My Delight with Sarah Bartel

Sarah Bartel
  • 4.5 (31)
  • SEXUALITY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

You are not broken!  The culture is broken. Your expectations may be skewed. But God designed your feminine sexuality to flourish in marriage if it is honored and nurtured appropriately.  This show is for Catholic women who want to know how to enjoy sex in marriage. This show helps you learn how to create a positive view of sexuality and your body in line with Catholic teaching and ALSO gain practical knowledge, tips, and scripts. If you want to know more about what it means to care for your unique, God-designed sexuality as women --so that you can thrive in your sex life in marriage and help change the culture--join in these honest, woman-centered conversations hosted by Sarah Bartel, moral theologian and Catholic sex + marriage coach. “Sexuality is a source of joy and pleasure: The Creator himself ... established that in the genitive function, spouses should experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit. Therefore, the spouses do nothing evil in seeking this pleasure and enjoyment.”  -Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2362

  1. 1D AGO

    Your Marriage Needs More AWE: Affection, Warmth, and Encouragement 💖

    If you want a good foundation in your marriage for those problem-solving, conflict-solving, tension-resolving conversations, you need to build rapport and connection first with AWE: Affection Warmth  Encouragement This concept is developed in Jim Burns' book Creating and Intimate Marriage: Rekindle Romance through Affection, Warmth, and Encouragement. In this episode, you'll learn examples for how to pour in more AWE in your marriage with affirmation and gratitude, non-sexual touch, and rooting for each other. If you want to learn more little things you can do with great love to build up your marriage, check out the Little Way of Marriage, the free online Catholic workshop Sarah and Nathan Bartel created for their CanaFeast ministry.  Find it at www.littlewayofmarriage.com. 🌹 🌸 free online Catholic marriage workshop: the Little Way of Marriage  Learn how to do little marriage-building skills with great love, inspired by St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, and her holy parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin! Support the show MORE RESOURCES Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women) Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10) Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

    10 min

  2. APR 25

    What about Wives Withholding Sex When They're Upset? 🤔

    Is it sinful for a wife to withhold sex when she's upset at her husband? Is it unfair if they've planned to make love, but then he does something to upset her, so she doesn't want to anymore? The truth is, emotional connection is the foundation for good lovemaking in marriage. If a wife is upset, she is not in a good place to make love. She shouldn't try to force her body to communicate a closeness, connection, and intimacy that her heart doesn't feel.  If a wife is not experiencing physical and emotional equilibrium, the husband must respect that and surround her with care and affection, as Humanae vitae says when it warns that practices such as birth control which lead to an entitled attitude towards sex are dangerous because a husband "may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection." (Humanae vita, 17). To talk about "withholding" sex implies an entitled attitude. Sex is not something husbands and wives are entitled to in marriage--even if there is a common expectation that sex is part of marriage.  The Catholic Church does not teach that it is a sin for a wife to decline lovemaking in any circumstances. She is always free to do so. Husbands are also always free to decline.  It is possible that a wife may use lovemaking in a manipulative manner to try to control her husband's behavior, but this is objectifying herself, and she shouldn't do that.  Instead, a wife should use words to explain why she is upset, and the couple should repair the relationship. Then, they can celebrate that repair with lovemaking... when it's the right time. A couple may need to increase their marriage skills in order to be able to have good, honest dialogue and get equipped to navigate good repair conversations. If they can tend their emotional connection, they'll be in a good place to celebrate that with their physical intimacy.  🌸 free online Catholic marriage workshop: the Little Way of Marriage  Learn how to do little marriage-building skills with great love, inspired by St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, and her holy parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin! Support the show MORE RESOURCES Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women) Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10) Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

    20 min

  3. APR 8

    10 Truths Every Catholic Bride (and Wife!) Should Know to Have Good Sex in Marriage

    Here's the episode with all the things married women wish someone had told them when they first got married. Maybe you've been married a while, and no one ever told you. It's not too late to learn! Maybe you're a newlywed, or about to get married. You're in a great place to learn good habits early, before you settle into practices in your marriage that work against good lovemaking--practices that are unhelpful, harmful, or even sinful. If you want help unpacking these Ten Truths further, you can learn more in The Wedding Night and Beyond: The Catholic Bride's Guide to Sex in Marriage. This is good for engaged women, newlyweds, AND wives married decades who never learned all this at the beginning (which, let's be honest, is probably most women!). https://canafeast.com/weddingnight Other resources mentioned in this episode The Catechism of the Catholic Church  2363 The Ohnut by the Pelvic People (device to reduce penetration depth to prevent pain) The Obligation Sex Series by Sheila Gregoire (excellent blog article series by an Evangelical Christian author/speaker) A Closer Look at Sexual Coercion (straightforward article on a hotline website) My Delight podcast episode "Marital Debt is Not Church Teaching" My Delight podcast episode "What is Sexual Coercion?" 🌸 free online Catholic marriage workshop: the Little Way of Marriage  Learn how to do little marriage-building skills with great love, inspired by St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, and her holy parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin! Support the show MORE RESOURCES Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women) Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10) Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

