The Tammy Peterson Podcast

Healing through Scripture sounds simple, but my guest Sonja Corbitt learned it the hard way. She came out of childhood with a deep father wound and a rage she was terrified of passing on to her own children, so she begged God for help and went looking for it in His Word. Sonja is the Catholic Evangelista and creator of the LOVE the Word Bible study and prayer method, and in this conversation she shares how one verse, Mark 12:30, became her template for healing the whole person: heart, soul, mind, and body. She tells the story of her conversion from Protestant Bible teacher to Catholic, the painful years when her husband could not follow her, and how holding on to Mary carried her through. She also explains how watching the way Mary prayed, by listening first, shaped the method she teaches today.
Sonja began teaching Scripture in a small country church in the South when she was just 21. Two church splits, a three hour Easter Vigil she found strange and compelling all at once, and a catechism she picked up in a used bookstore set her on a year of reading her way into the Catholic Church through the early Church Fathers. Her husband was not ready to follow, and for a time they could not even speak about it. She chose not to defend herself, and the way God brought him home five years later moved me deeply.
We spend much of our time on what healing through Scripture actually looks like day to day. Sonja shares the STOP tool she drew from Psalm 4, which taught her that anger is not the enemy and that underneath her rage was fear, and underneath the fear was pain. She describes the hard moments in our relationships as pop quizzes, places where God is already working, and walks through how our emotions, memories, judgments, unforgiveness, and even physical symptoms can become a path to inner healing rather than something to run from. We talk about anxiety and depression, emotional unavailability as a core wound, praying for the generations before us, and how chronic illness can carry a message we need to hear.
Finally, Sonja tells the story of asking Mary directly what she was missing, and how Mary's Magnificat became the heart of her LOVE the Word prayer method: listen, observe, verbalize, and entrust. Her book Love Heals goes deeper into Mark 12:30, and her study Exalted explores Mary and the Magnificat. I hope this conversation gives you hope that no part of you is beyond God's healing love.
Find more from Sonja:
Love Heals, Ave Maria Press: https://www.avemariapress.com/products/love-heals
Website: https://sonjacorbitt.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sonja_corbitt
Connect with me:
My Website: http://tammympeterson.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast
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Parental rights in schools are being quietly erased, and most parents have no idea it's happening until it's too late. In this episode I sit down with Kate Anderson, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom and director of its Center for Parental Rights, to talk about the schools that are secretly transitioning kids to a different gender without telling their parents. Kate has spent the last ten years litigating these cases across the country, and she walks me through real stories, a twelve year old girl in Wisconsin, a mother in New York who wasn't told for months, and a family in Michigan who caught it just in time. We talk about the statistic that should alarm every parent, six thousand schools known to have these policies, and what the Supreme Court might do next. If you are raising kids or grandkids and sending them to school, I don't think you can afford to skip this conversation. I would love to hear what you think, so leave a comment, subscribe if you haven't already, and share this with another parent who needs to hear it.
 
Kate is a graduate of Gonzaga University School of Law, where she earned her JD magna cum laude, and she spent her early career litigating civil and criminal cases in Seattle before joining Alliance Defending Freedom about ten years ago. Today she leads a team of six litigators focused entirely on protecting parental rights in schools, and she brings a calm, thoughtful presence to a subject that gets people fired up fast. We spend a lot of time on how school gender transition policies actually work in practice, the gender support plans, the dual naming systems where a child goes by one name with teachers and another at home, and the way some administrators will use one name with the child and deliberately use the child's real name whenever they talk to the parents, just to keep the deception going. Kate walks through the Wisconsin case in real detail, a twelve year old girl whose parents fought to protect her through a difficult season of depression and body image struggles, only to find the school working against them. We talk about the phrase some parents are told, that they could have a live son or a dead daughter, and how that kind of pressure gets used to push families toward decisions they were never given the full picture on. Kate also gets into the medical side of this, how some clinics are providing puberty blockers and hormones to minors without parental involvement, and why the emerging research out of Europe is starting to shift that conversation. We talk about Mahmud v Taylor and the Massachusetts case Kate is hoping the Supreme Court will take up next, and what that could mean for parental rights across the entire country. Underneath all of it is something I keep coming back to, that social transition without parental consent doesn't just cut parents out of a decision, it teaches a child that the adults who love them most can't be trusted, and that breaks something in a family that takes a long time to rebuild. Kate and I also talk about what actually helps, requesting curriculum, showing up at school board meetings, building real community with other parents, and why keeping parents in the dark should never have become normal in the first place.


