What We Really Want: Conversations About Connection

60 | Jay Stringer: Listen to the Voice of Desire, part 1

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)"For people interested in digging deeply into their stories and better understanding themselves and the unwanted behaviors that plague them, few people have been as helpful as Jay Stringer.In 2018, Jay's book Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing invited readers to a new approach to unwanted sexual behaviors: one that begins by "listening to our lust." Jay encouraged readers to see their struggles as a roadmap to past harms and current hinderances to freedom.Now he's released his second book, Desire: The Longings Inside Us and the New Science of How We Love, Heal, and Grow. Moving beyond the singular experience of sexual struggles, Desire offers a critically important opportunity to better understand the core longings created in every person. To see desire as good, part of how we reflect the image of God. To be curious about our experiences with desire - how it's been encouraged, discouraged, or even prohibited. Through better understanding our relationship to desire, we can live more fully the lives we were created to live.This conversation was too good to abbreviate, so we split it into two parts... the second half will be available Tuesday, March 10.Jay lives in New York City with his wife Heather and their children.#jaystringer #unwanted #desire #storywork #sexuality #masculinity #counseling #coaching #gospel #sexualaddiction #sexaddiction #awaken #awakenrecovery #awakenpodcast #whatwereallywant #wwrw #grace #connection #conversationJay's websiteJay's books (Amazon)Holistic Desire website Support the showAwaken websiteRoots Retreat Men's IntensiveRoots Retreat Women's WorkshopAwaken Men & Women's support meeting info (including virtual)

PREVIEW | Jay Stringer (coming March 3)

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)"Virtually any person of faith who has done work to understand their sexual story over the past several years has heard of JAY STRINGER. Jay is the author of the best-selling book Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing. With over 100,000 copies sold, many people have come to better understand how their stories impact their current struggles. Jay has a new book, Desire: The Longings Inside Us and the New Science of How We Love, Heal, and Grow, available Tuesday, March 3rd. We're celebrating launch day with Part 1 of our conversation about the new book, and the much broader conversation of how we understand and bless our God-given desires.Episode 60 | Jay Stringer: Listen to the Voice of Desire, part 1 will be available Tuesday, March 3rd, with part 2 available one week later!#jaystringer #unwanted #desire #storywork #therapy #healing #addiction #trauma #vulnerability #recovery #grace #gospel #transformationSupport the showAwaken websiteRoots Retreat Men's IntensiveRoots Retreat Women's WorkshopAwaken Men & Women's support meeting info (including virtual)

59 | Chuck DeGroat: Safety And Suffering

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)"Does a focus on acknowledging trauma and providing safety create more resilient or fragile people? That question is at the heart of many charged discussions about therapy and trauma work. Virtually every contemporary therapeutic modality recognizes the impact trauma has on our current struggles. But many people feel it's too much focus, and that the result is people who can't handle anything difficult and who call "trauma" on everything that's hard in life.Chuck DeGroat has a lot to say about this. He has been a pastor, and is currently a therapist, author, and seminary professor (Western Theological Seminary) who specializes in pastoral & leadership health, abuse & trauma, and navigating spiritual & emotional obstacles on the faith journey.Chuck is the author of multiple books, including When Narcissism Comes to Church: Healing Your Community From Emotional and Spiritual Abuse and Healing What’s Within: Coming Home to Yourself and to God When You’re Weary, Wounded, and Wandering. He also authors a Substack page (Sit With Chuck), and a recent post is the subject of most of our conversation.Chuck lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with his wife. They have two grown daughters.#chuckdegroat #sitwithchuck #connection #counseling #spirituality #growth #change #therapy #healing #trauma #narcissism #sexuality #addiction #betrayaltrauma #recovery #grace #gospel #transformationChuck's personal pageSit With Chuck (Substack page, see "Safety and Suffering" posted 1/22/26)Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Western Seminary Support the showAwaken websiteRoots Retreat Men's IntensiveRoots Retreat Women's WorkshopAwaken Men & Women's support meeting info (including virtual)

58 | Jenna Riemersma: Moving Toward, Not Fighting Against

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)"For anyone who has ever said, "A part of me wants to ________, but another part thinks it might not be a good idea..." This episode is for you.People actually ARE made up of many complex parts...it's part of how we reflect the image of God. And a counseling modality know as Internal Family Systems (IFS) that began in the 1980s has helped countless people better understand themselves and how they experience the world around them.Jenna Riemersma is a therapist who has become one of the world's leading experts in IFS. She is a Certified Sexual Addiction (CSAT) and Certified Multiple Addictions (CMAT) Therapist, and has written multiple books on IFS, including the groundbreaking Altogether You.Greg and Stacey got a chance to have a conversation with Jenna in which she gave a crash course in IFS - what it is, how it works, and how it helps people understand  and approach all their parts with curiosity and compassion.Jenna's websiteJenna's books (on Amazon)Insight Timer app (Jenna has meditations in the app) Support the showAwaken websiteRoots Retreat Men's IntensiveRoots Retreat Women's WorkshopAwaken Men & Women's support meeting info (including virtual)

57 | Juli Slattery: Longing To Be Known

"Send us a message! (questions, feedback, etc.)"Our guest for Episode 57 is a recognized expert in biblical sexuality. Dr. Juli Slattery has decades of experience as a therapist, author, and founder of the organization Authentic Intimacy. For years she has been helping women and men move toward healing from painful experiences with sexual brokenness, and developing a healthy view of their sexuality.Her podcast Java With Juli offers great, thought-provoking perspectives on sex and relationships, and her new book Surrendered Sexuality helps people better understand the significance and design of our God-given sexuality. In it she writes about how Jesus gave His life not primarily to change behavior, but to renew our identity—which is rooted in our union with Christ, not our wounds, feelings, desires, past or present sins, or purity. Embracing this will help us experience sexuality in the way God intended.#julislattery #drjulislattery #javawithjuli #surrenderedsexuality #connection #counseling #spirituality #growth #change #therapy #healing #trauma #sexuality #sexualaddiction #betrayaltrauma #recovery #grace #gospel #transformationAuthentic Intimacy websiteJava With Juli podcastSurrendered Sexuality on Amazon Support the showAwaken websiteRoots Retreat Men's IntensiveRoots Retreat Women's WorkshopAwaken Men & Women's support meeting info (including virtual)