EP.31 Dating After Divorce: Finding Healthy Love After an Abusive Marriage with Kendra LeeAnne Kuntz

Can you actually stay friends with an ex, or with someone you’ve hooked up with? A listener question gets Lauren and Bridgett talking about what happens when a romantic or sexual connection ends but the other person is still part of your church, friend group, workplace, or everyday life. Rather than giving one rule for every situation, they talk through what matters: how serious the relationship was, how intertwined your lives became, what kind of connection you’re hoping to have now, and whether staying close is actually helping either person move forward.

Cedric Dale Hoard, mental health therapist, spoken word artist, and author, joins Lauren and Bridgett to talk about the messages Christian men often receive about desire, lust, masculinity, and relationships. Drawing from his work with men and his own experience, Cedric looks at how purity culture can leave men ashamed of attraction or afraid of desire without helping them understand what may be happening underneath it.The conversation gets practical about what healthier dating can look like. What do you do when someone you like is not ready for physical affection? How can a man say no to sexual attention without feeling weak? What is the difference between attraction and lust? Cedric talks about emotional regulation, boundaries, vulnerability, and learning to express disappointment without turning it into pressure or manipulation.They also talk about male friendship, loneliness, and what happens when men begin to let safe people really know them. For men who want to date and love well, this episode offers a way to move beyond shame without pretending desire does not exist. And for women who care about the men in their lives, it offers a fuller picture of the emotional work many men are doing to become healthier partners, husbands, fathers, and friends. WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBESHOW RESOURCESThe Head & The CrownAnchored In LightCONNECT WITH CEDRIC HOARDWebsite: https://cedricdalehoard.comInstagram: @cedricdalehoard If something in this episode resonated with you, here are two ways to go deeper depending on what you need:

Being single for a long time changes the way you build your life. You learn your routines, make your own decisions, carry your own responsibilities, and often become very good at doing life on your own. Lauren and Bridgett talk about what happens when you genuinely enjoy the life you have built but still want someone to share it with.

Dr. Camden Morgante, psychologist and author of Recovering from Purity Culture, joins Lauren and Bridgett for a conversation about dating after deconstruction and what it looks like to rethink the beliefs you inherited about faith, sexuality, and relationships. Drawing from both her clinical work and her own purity culture experience, Camden offers a hopeful reminder: you do not have to have your faith completely figured out before you can date, connect, and keep discovering what you believe.

Ellie Berry, a Sexual Addiction and Recovery coach, joins Lauren and Bridgett for an honest conversation about women, pornography, and what the path toward real freedom can look like. Drawing from her own experience with pornography addiction and recovery, Ellie names the isolation many women carry when their story does not fit the common assumption that pornography is primarily a man's struggle. Together, they explore why healing takes more than shame, willpower, or simply trying harder. Ellie shares how understanding triggers and the brain's addiction cycle changed the way she understood recovery, why telling a safe person became such an important part of her own healing, and what it can look like to become curious about the deeper needs for connection, relief, pleasure, and care underneath unwanted sexual behavior. The conversation also makes room for a question many Christian women may not know how to ask: What do I do with sexual desire when I'm single, recovering, or choosing not to act on it? Lauren, Bridgett, and Ellie talk about learning to listen to the body without treating desire as dirty or dangerous, finding healthy ways to move that energy toward life and connection, and discovering that sexual wholeness is about much more than whether or not a particular behavior stops. For any woman who has struggled quietly, wondered whether she is the only one, or felt like she should have figured this out by now, this episode offers both practical first steps and a deeply hopeful picture of recovery. And for the friend who may someday be trusted with someone's story, it offers guidance for how to respond with care instead of shame. Through it all is a reminder that healing does not begin with earning your way back to God. His delight has not disappeared because you struggle.