What happens when a lifelong Catholic discovers, for the first time, that God wants a personal relationship with her?

In this episode of Yes Catholic, David sits down with Vanessa Arianto, a recent University of British Columbia graduate who grew up Catholic in Indonesia, before moving to Vancouver for university in 2021. Looking for a Catholic community that felt like home, Vanessa found Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO) on campus, and her faith went from a Sunday checklist to a living relationship with Jesus.

Vanessa shares her first experience of Eucharistic Adoration at a CCO retreat in Whistler, where the parable of the Prodigal Son became her own story and she felt truly seen, known, and embraced by the Father.

At Rise Up Calgary, on the eve of a new season full of unknowns, Vanessa received an image in prayer of walking on water hand in hand with Jesus, and a question that surprised her: “Will you walk with me with confidence?” She shares how that word shaped what became the best year of her life, and how she now serves on CCO’s worship team, helping others encounter God through music.

If you’re struggling to trust God with your plans, or wondering whether to go to Rise Up, this conversation is for you.

“Trusting the Lord is something we learn little by little through our daily yes to Jesus.”

Send us some love!

Support the show

Thanks for Tuning in to Yes Catholic!

We’re so grateful you joined us for this episode. If this story inspired you, be sure to like, share, and subscribe to keep saying Yes to Jesus with us.

Stay connected with the Yes Catholic community on Instagram and subscribe on YouTube @yes.catholic for more powerful testimonies and faith-filled content.

Your support helps us continue sharing stories and reaching people all over the world! Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

This episode of Yes Catholic is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors Truthly, Ascension, SacredSpark, and Tabella. Your partnership helps us continue sharing powerful testimonies and inspiring stories of faith.

Make room for daily prayer with Alto, Ascension’s monthly printed prayer companion. Explore upcoming editions and subscribe.

...

Jackson Kiser grew up going to church but never believed in God. Through high school and college, being an atheist was part of his identity, and he even felt a quiet disdain for the “Jesus-happy” people around him. Then, at one of the lowest points of his life, he prayed a simple prayer: “Jesus, if you’re real, show up.” And He did.

In this episode, Jackson shares how that first encounter with grace led him to a Presbyterian church, then to an unexpected moment inside the Valencia Cathedral in Spain, where he felt drawn to the Catholic Church in a way he still can’t fully explain. He talks about wrestling through misconceptions about Mary, the saints, and Catholic worship, his experience in OCIA, being received into the Church at the Easter Vigil of 2026, and how a pilgrimage to Baltimore changed the way he sees the faith.

If you’ve ever felt that something is missing but you’re afraid to take the first step, this story is for you.

Follow Jackson on Instagram.

Send us some love!

Support the show

Thanks for Tuning in to Yes Catholic!

We’re so grateful you joined us for this episode. If this story inspired you, be sure to like, share, and subscribe to keep saying Yes to Jesus with us.

Stay connected with the Yes Catholic community on Instagram and subscribe on YouTube @yes.catholic for more powerful testimonies and faith-filled content.

Your support helps us continue sharing stories and reaching people all over the world! Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

This episode of Yes Catholic is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors Truthly, Ascension, SacredSpark, and Tabella. Your partnership helps us continue sharing powerful testimonies and inspiring stories of faith.

Make room for daily prayer with Alto, Ascension’s monthly printed prayer companion. Explore upcoming editions and subscribe.

...

Joel Robertson grew up worshipping in basements and living rooms in a Minnesota house church. Later, he was shaped by Reformed theology, and by then he was convinced that every Catholic was an idolater. Today he’s known online as “The Accidental Catholic.”

In this episode, Joel tells David about a mysterious encounter with God at his baptism when he was seven. He also shares how God reached him in a moment of despair at 13, and how he spent years touring rehab centers and detention facilities to give hope to others. Exposure to deep divisions among churches sent him into a crisis of faith. A Trent Horn debate showed him that belief in God could be intellectually trustworthy. Then Jesus’ prayer for unity in John’s Gospel sent him searching for the original Church.

Follow Joel on Instagram: @theaccidentalcatholic

Content note: This episode includes discussion of depression and a suicide attempt. If you’re struggling, please reach out to someone you trust or a local crisis line.

Send us some love!

Support the show

Thanks for Tuning in to Yes Catholic!

We’re so grateful you joined us for this episode. If this story inspired you, be sure to like, share, and subscribe to keep saying Yes to Jesus with us.

Stay connected with the Yes Catholic community on Instagram and subscribe on YouTube @yes.catholic for more powerful testimonies and faith-filled content.