Find more from Kate:
Website: https://adflegal.org/profile/kate-anderson/
ADF Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alliancedefendingfreedom/
Interview 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QmSlCz5seY
Interview 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CNlXe6qrfM
Interview 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BExqLLH80eo&t=3s
Connect with me:
My website: https://tammympeterson.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson
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An emotionally absent father can be home every single night, and his children can still feel the absence. I know, because I grew up that way. In this conversation, Dr. Warren Farrell, author of The Boy Crisis and Role Mate to Soul Mate, explains what he calls being dad deprived, why boys are falling so far behind, and how the way mothers and fathers each set boundaries shapes a child for life. Warren once served on the board of the National Organization for Women in New York City, and he shares what it cost him to start speaking up for boys and men. We also talk about his practical tools for couples, including how to hear your spouse's criticism without getting defensive, because a strong marriage is one of the greatest gifts we can give our children.
Warren has spent his career studying men, women, and the family. The Financial Times named him one of the world's top 100 thought leaders, his books have been published in 19 languages, and The Boy Crisis helped launch the current conversation about how our sons are doing. That work is now the subject of a documentary, The Boy Crisis, which is screening in Canada next year and in London in summer 2027, and I encourage you to watch the trailer at the link below. He tells me how his work with women's groups led to starting men's groups, and how listening to those men changed everything. Man after man had quietly given up work he loved so his wife and children could have more. When Warren began sharing what he learned, the standing ovations and the television invitations started to disappear.
We talk honestly about the boy crisis and why father involvement matters so much. Warren explains why he never uses the word fatherless, since every child has a father, and why being dad deprived can happen even in a home where Dad never leaves. I share my own story of a father who was always home, yet whose attention I longed for, and how that shaped me. Warren describes what he heard when he asked men in prison about their fathers, and why kids actually get to bed sooner when Dad is in charge, even when Dad sets the later bedtime. He explains why enforced boundaries, paired with the bond that comes from roughhousing, camping, and letting kids take safe risks, build the postponed gratification that helps a child succeed. We also talk about checks and balances parenting, where mom style caution and dad style risk taking work together instead of against each other.
The second half turns to marriage. Warren shares the caring and sharing practice at the heart of his Role Mate to Soul Mate work, including a powerful question he asks every couple: would you risk your life to save your partner, and if so, can you listen to them without becoming defensive? He also explains why understanding your spouse's story is not the same as agreeing with it, and why two different stories can live side by side in a good marriage. I share how Jordan and I began dancing in our living room after our first baby was born, and what I have learned about bringing up hard things. We talk about why so many men stop sharing their feelings with their wives, how to move from civil war to civil dialogue with family members who see politics differently, and how I let go of resentment toward someone I love by widening my view of her.
Warren was clear that reading about these practices is not the same as doing them together. If you and your spouse want to actually practice them, he leads a Role Mate to Soul Mate: The Art and Discipline of Love couples workshop at Esalen, April 2 to 5, 2027, and I have read the book and can tell you it is a process meant to be shared with someone you love. If you have ever wondered why kids need their dads so much, or how to create a home where both parents are truly present, I think this conversation will speak to you.
Watch the trailer for The Boy Crisis documentary:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h3RutRbU-ZHbTueo6sSrlGzg9DXZpPqM/view
Join Warren's Role Mate to Soul Mate couples workshop at Esalen:
https://www.esalen.org/workshops/role-mate-to-soul-mate-the-art-and-discipline-of-love-040227
Learn more about The Boy Crisis documentary:
https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-boy-crisis-cancel-warren-farrell


Find more from Warren:
The Boy Crisis Trailer: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h3RutRbU-ZHbTueo6sSrlGzg9DXZpPqM/view
Role Mate to Soul Mate Workshop at Esalen: https://www.esalen.org/workshops/role-mate-to-soul-mate-the-art-and-discipline-of-love-040227
The Boy Crisis Documentary on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theboycrisisdocumentary/
The Boy Crisis Documentary, British Council Films: https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-boy-crisis-cancel-warren-farrell
Connect with me:
My Website: http://tammympeterson.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson
Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast

Childhood trauma and marriage are more connected than most people realize, and no one proves that more than my guest today. I sat down with Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, the man behind the bestselling book Love and Respect and the Love and Respect marriage conferences he and his wife Sarah have led around the world since 1999. But before he was helping millions of couples understand each other, he was a little boy watching his father nearly strangle his mother, a kid sent away to military school at 13, and a young man who didn't tell his own mom what he witnessed until decades later. In this conversation we talk about how that pain shaped his life's work, why he believes most marital conflict comes from honest misunderstanding rather than ill will, and the simple biblical principle that changed how he sees every relationship. If you have ever wondered why two people who fell in love can end up feeling like strangers, this episode is for you.
Dr. Eggerichs holds a PhD in family studies from Michigan State University and spent nearly twenty years as a senior pastor before he and Sarah founded Love and Respect Ministries, where she now serves as vice president. They have been married since 1973 and live in Grand Rapids with their three adult children. His book has sold over 2.3 million copies, and in this conversation he walks through where the whole message actually came from, a single verse in Ephesians that he came across while teaching through the Bible verse by verse. That verse became the foundation for one of the most talked about frameworks in Christian marriage counseling, the idea that a wife's deepest need is love and a husband's deepest need is respect, and that most couples are not fighting because of malice but because they are speaking two different languages without realizing it.
We go deep into his own healing from childhood trauma, including a memory he carried silently for most of his life before finally telling his mother what he had witnessed as a small boy. That wound became the seed of everything he now teaches. From there we unpack his COUPLE and CHAIRS acronyms, the practical differences in what women and men each need to feel secure in a relationship, and why a husband losing his job or sense of purpose can shake him as deeply as a health crisis. I also open up about my own marriage to Jordan, the years it took me to find language for what I was feeling, the season of caregiving we are in right now, and the small rituals, like our weekly date night, that have carried us through the hardest chapters.
This episode is for anyone doing the quiet work of healing from childhood trauma, anyone trying to understand love and respect in marriage, and anyone who needs practical marriage counseling advice that goes beyond surface level tips. We also talk honestly about where this message ends and abuse begins, because Dr. Eggerichs is careful never to let biblical love and respect become an excuse for control or silence. If you have ever felt unseen or misunderstood in your own relationship, or you are simply looking for a deeper way of understanding your spouse, I think this conversation will stay with you long after it ends.
Find more from Emerson:
About Us – Love and Respect Ministries: https://www.loveandrespect.com/about-us
Lightbulb Moments in Marriage – Love and Respect Academy Course: https://www.loveandrespectacademy.com/lightbulb-moments-in-marriage
Connect with me:
My website: https://tammympeterson.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson
Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast

Chronic suffering and faith in God collide in a way that most of us hope we never have to face, but today's guest has lived inside that collision for five years and come out the other side with a hope I found genuinely convicting. My guest today is Sydney Anne Bennett, a writer, disability advocate, and speaker who became disabled almost overnight two weeks after her honeymoon and was later diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder. She lives with daily seizures, chronic pain, and mobility loss, and she has built a community of over 300000 people by being honest about what it actually looks like to keep believing when your body will not cooperate and your prayers do not get answered the way you hoped. In this conversation we talk about what it means to lament honestly before God, how she learned to receive help from her husband Colton without feeling like a burden, and what she has learned about motherhood while raising her daughters Hadassah and Felicity from a wheelchair. I would love to know what stood out most to you, so leave a comment below and let me know, and if this conversation encourages you, please subscribe so you never miss an episode.
Sydney's story starts just after her wedding, when what began as unexplained pain escalated within weeks into paralysis, seizures, hallucinations, and loss of speech, with doctors telling her at one point that she was likely dying from a degenerating brain condition they could not identify. It took about a month before she finally received her diagnosis of Functional Neurological Disorder, a condition where the brain sends faulty signals to the body, causing symptoms that can shift drastically from day to day. Her husband was deployed just three months later, which meant she faced that first year of disability largely on her own, learning to use a wheelchair and manage seizures while still trying to finish school.
We spend a lot of this conversation talking honestly about what faith through chronic illness really looks like, not the version with a tidy resolution, but the version where you keep showing up to God in weakness, day after day, without knowing when or if healing will come. Sydney shares how a mentor taught her that raw, honest lament, the kind we see throughout the Psalms, is not a lack of faith but an act of it, and how that reframing changed the way she prays. We also talk about the difference between the theological answers to suffering she grew up with as a pastor's daughter and the much harder work of actually trusting God in suffering when she is living it herself. She is candid about ongoing struggles with depression and anxiety, about a current flare in her symptoms eight months postpartum, and about learning to respond to fear more quickly instead of spiraling into it. Toward the end we talk about marriage, motherhood, and what it has meant for her to graciously receive her husband's help, and to redefine what being a good mother looks like from a wheelchair, raising her two young daughters with honesty, humor, and hope in Jesus.
Find more from Sydney: the.annegirl (@the.annegirl) • Instagram photos and videos: https://www.instagram.com/the.annegirl/?hl=en the.annegirl - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the.annegirl/videos Sydney Anne Bennett: http://www.sydneyannebennett.com Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast