Dr. Barbara's Whole Life Podcast

Codependency isn't a personality flaw. It's a worship disorder. In this series finale of the Heart Journey Podcast, From Codependence to Christ-Dependence, Dr. Barbara brings the entire journey together from the Garden to the Cross to Pentecost and names the cure in one word: Hineni. Here am I. The answer is yes. Anchored by the stories of Kathryn Kuhlman and her "thousand deaths" of surrender, an...

It's Flashback Friday on the Heart Journey Podcast! In this inspiring episode, Dr. Barbara sits down with Mama Marilyn Hickey, a spiritual mother to countless women in ministry who has blazed a path through criticism, resistance, and perseverance, anchored firmly in the Word of God. From getting "hooked on the Book" at age 11 to speaking God's promises over your life,  Marilyn shares how Scripture...

Holy Week isn't just a story. It's a pattern. In this Resurrection Week episode of the Heart Journey Podcast, Dr. Barbara shares how Wednesday miracles → Thursday tremor → Friday exposure → Saturday waiting → Sunday reorganization → Pentecost empowerment became a map for her own crisis. She reflects on how June 6th became her "Good Friday"—a convergence that exposed false dependencies, invited dee...

In this episode of the Heart Journey Podcast, Dr. Barbara Jean Lowe Sauvé sits down with physician, author, and rest expert Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith to explore the transformative power of biblical rest. Discover the 7 types of rest and why naps, bubble baths, and typical self-care don't reach the deeper depletion that high-capacity, faith-driven people often face. Together, they unpack Jesus' rhyt...

It's Flashback Friday on the Heart Journey Podcast! Join Dr. Barbara for a powerful conversation with Pastor Rosalinda Rivera, founder of New Life for Youth & Adults in Richmond, Virginia. Rosalinda shares a story that will stir your faith: her father, once a gang warlord and heroin addict in New York City, was transformed through the persistent prayers of one grandmother.  From miracle pregnancie...

Trauma didn't start with you. It's a generational pattern. In this episode of the Heart Journey Podcast, Dr. Barbara shares her own family story, from the Silent Generation to Gen Alpha, tracing how war, addiction, cultural upheaval, and institutional collapse shape nervous systems across decades. Through attachment theory, ACE research, and the ecological systems framework of Urie Bronfenbrenner,...

Welcome back to The Heart Journey Podcast with Dr. Barbara. In this episode, Dr. Barbara shares a personal teaching and testimony from Ana Werner's Healing School on encounters with Jesus that heal the brokenhearted. Blending Scripture, trauma-informed psychology, and nervous system science, she explores how Jesus restores mind, body, and spirit, replacing codependence with Christ-dependence. Lear...

You're not alone if you feel exhausted from trying to "get it right." In this Flashback Friday episode, Dr. Barbara shares an archived conversation with Sandra McCollom on how beholding Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18) transforms us, without striving, shame, or condemnation. If you've been living sin-conscious, self-conscious, or weighed down by pressure, this episode is a gentle invitation back to grac...

Why does "I'm sorry" sometimes fall flat while true repair restores safety and wholeness? In this Heart Journey Podcast episode, Dr. Barbara Jean Sauvé explores repair as a spiritual discipline, a lived process that restores function after betrayal, affairs, friendship ruptures, divorce with poor closure, and relationships that refuse to reconcile. Through the powerful story of Bob Meisner and Aud...

What if the tension around money in your relationship isn't about numbers at all, but about fear, trust, and the heart? In this powerful Flashback Friday episode, Dr. Barbara revisits a deeply moving and research-grounded conversation from the 2021 World Women's Wholeness Summit with renowned Christian researcher Shaunti Feldhahn, exploring love, marriage, money, and wholeness after financial rupt...

Repair isn't optional, it's the skill that keeps love alive. In this solo episode, Dr. Barbara Jean Lowe Sauvé unpacks repair and amends as both a Christian spiritual discipline and the single strongest predictor of relational health in modern research. Tracing a biblical arc from Jacob and Esau's reconciliation to national repair through Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, she sh...