Your support helps us continue sharing stories and reaching people all over the world! Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

This episode of Yes Catholic is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors Truthly, Ascension, SacredSpark, and Tabella. Your partnership helps us continue sharing powerful testimonies and inspiring stories of faith.

Make room for daily prayer with Alto, Ascension’s monthly printed prayer companion. Explore upcoming editions and subscribe.

...

Carolina's story began before she was born. Three months into her mother's pregnancy, doctors found a serious heart condition and warned that mother and baby might not both survive. Her family consecrated her life to Our Lady, and her grandmother quietly promised that if all went well, Carolina would be baptized at the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil. Carolina was born perfectly healthy.

She grew up "really Catholic," but God felt more like a respected teacher than a friend she knew. That changed in 2021, when her grandmother died and the only prayer she could find was a Brazilian lullaby her grandmother used to sing. Carolina shares how that grief opened her to a personal relationship with Jesus. She talks about the fear that followed, that surrendering to God would mean losing someone else, and how God met her in that fear during adoration at a Catholic Christian Outreach retreat. She also tells of the year she spent waiting with her family for her mom's open-heart surgery and how she came to see that trust isn't the absence of fear but the presence of faith.

David and Carolina also talk about her first Rise Up conference in Montreal, praying at St. Joseph's Oratory just days before her mom's surgery, and how St. Faustina helped her see suffering differently. She closes with a message for anyone in a season of fear or grief: love the people in your life fully today, because love is never wasted.

Rise Up 2026

If you’re looking to start the new year rooted in faith, join Catholic Christian Outreach at Rise Up — Canada’s biggest Catholic young adult conference.

Encounter Christ, connect with passionate Catholics from across the country, and be inspired to live out your mission with boldness.

📍 Happening in Vancouver
📅 Dec 29 - Jan 1

⏰ Early Bird ends Sept 15!

Register for Rise Up

Send us some love!

Support the show

Thanks for Tuning in to Yes Catholic!

We’re so grateful you joined us for this episode. If this story inspired you, be sure to like, share, and subscribe to keep saying Yes to Jesus with us.

Stay connected with the Yes Catholic community on Instagram and subscribe on YouTube @yes.catholic for more powerful testimonies and faith-filled content.

Your support helps us continue sharing stories and reaching people all over the world! Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

This episode of Yes Catholic is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors Truthly, Ascension, SacredSpark, and Tabella. Your partnership helps us continue sharing powerful testimonies and inspiring stories of faith.

Make room for daily prayer with Alto, Ascension’s monthly printed prayer companion. Explore upcoming editions and subscribe.

...

Audrey grew up Catholic in the Philippines. She went to Mass, served at multiple parishes, and prayed her rosaries, but she still felt disconnected from God. Years of bullying left her a perfectionist who wore a different mask for everyone, always trying to be liked and always afraid of falling short.

In this episode of Yes Catholic, Audrey tells David how a simple prayer led to an unexpected encounter with Catholic Christian Outreach on her university campus just two days later. She describes the question that changed everything, Where is Jesus in your life?, plus her first experience of adoration, an hour-and-a-half confession after 12 years away, and a Confirmation in the middle of the pandemic where she realized she didn't have to perform for God.

Audrey now serves as a children's faith formation coordinator in Manitoba, Canada. She shares how her grandmother's and mother's prayers carried her, why community matters so much, and the good news that we never have to be enough on our own, because Jesus is.

If you've ever felt exhausted trying to be good enough, liked enough, or holy enough, this conversation is for you.

Rise Up 2026

If you’re looking to start the new year rooted in faith, join Catholic Christian Outreach at Rise Up — Canada’s biggest Catholic young adult conference.

Encounter Christ, connect with passionate Catholics from across the country, and be inspired to live out your mission with boldness.

📍 Happening in Vancouver
📅 Dec 29 - Jan 1

⏰ Early Bird ends Sept 15!

Register for Rise Up

Send us some love!

Support the show

Thanks for Tuning in to Yes Catholic!

We’re so grateful you joined us for this episode. If this story inspired you, be sure to like, share, and subscribe to keep saying Yes to Jesus with us.

Stay connected with the Yes Catholic community on Instagram and subscribe on YouTube @yes.catholic for more powerful testimonies and faith-filled content.

Your support helps us continue sharing stories and reaching people all over the world! Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Thank you for being part of the Yes Catholic community—where real people share real stories, all for God’s glory!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

This episode of Yes Catholic is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors Truthly, Sacred Spark and Tabella. Your partnership helps us continue sharing powerful testimonies and inspiring stories of faith.

🙏 Stay connected. Stay inspired. Say Yes to Jesus. 🙌

What happens when the life you've built on lies falls apart on the holiest week of the year?