    28 min

  4. APR 1

    Making Space in Your Brain for Lovemaking 🧠

    Your brain is your most important sexual organ. As you go through your days, weeks, months, and years, you need to make space in your brain for relaxation, creativity, fun, and pleasure... if you want to have those in lovemaking. You have to learn to periodically value other things more than productivity. -Connection -Rest -Play -Delight A woman in a chronic stress state is not going to be able to enjoy sex very much.  In this episode, Sarah shares some examples for how you can slow down and connect with yourself ....and with your husband!... in order to create the foundation you need for good lovemaking.  🌸 free online Catholic marriage workshop: the Little Way of Marriage  Learn how to do little marriage-building skills with great love, inspired by St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, and her holy parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin! Support the show MORE RESOURCES Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women) Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10) Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

    11 min

  5. MAR 24

    "Like Heaven on Earth": Megan Gephart's My Delight Success Story✨

    When Megan Gephart first signed up for the My Delight course, her husband was deployed. She and her husband were both active duty military, and they wouldn't be together for months, but she was decided to use the time while he was away to start work on herself before. Years later, Megan is still seeing the fruits unfold in her marriage.  She shares her story of the tremendous changes she made. 🍍 She decided not to push through pain any more--and to finally talk to her husband about it. 🍓 She realized her pleasure mattered just as much as her husband's--which led to even more more honest, open communication than she'd ever had before in her marriage. 🍇 Now creating time to be together is a big priority. Hear the story of the weekend getaway that was like "heaven on earth"--though events, tensions, a nursing infant, and a big NFP decision leading up to the weekend could have derailed it.   🫐 She went from avoiding intimacy and avoiding non-sexual touch to finding her way to turn towards and actively choose connection.  🍒 Listen to Meghan share the genius shift her therapist suggested that is helping non-sexual touch go SO much better in her marriage now! Megan and her husband are now preparing a new adventure with military orders to Germany. She shares how they are being intentional about preparing for this new adventure (and all the packing and tasks leading up to it), while continuing to communicate closely about prioritizing their marriage, improving their love life ever more, and preparing for the years when they'll be that loving, affectionate silver-haired older couple sitting on their porch swing! Follow Megan Gephart's work supporting Catholic women entrepreneurs and professionals with coaching for strategy, operations, and sustainable growth at Apostolic Fruit.  She also co-hosts the Apostolic Fruit podcast with her business partner, Anna Saucier. 🌸 free online Catholic marriage workshop: the Little Way of Marriage  Learn how to do little marriage-building skills with great love, inspired by St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, and her holy parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin! Support the show MORE RESOURCES Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women) Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10) Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

    29 min

  6. MAR 11

    A Husband's Perspective on Desire Differences... with Nathan Bartel

    Most marriages have one spouse who is more interested in sex, and another who is less interested. This is desire difference. While this is normal--most marriages have a desire difference one way or another--it causes a lot of tension in marriages. Sarah brings on her husband, Nathan, to talk about understanding desire difference from a husband's point of view at a deeper level. Beyond just physical libido, he shares about the yearning for connection with their wives he hears from men he's worked with who have the higher desire. He also shares what it's like for the husband who has the lower desire. Understanding is key, and so are actionable skills that couples can use to help navigate the different factors at work. Sarah and Nathan point some paths forward to creating more connection--including not making sex the only source of connection in the marriage.  They discuss the importance of recognizing the wife's mental load, and how the wife and husband can work with that.  Affirmation and gratitude, non-sexual touch, empathy, and curiousity all help husbands and wives grow closer, feel seen, feel like they matter to the other, and grow in their unity and emotional connection. Catholic husbands interested in Nathan's free Desires Differences workshop can join here through March 12th. Replays of past calls are available. Desires Differences Workshop: https://canafeast.com/desire 🌸 free online Catholic marriage workshop: the Little Way of Marriage  Learn how to do little marriage-building skills with great love, inspired by St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, and her holy parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin! Support the show MORE RESOURCES Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women) Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10) Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

