About the show
Listen to Elizabeth's intro episode here!
Discerning Marriage is a weekly podcast hosted by Elizabeth Busby, MTS, MS, LMFT. She is co-founder with her husband Ross of Discerning Marriage Ministries and the Next Step program. Regardless of your state in life, you can begin preparing for marriage right now. Whether you are single, dating, seriously dating, engaged, on a break, or grieving a breakup, you can make use of this time for fruitful growth toward becoming a healthy and holy spouse. Intentional discernment of marriage starts today, even if you haven't given or received an engagement ring.
This podcast is also great for clergy and laypeople who prepare couples for marriage and parents who have teens and adult children who are dating and pursuing marriage!
Elizabeth has an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University (whoop!), and she earned a Master's degree in Theological Studies from Ave Maria University, where she wrote her thesis on how St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body can aid in the discernment of a vocation to marriage. Additionally, she holds a Master's degree in Counseling with a focus on marriage and family therapy from Southern Methodist University, and she works as a Marriage and Family Therapist. She has a passion for helping people fall in love with Jesus and helping people discern and live God’s joyful plan for holy marriages and family life.
Next Step is a parish-based course written for seriously dating couples who want to discern more intentionally with each other. There is a lot of structure in place for people who are discerning a vocation to celibacy, but there isn’t a similar support network for people discerning marriage. Since the majority of the population is called to marriage, there is a glaring need for resources that can be used to help guide this discernment. Elizabeth and her team seek to fill that need with the Next Step program. Learn more here: https://www.discerningmarriage.com/next-step-program.
This podcast is presented by Theology of the Body Institute, which promotes around the world John Paul II's revolutionary teaching on human life and love — the Theology of the Body. Learn more about the Institute's offerings here: https://tobinstitute.org.
Endorsements
"I first met Elizabeth Busby in 2009 when she was a college student working with a TOB ministry at Texas A&M. Now she’s not only a loving wife and mother, but also an accomplished professional counselor bringing John Paul II’s TOB to bear in all she does. She has worked alongside my colleagues and me since 2014 coordinating our network of intercessors and has become a trusted partner in our ministry. We are delighted to be launching her podcast Discerning Marriage under the TOB Institute umbrella. Having already been interviewed by Elizabeth about my own vocational discernment for the show, this podcast is going to be a great gift both for those looking for answers to questions about vocational discernment, and for those who just love hearing how God works in other people’s lives."
Christopher West, Th.D.
President, Theology of the Body Institute
Discerning Marriage on social media
Episodes
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Episode 8: Will and Rebekah Hickl Discernment Story
September 23rd, 2020 | Season 1 | 56 mins 10 secs
Y'all, THIS DISCERNMENT STORY IS EPIC! This couple walked through some ordinary things like navigating a long distance dating relationship, getting married at 30, one person having serious dating relationships earlier in life and the other being mostly single until they met. But, they have an EXTRAORDINARY love story! Will, an American, and Rebekah, and English woman, tell their story of discerning the vocation of marriage and how they knew that they were called to marry each other. God showed up big time, and it’s such a delight to listen to the details of how this story unfolded! Also Will owns the record label that produced our theme song for this podcast - and he actually wrote the song, too!
On The Discerning Marriage Podcast, we accompany you on the journey to discover if marriage is God’s will for you, and if you already know that you’re called to marriage, we want to help you bring glory to God in your vocation.
On The Discerning Marriage Podcast, we accompany you on the journey to discover if marriage is God’s will for you, and if you already know that you’re called to marriage, we want to help you bring glory to God in your vocation.
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Episode 7: Mindfulness and Therapy with Dr. Greg Bottaro
September 16th, 2020 | Season 1 | 33 mins 5 secs
When you’re discerning marriage, two of the best things you can spend your time doing are healing from your past brokenness and learning to be fully focused on the present moment in order to encounter God and His grace in reality. In this episode, Dr. Greg Bottaro walks us through how to do both! He defines both mindfulness and therapy and gives some wonderful tips on how both can be utilized when discerning the vocation of marriage.