John Edwards grew up a devoted Baptist kid in Memphis, then joined a fraternity in college, stopped going to church, and began a 17-year addiction to cocaine, alcohol and pornography. On the outside he was a top salesman at a Fortune 250 company. On the inside he was carrying father wounds, a deep sense of inadequacy, and a secret his wife didn't know.

After his mother's death left him angry at God, John hit bottom when he was arrested on Holy Thursday. In a Memphis jail cell, he felt Christ's presence and prayed the realest prayer of his life: "I surrender." What followed was a series of graces.

If you feel unworthy of God's love, or you keep confessing the same sins, this episode is for you. God still holds the pen, and there's a beautiful story left to be written.

Connect with John, launch a men's group in your parish, or get a signed copy of Power Made Perfect at https://store.justaguyinthepew.com/

Send us some love!

Support the show

Thanks for Tuning in to Yes Catholic!

We’re so grateful you joined us for this episode. If this story inspired you, be sure to like, share, and subscribe to keep saying Yes to Jesus with us.

Stay connected with the Yes Catholic community on Instagram and subscribe on YouTube @yes.catholic for more powerful testimonies and faith-filled content.

Your support helps us continue sharing stories and reaching people all over the world! Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Thank you for being part of the Yes Catholic community—where real people share real stories, all for God’s glory!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

This episode of Yes Catholic is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors Truthly, Sacred Spark and Tabella. Your partnership helps us continue sharing powerful testimonies and inspiring stories of faith.

🙏 Stay connected. Stay inspired. Say Yes to Jesus. 🙌

From a small-town Louisiana teen torn between band life and a real call to holiness, he shares how grief, prayer, and music collided and redirected his life toward Jesus.

What starts as a teenage encounter at a prayer meeting quickly becomes a story of surrender, heartbreak, and vocation. Josh opens up about the accident that took his friends life, the funeral-home moment that forced him to answer the question of who he would follow, and the decision that changed his songs from writing about girls to writing prayers.

Josh also reflects on leading worship at World Youth Day, the National Eucharistic Congress, papal events, and his home parish while balancing family life and a public calling.

This conversation is about more than music. It’s about humility, mercy, and what happens when you seek the Lord first.

Josh Blakesley is a Catholic musician and music director at St. Faustina Catholic Church in Fulshear, Texas.

Learn more: https://joshblakesleymusic.com/

Send us some love!

Support the show

Thanks for Tuning in to Yes Catholic!

We’re so grateful you joined us for this episode. If this story inspired you, be sure to like, share, and subscribe to keep saying Yes to Jesus with us.

Stay connected with the Yes Catholic community on Instagram and subscribe on YouTube @yes.catholic for more powerful testimonies and faith-filled content.

Your support helps us continue sharing stories and reaching people all over the world! Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Thank you for being part of the Yes Catholic community—where real people share real stories, all for God’s glory!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

This episode of Yes Catholic is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors Truthly, Sacred Spark and Tabella. Your partnership helps us continue sharing powerful testimonies and inspiring stories of faith.

🙏 Stay connected. Stay inspired. Say Yes to Jesus. 🙌

Nico Zhomwa moved from Zimbabwe to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for grad school. He shares how COVID pushed him to make his faith his own, a chance encounter that connected him to CCO, and how a "golden ticket" at Rise Up led him to discern a call to missionary work he never saw coming. From a chapel notebook full of fears to a hard conversation with his dad, it's a story about identity, discernment, and learning that God's plan is better than the one we write for ourselves.

"You are a beloved son of the Father before anything... come as you are and Jesus will love you."

Rise Up 2026

If you’re looking to start the new year rooted in faith, join Catholic Christian Outreach at Rise Up — Canada’s biggest Catholic young adult conference.

Encounter Christ, connect with passionate Catholics from across the country, and be inspired to live out your mission with boldness.

📍 Happening in Vancouver
📅 Dec 29 - Jan 1

⏰ Early Bird ends Sept 15!

Register for Rise Up

Send us some love!

Support the show

Thanks for Tuning in to Yes Catholic!

We’re so grateful you joined us for this episode. If this story inspired you, be sure to like, share, and subscribe to keep saying Yes to Jesus with us.

Stay connected with the Yes Catholic community on Instagram and subscribe on YouTube @yes.catholic for more powerful testimonies and faith-filled content.

Your support helps us continue sharing stories and reaching people all over the world! Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Thank you for being part of the Yes Catholic community—where real people share real stories, all for God’s glory!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

This episode of Yes Catholic is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors Truthly, Sacred Spark and Tabella. Your partnership helps us continue sharing powerful testimonies and inspiring stories of faith.

🙏 Stay connected. Stay inspired. Say Yes to Jesus. 🙌