Rising Lights Podcast

Margaret Byars
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Christianity
  • Biweekly

The platform where faith and psychology meet. Rising Lights Podcast is a resource that brings psychological abuse in Christian communities into light to help heal, restore, and educate.

  1. 5h ago

    Ep 12 | Keep Rising

    Season One started with a verse. It ends with the same one. In the Season One finale, host Margaret Byars, LPC, reflects on what this season was, why she built it, and what’s coming next. She talks about what the Lord taught her through the process of making this podcast, including something that doesn’t come naturally to her at all: being seen. And she closes where Rising Lights began, with the verse that was behind all of it before there was ever a microphone. Healing doesn’t mean pretending the darkness never happened. Sometimes it means being able to look directly at it and say: yes, that happened, and it still doesn’t get to determine where I’m going. Season Two is coming. But first, thank you for rising with us. “Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.” — Micah 7:8 -------------------- Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/risinglightspodcast 🎵 Intro & Outro Music: “Passage of Time” by Scott Buckley | Licensed under Creative Commons (BY 3.0) — creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 | Music powered by BreakingCopyright: breakingcopyright.com

  2. Oct 25

    Episode 11 | The Path Toward Restoration

    You’ve recognized the patterns. You’ve developed discernment. Maybe you’ve finally left. But now you’re standing there thinking: "okay, now what?" In one of the final episodes of Season One, host Margaret Byars, LPC, answers the question she’s been building toward all season: what does restoration actually look like after you’ve come out of the tornado? She gets personal about what she thought her healing would look like, and what it actually looked like, and walks through four practical steps for anyone who is somewhere on the path of rebuilding. Restoration isn’t a race back to who you were before. Sometimes it’s the Lord building someone entirely different, wiser, stronger in the right places, softer in the right places, and rooted in something that can’t be shaken. “He is so sovereign.” ------------------ Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/risinglightspodcast 🎵 Intro & Outro Music: “Passage of Time” by Scott Buckley | Licensed under Creative Commons (BY 3.0) — creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 | Music powered by BreakingCopyright: breakingcopyright.com

  3. Oct 18

    Ep 10 | Love or Control?

    When you grow up in a home where control and love were intertwined, they can start to feel like the same thing. Familiar can feel like love, even when it isn’t. In this episode, host Margaret Byars, LPC, breaks down the nuanced difference between authentic love and control: what each one is built on, what each one produces, and how to use discernment when your nervous system isn’t always a reliable guide. She also unpacks why intensity isn’t the same as intimacy, what it looks like when someone enters your garden to tend it versus consume it, and why the fruit test applies here just as much as anywhere else in this series. Control breeds fear, resentment, and captivity. Authentic love produces freedom, truth, and peace. The difference is in the pattern — and it always shows up eventually. “Perfect love drives out fear.” — 1 John 4:18 ------------------ Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/risinglightspodcast 🎵 Intro & Outro Music: “Passage of Time” by Scott Buckley | Licensed under Creative Commons (BY 3.0) — creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 | Music powered by BreakingCopyright: breakingcopyright.com

  4. Oct 11

    Episode 09 | Leaving Abusive Relationships: Boundaries Toward the Kingdom

    You can know intellectually that something is destroying you and simultaneously feel emotionally bonded to it. That's not weakness. That's what abuse does to a nervous system. In this episode, host Margaret Byars, LPC, gets personal - sharing her own experience inside a toxic relationship and what it actually took to leave. She walks through why leaving is so much harder than it looks from the outside, what intermittent reinforcement does to your brain, and what healthy love is actually supposed to produce. She also speaks directly to the friends watching someone they love stay in something destructive, and what compassion without enabling actually looks like. Loving someone and praying for someone does not mean giving their destructive behavior unlimited access to you. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..." — John 10:10 ------------------------------ Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/risinglightspodcast 🎵 Intro & Outro Music: "Passage of Time" by Scott Buckley | Licensed under Creative Commons (BY 3.0) — creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 | Music powered by BreakingCopyright: breakingcopyright.com