On The Discerning Marriage Podcast, we accompany you on the journey to discover if marriage is God’s will for you, and if you already know that you’re called to marriage, we want to help you bring glory to God in your vocation.
On The Discerning Marriage Podcast, we accompany you on the journey to discover if marriage is God’s will for you, and if you already know that you’re called to marriage, we want to help you bring glory to God in your vocation. -
Episode 6: Marriage and the Wounds of Porn with Mary Lenaburg
September 9th, 2020 | Season 1 | 42 mins 43 secs
Pornography is one of the greatest predators of marriage, perhaps the greatest universal threat in our modern time. Very few people, if any, are truly immune to it’s evil clutches. It’s crucial that you have a discussion with your significant other about the role that pornography has played in your life and theirs and the way that you want it handled in your future marriage. We are right here to accompany you as you have those tough conversations, beginning with our talk with Mary Lenaburg. She and her husband have a phenomenal story of healing and redemption from the ravages of pornography in their marriage and she’s bravely shared it with you in this episode! Join us as we hear their story of heartbreak and triumph and discuss some tools that you can use to have these tough conversations and, if necessary, break free from porn in your own life.
On The Discerning Marriage Podcast, we accompany you on the journey to discover if marriage is God’s will for you, and if you already know that you’re called to marriage, we want to help you bring glory to God in your vocation.
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Episode 5: Humility with Jeanette Clark, MTS
September 2nd, 2020 | Season 1 | 31 mins 27 secs
One of the most powerful things you can do to discern marriage well is hone in on the virtues used most in marriage and work to grow in them. While all virtues are really necessary for the Christian life, one of the things we want to do is highlight a few of the biggies for marriage and give you tips for perfecting those virtues in your life. We start that journey today with the virtue of humility! We are joined by Jeanette Clark, a graduate of the Pontifical St. John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family and wife of Jason Clark, executive director of Theology of the Body Institute, to dive deeply into this virtue and why it matters so much for your life and your discernment.
On The Discerning Marriage Podcast, we accompany you on the journey to discover if marriage is God’s will for you, and if you already know that you’re called to marriage, we want to help you bring glory to God in your vocation.
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Episode 4: Phases of Discernment with Liv Harrison
August 26th, 2020 | Season 1 | 34 mins 19 secs
Not everyone who is discerning marriage is coming from the same place, and the different seasons of life require a different approach to discernment. In this episode, Elizabeth is joined by co-host Liv Harrison to discuss the distinct stages of discerning marriage and what a person in each stage could do to begin discerning marriage intentionally and productively.
On The Discerning Marriage Podcast, we accompany you on the journey to discover if marriage is God’s will for you, and if you already know that you’re called to marriage, we want to help you bring glory to God in your vocation.
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Episode 3: Christopher West on Beauty & Longing
August 19th, 2020 | Season 1 | 48 mins 25 secs
So many of us have a longing and ache for a spouse—feeling called to marriage and yearning for relationship and love but not being in that place of total communion yet. That ache and longing is, at its foundation, a desire for Beauty. Our deep ache for Truth and Beauty points us back towards the heavens. In episode 3, our host Elizabeth Busby talks with Christopher West about what Beauty is, why it’s important, and how to handle the profound ache in the depths of our hearts.
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Episode 2: Christopher West's Marriage Discernment
August 14th, 2020 | Season 1 | 45 mins 17 secs
There is something so powerful about a story, and a story about how someone made one of the biggest decisions of their life is no different. On today’s very first episode of the Discerning Marriage podcast, Elizabeth Busby interviews Theology of the Body Institute's Christopher West about his discernment story. You’ll hear how Christopher knew he was called to marriage and how he realized that his beloved wife of two decades, Wendy, would be a good spouse for him!
On The Discerning Marriage Podcast, we accompany you on the journey to discover if marriage is God’s will for you, and if you already know that you’re called to marriage, we want to help you bring glory to God in your vocation.
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Episode 1: Meet Your Host!
August 9th, 2020 | Season 1 | 12 mins 48 secs
Meet your host for Discerning Marriage podcast, Elizabeth Busby!