Resting in God When Your Faith is Characterized by Busyness

My faith was characterized by busyness: read my Bible, volunteer at youth group, journal, go to church, teach my children Bible lessons, read something spiritual, lead a Bible study—and I was exhausted.

Grief Accompanied by Joy

The Lord has gifted me joy to accompany my grief, and has taught my young self that there is nothing I can do but give the joy the Lord gives me to others.

Letters, SpiritualityCorynne StaresinicMay 3, 2019Redemptive Suffering and DeathComment

Vulnerability in Confession

Being honest and vulnerable with God showed me that His love is always greater than our failures.

The Eternal Sculptor

Throughout my life I had worn a mask of holiness, faith, happiness, and purposeful living by praying, going to mass, and playing the “good Catholic girl” only because it was expected. There was no desire in my heart for a real relationship with God, and it seemed more than sufficient that I simply go through the motions.

How an Unexpected Pregnancy Prepared Me for Christianity

The love I first felt pulling my son out of my womb, bringing him to my breast, singing him to sleep, it had been a mere taste of this heavenly love.

You Need Only Be Still

At the age of 32, this is my best handwriting. Close to ten years ago, four other Catholic campus missionaries and I were T-boned by a Mack Truck while driving to an end-of-the-semester retreat. I don’t remember a single day from the month that followed.

The Simple Act of Attending Daily Mass

Sometimes, you never really notice how you or your life are changing in the midst of it all. Gradually, things just become your new normal. But looking back, you can see how quickly things changed. That’s exactly how my love story with Christ has been.

Receiving the Dreams God Has for Me

As I sat in the Adoration chapel, I tentatively laid out my dreams before God. My hopes for my vocation, my dreams to serve and create, my hopes for life-giving joy. But I was pulling back. I expressed my desire for fulfillment, but I did not dare voice how I hoped they would be molded specifically to my own heart.

Letters, Spirituality, CreateCorynne StaresinicDecember 12, 2018Masturbation, Singer, Pornography, Dreaming, Songwriter, Freedom Comments

Overcoming Scrupulosity

I cannot remember a time before anxiety. When I was young, everything had to be just right, and I always had to be in control. As I grew older, the prevailing worry was homework - had I done it perfectly? What if I’d missed something? And then more diabolical fears crept in - and I do mean diabolical in the truest sense of the word. I spent years wrestling with crushing, exhausting, terrifying guilt in my spiritual life.

Who Do You Say That I Am?

Suddenly a piercing thought came to mind and focused my attention: “Do I believe in the resurrection of the dead?” Of all the things running through my brain, this one moved to the front of the queue.

Letters, Spirituality, ReceiveCorynne StaresinicNovember 14, 2018Suffering, Belief, The Creed, Death, Faith, Living Peace Comment

Glimpses of Eternity

How Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP, a former atheist, confronts the meaning of death.

How a Running Accident Changed My Perception of God

I am thankful for a God who is re-teaching me to fall in love with Him, not just my own puppet version of Him, and for those who run with me in this beautiful marathon of life with all of its bumps and twists and turns.

Where He Leads, We're Called to Follow

“At 28 (almost 29) years old, with a 10-month-old daughter, a husband of 2 years, a mortgage, 3 books published, 40+ speaking engagements a year, a car note, half a Master’s degree, and more stress than I sometimes know what to do with, it’s becoming more and more evident, that following where the Lord leads is the only recipe to success that ever works…”

Letters, Unlikely Places, Spirituality, LeadCorynne StaresinicOctober 3, 2018Vatican, Pre-Synod Youth Gathering, Faith, Catholic women leadComment

God is Greater than Our Uncertainty

"Doubting my faith was never part of my plan. ...I thought that the number of hours I’d banked in Mass, confession, rosaries or ministry would protect me from this."

Letters, Spirituality, ReceiveCorynne StaresinicSeptember 28, 2018Doubt Comment

Trusting in God After Losing My Voice

“Life took an unexpected turn when the loud, outgoing, talkative me was no longer able to talk. Yup. You read that right. After months of struggling with hoarseness and voice fatigue…”

Growing My Relationship With God

"When you look at the way Jesus spoke about the Father, it felt intimate and personal. This is the type of love God has for every one of us too…”

Letters, SpiritualityCorynne StaresinicSeptember 14, 2018Revert, Catholic Reversion, Faith Comment

Persisting in Prayer

"I'm ashamed to admit that I have questioned and argued with God intensely in small areas and in large ones. Are you there God? Do you even exist? If you are there, do you care about me at all? These questions and others have regularly echoed in my heart…”

Letters, Spirituality, LeadCorynne StaresinicSeptember 12, 2018Doubt, Conversion, Spiritual PracticesComment

Letting Jesus Into My Existential Crisis

"When in the light of God's own words of love, I intimately shared my temptations to atheism, God responded by showing me what it was to be in love with him…”

Letters, Spirituality, Faith, ReceiveCorynne StaresinicSeptember 7, 2018Doubt, Atheism, Staying Catholic Comments

The Certainty of God's Love Amidst the Uncertainty of Change

“Dearest Sister, I am writing this letter to you from a crowded coffee shop on a rainy Monday afternoon in Boston. It’s my day off, but like most of my days off in the last month, it doesn’t quite feel like one…”

Letters, Spirituality, ReceiveCorynne StaresinicSeptember 5, 2018Faith Comment