  5. Oct 4

    Episode 08 | The Codependent Christian

    Sacrificial love. A servant's heart. Doing what Jesus would do. In the Church, codependency has a way of finding very convincing theological cover, and it's time we talked about it. In this episode, host Margaret Byars, LPC, breaks down what codependency actually is, where it comes from, and why so many Christians (especially women) are living it out while calling it Christlikeness. There's a massive difference between becoming more like the Savior and believing you are somebody's savior. Jesus was not codependent. And He never asked you to be either. If you're exhausted from trying to fix someone, managing everyone's emotions, or too afraid to tell the truth because someone might get upset, this episode is for you. "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." — Galatians 6:2 --------------------------- Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/risinglightspodcast 🎵 Intro & Outro Music: "Passage of Time" by Scott Buckley | Licensed under Creative Commons (BY 3.0) — creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 | Music powered by BreakingCopyright: breakingcopyright.com

  6. Sep 27

    Episode 07 | Breaking Generational Patterns

    Generational trauma isn't just a buzzword. It's a compounding domino effect that traces all the way back to the fall, and breaking it is one of the most important missions of a disciple of Christ. In this episode, host Margaret Byars, LPC, opens in Ezra 4 with a picture the Lord gave her: breaking generational patterns is like tearing down a decrepit house and rebuilding it from the ground up - keeping the bones, but letting God rebuild the walls and fill every room with His glory. Then she gets into the science and the psychology: epigenetics, neuroplasticity, the fawn response, what it actually means to be equally yoked, and why the person you choose to marry is one of the single biggest factors in whether generational trauma gets healed or passed down. "By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures." — Proverbs 24:3-4 -------------------------------------- Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/risinglightspodcast 🎵 Intro & Outro Music: "Passage of Time" by Scott Buckley | Licensed under Creative Commons (BY 3.0) — creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 | Music powered by BreakingCopyright: breakingcopyright.com

  7. Sep 13

    Ep 06 | Ministry Wounds

    Ministries are not exempt from the narcissistic matrix. When unhealed leaders run organizations, the family system dynamic follows them right in. In this episode, Margaret Byars, LPC, breaks down why ministry environments are uniquely vulnerable to dysfunction, the five signs you may already be sensing, and what to actually do about it depending on where you're standing. Just because something carries the name of Jesus doesn't mean it's functioning in the Spirit of Jesus. Look at the fruit. "For with God nothing will be impossible." — Luke 1:37 -------------------- Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/risinglightspodcast 🎵 Intro & Outro Music: "Passage of Time" by Scott Buckley | Licensed under Creative Commons (BY 3.0) — creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 | Music powered by BreakingCopyright: breakingcopyright.com

  8. Aug 17

    Ep 05 | Wait for the Kingdom: Relational Dynamics

    In this episode, Margaret gets personal about relationships: what it actually looks like to wait on God for a kingdom spouse, why we attract the wounds we haven't healed, and what it costs to break the cycle. Then she walks through the narcissistic relationship cycle in full: love bombing, devaluing, discard, and the hoover - what each stage looks like, what it does to your brain and nervous system, and how to recognize it before it's too late. If you've ever felt like a completely different person inside a relationship, or watched someone you love become unrecognizable, this episode explains why. "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion." — Isaiah 30:18 ------------------------------ Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/risinglightspodcast 🎵 Intro & Outro Music: "Passage of Time" by Scott Buckley | Licensed under Creative Commons (BY 3.0) — creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 | Music powered by BreakingCopyright: breakingcopyright.com

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

The platform where faith and psychology meet. Rising Lights Podcast is a resource that brings psychological abuse in Christian communities into light to help heal, restore, and educate.

Information

  • Creator
    Margaret Byars
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Margaret Byars
  • Show Website
    Rising Lights Podcast

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