity, wholeness, and life in the light. Rather than relying on fear, rigid rules, or surface-level accountability, she points to the kind of formation that happens when desire is brought to Jesus, trusted community, and wise discernment. This is not about hiding the heart behind walls, but learning how to steward longing with honesty, maturity, and love. For anyone dating, healing, or navigating singleness, this conversation offers a slower and more trustworthy way. What to pay attention to… is what comes alive in you around another person, where your longing is asking for care, and whether that desire can be held with peace, connection, and trust. Healthy love begins with discernment, clarity, and self-trust. Watch this episode on YouTube Connect with Dr. Carol Tanksley Website YouTube Instagram Facebook In-person Intensives Her book, Sexpectations If something in this episode resonated with you, here are two ways to go deeper depending on what you need: 🩷 Work with Bridgett You don’t need more rules. You need a deeper understanding of your sexual desire.If you still feel confused about how to navigate dating without shutting down or crossing your boundaries, Bridgett helps you build sexual self-trust and honor your values → ⁠⁠⁠ RECLAIM Cohort⁠⁠⁠ 📓 ⁠⁠⁠Free Guides and Ecourse⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠ 💙 Work with Lauren If you’re feeling unsure what to do next— whether that’s meeting people, choosing who to pursue, or trusting your judgment in dating, Lauren helps you move forward with clarity and confidence. → Work with Lauren → Coming in July: The Mid-Summer Dating Reset → ⁠⁠⁠Book a Dating Clarity Call⁠⁠⁠ We’ll look at your specific situation and map out your next step. 📔 Get the free guide ⁠⁠⁠Dating Apps Don’t Have to Be Confusing⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠ Have more questions? Email us at datinganddesirepodcast@gmail.com

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  Episode #22

  EP.22 Is Masturbation Wrong for Christians? A Thoughtful Conversation on Discernment

  Jun 23, 202654 minS1

  Bridgett Blood and Lauren Mathues step into one of the most tender and often misunderstood conversations in Christian sexuality: masturbation, self-pleasure, and how adults make embodied, faithful decisions. With warmth and nuance, they name the range of perspectives people often carry, from “always wrong” to “always empowering,” and invite listeners into a more honest conversation about story, Scripture, the Holy Spirit, and what it really looks like. The depth of this conversation comes from the way they refuse to separate theology from lived experience. Our bodies, histories, wounds, shame, curiosity, and longings are all present when we talk about sexuality. For some, this topic touches abuse, loneliness, purity culture, pornography, confusion, or fear. For others, it raises questions about freedom, agency, healing, and what it means to live with integrity. Bridgett and Lauren offer a framework that moves beyond rule-making and reaction. They talk about discernment, personal conviction, embodied awareness, the difference between pleasure and escape, and the importance of asking whether our practices are leading us toward connection or away from it. Their invitation is not to bypass God or the body, but to listen more deeply to both as part of formation and wholeness. What to pay attention to is the fruit of your choices. Are you becoming more connected to God, yourself, and others, or more hidden, isolated, and self-protective? Are you honoring your body with kindness, or using pleasure to avoid the risk of being known and cared for? These questions help create a path toward discernment, clarity, and a deeper trust in your own story. Watch this episode on YouTube Mentioned in this Episode Bridgett’s free guidebook, 19 Ways to Engage Sexual Joy Pure Desire: Groups and Clinical care for unwanted sexual behavior and betrayal trauma for men and women She Recovery: women porn recovery resources Tabbitha Westbrook: healthy sexuality after abuse If something in this episode resonated with you, here are two ways to go deeper depending on what you need: 🩷 Work with Bridgett You don’t need more rules. You need a deeper understanding of your sexual desire.If you still feel confused about how to navigate dating without shutting down or crossing your boundaries, Bridgett helps you build sexual self-trust and honor your values → ⁠⁠⁠ RECLAIM Cohort⁠⁠⁠ 📓 ⁠⁠⁠Free Guides and Ecourse⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠ 💙 Work with Lauren If you’re feeling unsure what to do next— whether that’s meeting people, choosing who to pursue, or trusting your judgment in dating, Lauren helps you move forward with clarity and confidence. → Work with Lauren → Coming in July: The Mid-Summer Dating Reset → ⁠⁠⁠Book a Dating Clarity Call⁠⁠⁠ We’ll look at your specific situation and map out your next step. 📔 Get the free guide ⁠⁠⁠Dating Apps Don’t Have to Be Confusing⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ → ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠ Have more questions? Email us at datinganddesirepodcast@gmail.com

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