What if exhaustion, betrayal, and failure aren't signs your story is over, but invitations to return to forgiveness and Christ dependence? In this powerful Flashback Friday episode, Dr. Barbara Jean Lowe Sauvé revisits a deeply moving conversation with Drs. Bob and Audrey Meisner, sharing a redemptive Christian marriage restoration story marked by spiritual thirst, betrayal, confession, and God's...

Why does resentment quietly become spiritual territory while forgiveness restores freedom and peace? In this WHOLE Life Podcast episode, Dr. Barbara Jean Lowe Sauvé explores how resentment gives access, creating topos, spiritual territory that shapes attention, memory, physiology, and discernment. She unpacks why unforgiveness is not spiritually neutral, how it opens doors in spiritual warfare, an...

In this episode, Dr. Barbara Jean Sauvé sits down with Dr. Karl Lehman to explore how Jesus heals the brokenhearted through real encounters that transform emotional memory and trauma. They discuss the Immanuel Approach, how memory reconsolidation aligns with Scripture, why absence wounds shape attachment and codependence, and how perceiving Jesus' presence brings deep Christian inner healing beyon...

What if grief isn't something you "get over," but a sacred place where surrender and Christ-dependence are formed?   In this Flashback Friday episode, Dr. Barbara Jean Lowe Sauvé revisits a powerful conversation with Rachel Awtrey about sudden loss, survivors' guilt, forgiveness, and healing a broken heart in Jesus. Rachel shares the story of losing her father in a tragic accident, the shock that...

Why does resentment harden some hearts while forgiveness restores others to peace? In this WHOLE Life Podcast episode, Dr. Barbara Jean Lowe Sauvé explores forgiveness as a field change, a decisive shift that releases stored resentment and restores coherence in the soul and nervous system. She unpacks why unforgiveness isn't spiritually or biologically neutral, how resentment creates "jurisdiction...

In this episode, Dr. Barbara Jean Sauvé sits down with Dr. Jen Ripley to explore covenant vs. contract love in marriage and why "I give what I have" creates resilience when life gets hard. They discuss why scorekeeping signals distress, how forgiveness differs from reconciliation, and why boundaries protect love from resentment and burnout. The conversation also turns to the church in a lonely cul...

What if sexual betrayal isn't a sign of your weakness, but evidence of trauma your body and soul are still carrying? In this powerful Flashback Friday episode, Dr. Barbara Jean Lowe Sauvé revisits a deeply moving conversation with Dr. Sheri Keffer, trauma therapist, researcher, and advocate for betrayed partners. Together, they explore what truly creates healing after betrayal, not minimizing the...

Why do some relationships collapse under pressure while others hold? In this WHOLE Life Podcast episode, Dr. Barbara Jean Lowe Sauvé explores the hidden geometry beneath relational breakdown, contrasting the Triangle of Pain (victim–rescuer–persecutor) with the Triangle of Christ-Dependence, where Christ bears identity, security, and meaning so human love can breathe. Drawing from attachment scien...

What do we do with grief that won't resolve, pain that won't be fixed, prayers that seem unanswered? In this deeply moving conversation, Dr. Barbara Jean Lowe Sauvé sits down with Dr. Eric L. Johnson, a leading voice in Christian psychology, to explore the sacred practice of lament, and why it is essential for healing codependency and forming a secure attachment with God. They discuss: Why lament...

Sexuality is one of the most tender, misunderstood, and avoided areas of healing, especially for Christian women who have done deep work in many places, yet still feel resigned to pain, disconnection, or shame in this part of their story.    In this Flashback Friday, Dr. Barbara Jean Lowe Sauvé re-shares a powerful conversation with Dr. Juli Slattery (Authentic Intimacy) on sexual wholeness.    To...

What if the ache you feel for love was never meant to be  satisfied by another human being? In this deeply personal and theologically rich Valentine's Week episode, Dr. Barbara Jean Lowe Sauvé, psychologist, minister, and trauma specialist, invites you into the mystery of love as God designed it: not codependent, not self-protective, not demanding, but Christ-dependen t.   Whether you are married,...

In this special episode, Dr. Barbara sits down with Dr. Harold G. Koenig, world-renowned researcher and Duke University professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Together, they explore how Christian faith shapes mental health, lowers stress hormones, strengthens the brain, heals attachment wounds, and offers freedom from moral injury.   This episode is part of our From Codependence to Christ-...