    18 min

  7. FEB 19

    The Five Spiritual Attacks to Expect While Fasting... with Denise Jelinek

    When we fast, we can expect a pattern of five spiritual attacks--whether the fast is from food, behaviors like scrolling, people-pleasing, or other comforts. The enemy works in our false attachments: to things, to false gods, and to false comforts. He likes to get us to put something above God in our life, and that creates disorder. Fasting restores order. It puts God back as the center of our life. Of course the enemy will pursue our soul when we do this.  Learn his tactics, learn that this is normal (you are not failing), and then learn how to gently and lovingly restore proper order after an attack.  Denise Jelinek joins Sarah to break down the play book for each of these five attacks... and shares what to do about them. They touch on authentic self-care and tie it all in to  Join Denise in fasting from the scale and finding peace with food this Lent in her beautiful and deeply transformative 63 Surrendered Program!  Ash Wednesday Sale: Get it for $1 a day (coupon code: Lent63) Join here: https://weightlosswiththeholyspirit.com/ 🌸 free online Catholic marriage workshop: the Little Way of Marriage  Learn how to do little marriage-building skills with great love, inspired by St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, and her holy parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin! Support the show MORE RESOURCES Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women) Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10) Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

    43 min

  8. FEB 18

    3 Tips from the Song of Songs for Your Love Life 🌺

    It's almost Lent! Listen to the voice of the Lord speak: "I will lead her into the desert, and there I will speak to her heart." Hos 2:14 So many good Catholic married women feel like there's a desert of some kind in their love life. Maybe it's a libido desert, or a postpartum desert, or a menopause desert. Maybe it's the ache of not feeling as desired by your husband as you'd like. Maybe lovemaking just feels humdrum and routine So many different kinds of deserts! The scriptures can renew our minds and bring supernatural inspiration. In this episode, Sarah shares three lessons from the Song of Songs to help guide your love life. As she reads this scripture through the lens of a Catholic sex and marriage coach, she sees: 1. The Bride's body image is very positive! 2. Great use of words and talking between the Bridegroom and the Bride. More Catholic couples should be talking about their love life with each other and talking while making love. You have a love story. Keep telling the story! 3. Use all 5 senses. The Song of Songs uses vivid language for all five senses. How can you incorporate and highlight the sense of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing in different ways to enliven your time coming together?  Sarah shares just a few examples of ideas in this episode, but more is available in her Bloom in the Desert virtual retreat happening Feb. 18-24. It's free! Learn more from the Song of Songs to inspire your love life, do fun homework, win prizes, enjoy a safe Catholic community of sisters in Christ all committed to growing together.  Enroll here: https://canafeast.com/desertbloom 🌸 free online Catholic marriage workshop: the Little Way of Marriage  Learn how to do little marriage-building skills with great love, inspired by St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, and her holy parents, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin! Support the show MORE RESOURCES Free Enhancing Marital Intimacy Guide for Catholic Women: 9 Skills for Body, Mind, and Spirit (for married and engaged women) Do you want to know what is allowed for Catholics in the bedroom? The "What's Allowed List" answers 20+ questions about what is licit and illicit. ($10) Model-free lingerie! Get 10% off with my affiliate link for Mentionables.

    13 min
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4.5
out of 5
31 Ratings

About

You are not broken!  The culture is broken. Your expectations may be skewed. But God designed your feminine sexuality to flourish in marriage if it is honored and nurtured appropriately.  This show is for Catholic women who want to know how to enjoy sex in marriage. This show helps you learn how to create a positive view of sexuality and your body in line with Catholic teaching and ALSO gain practical knowledge, tips, and scripts. If you want to know more about what it means to care for your unique, God-designed sexuality as women --so that you can thrive in your sex life in marriage and help change the culture--join in these honest, woman-centered conversations hosted by Sarah Bartel, moral theologian and Catholic sex + marriage coach. “Sexuality is a source of joy and pleasure: The Creator himself ... established that in the genitive function, spouses should experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit. Therefore, the spouses do nothing evil in seeking this pleasure and enjoyment.”  -Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2362

Information

  • Creator
    Sarah Bartel
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    48
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 My Delight with Sarah Bartel
  • Show Website
    My Delight with Sarah Bartel

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