"It's restorative...even if I don't feel worthy." | Serenity Quesnelle

When Serenity and her husband got married, they were eager to welcome children into their family, before discovering they would carry the cross of infertility for three years. In this episode, hear how Serenity found restoration and supernatural hope by coming to depend on the Eucharist Sunday after Sunday, and be encouraged by the remarkable story of eventually conceiving a son, after several doctors expressed doing so naturally would be impossible.

(00:50) We meet Serenity Quesnelle, parishioner at St. Margaret of Scotland in St. Clair Shores and wife and mother, who works at an infertility ministry, serving couples carrying the cross of infertility. Serenity shares a bit about her marriage and how she and her husband desired children shortly after getting married. 

(03:16) Serenity shares about her own experience of infertility over the course of three years and what it was like to eventually conceive a son, contrary to the predictions of several doctors. 

(05:24) Serenity shares a bit about her conversion to Catholicism, which took place prior to getting married, and her own struggle with faith over the years. 

(07:31) She unpacks her experience of infertility a bit further, highlighting the grief and sorrow she experienced and feelings of being forgotten by God. She shares how difficult, at times, it would be to attend Mass with these feelings. She describes how, in spite of that reality, the Eucharist would restore her week after week. 

(11:47) Serenity shares about the moment she discovered she and her husband had conceived a child and what it was like to go to Mass immediately following that discovery, and the deep gratitude that followed. 

(15:17) Serenity shares about her son Zachariah and her hopes for the role that the Eucharist will play in his life as he grows up. 

(18:20) Serenity offers the word of hope and how she approaches her work with The Fruitful Hollow, an infertility ministry. She describes meeting couples in the midst of this cross, helping them recognize they’re not alone, and entering into that cross with an openness to be fruitful now.