HER STORY

Corinne Fisher is a 23-year-old court reporter from Philadelphia who suffers from an aggressive form of Crohn’s Disease. 

“I want to say this before I start,” Corinne said as she began to tell her story. “This morning, I was reading Second Corinthians. It was crazy that I’m reading this today because it was talking about comforting others with the comfort we’ve received. Recently, I’ve been meeting with new girls and hearing their struggles. I found myself thanking the Lord that I’ve gone through the things that I have because I have something to say to them. I have advice and comfort to give them because I’ve also been through it. It gives you perspective because you realize my life really isn’t my own. My life is to serve and to be poured out.”

Corinne and I spent the next few minutes in awe because Second Corinthians is the chapter that spurred on all of She Lives Purposefully. Watch The She Lives Purposefully Origin Story 

“When I was nine, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. It affects basically entire digestive tract. My biggest issue was always strictures — your intestines get tighter until nothing can pass through. When I was diagnosed, I went on heavy doses of medication. That flipped my world upside down. I grew up really fast. I went through periods of good health then bad. It was a roller coaster.

“Then in 10th grade, around Christmas-time, I was so sick that I ended up needing surgery.”

A month or two after surgery, Corinne’s problems began again. “I ended up needing another surgery the following September.”

Corinne went to six days of her junior year and then was out for a more intensive surgery. “The recovery time was supposed to be three or four days in the hospital and I was there for two and a half weeks. It had so many complications.

“That was just a terrible time of my life. Emotionally I hit rock bottom. I didn’t even want to live anymore. Even after I was able to go home, which helps, I still was stuck with the results of the surgery and the difficulty of adjusting to my life. I had to take weeks at home to get myself right before I could go back to school or immerse myself back into life.

“But it helped a lot. That surgery was life saving for me for years. I was even able to be med free for a year or two – which is crazy. I had to build out of that really tough spot. It was the grace of God. Gradually, I was okay again.

“Then May of 2018, I had to get my third surgery, the last surgery I’ve had so far. That was the craziest experience. I was so sick leading up to it. I’d walk up a flight of steps and I needed to sleep. I was losing crazy amounts of weight. I couldn’t really eat anything. My medication wasn’t working. I kept declining drastically. It came to a point where I couldn’t leave the house. My physical state was bad, but it was so wearing on my mental state — being so frustrated that I couldn’t keep up with everybody else or do things I wanted to do and just feeling like garbage all the time.

“I ended up opting for surgery. I had to get multiple opinions. It was a fight with my doctor to prove I needed it. It was a really stressful time. I really was pressing into the Lord and praying. I didn’t want to make a mistake because this surgery was to remove my entire colon. It’s called a total colectomy. I didn’t want to make a mistake that I was gonna have to live for the rest of my life.

“I was at some of my lowest points, but I was also at my strongest because I was so heavily, solely relying on the Lord. I couldn’t rely on myself for anything. I was so weak physically, mentally, everything that I could only depend on the Lord.”

Corinne is thankful for people who were faithful to help her, pray for her and encourage her. “My support system was so huge. I started assembling a prayer team. When I took that huge leap of faith to get that major surgery, every single prayer request I had – pretty, detailed… down to the level of scarring — God answered. They told me I’d be in the hospital recovering for five days. I got sent home on day two because I was doing amazing. The doctors, even, were like, ‘We’ve never seen anybody recover like this.’

“I just felt the Lord over all of it. Every single one of my prayers were answered. Not a single one I had to sacrifice.

“Not to say it was easy. It’s always hard. You can’t do anything. You’re laid up in bed. I remember a period of sadness, but the Lord took care of me. He’s been really good and faithful.

Corinne believed that God would make this surgery “permanently healing.” But this past year, Corinne’s most recent MRI showed more disease in her small intestine. “It was really devastating. I don’t know what else to do. I don’t have many more options left.”

Corinne’s pastor is encouraging her to grab her prayer team and remember God’s faithfulness.

“Set up your stones of remembrance. Remember what the Lord’s done for you in the past, how He’s delivered you. That should give you so much encouragement and hope. I can let myself panic, but I can look at my history and see He’s never let me down. He’s always faithful.

“I saw myself slipping back into a rut, feeling sorry for myself, discouraged seeing things fall apart and feeling like I was falling apart. I felt terrible about myself for a bit. But more recently I decided I needed to change something. So, I connected with a girl on Instagram who does her workout routine program. I joined that to have community, accountability and get myself in shape and healthy. The program is 100 days long. I’m going to work out, feed my soul and meet with the Lord in the Word every single day. Then I made a weekly goal to connect with a good friend I haven’t seen in a while or girls from church. I’ve found so much fruit in that and so much encouragement in that.”

 WHAT IS LIVING PURPOSEFULLY?

“Living with purpose is to live with a goal and live with a mission. The cool thing about purpose is that you can be in any stage of life in any season, any age, in any career. Purpose means you’re living your life with a goal and a mission and in a certain direction. You’re not just waking up and doing the routine, the mundane. You’re looking for opportunities to genuinely make a difference. And you can make a difference in the smallest way.”

“Recently, I’ve been really struck with this idea that you don’t have to reach an end goal in order to become purposeful. You can be purposeful along the way and make an impact.”

Corinne’s morning routine is helping her be more intentional. “Those are little baby things I’m realizing have been making a major difference. My days feel like they have meaning.” 

Corinne described a “fire” of purpose, and asks herself daily, “Who am I reaching out to today? How am I gonna serve with my life?”

DESPITE HER DISEASE

“A big thing when you’re in trials is to have a victim mentality. It’s such a temptation when you’re feeling terrible to write everything off in your life as terrible. I fall into that a lot: ‘Why me? Why this time?’

“We can allow ourselves time to grieve over things and to feel upset about things, but you can’t dwell there. It’s just not healthy or productive. You have to get back up.”

To combat this mentality, Corinne lives by and recommends to “be determined that when you get knocked down, you can’t just stay down. The Lord doesn’t intend to strike us down and have us stay down. He wants us to comfort people with the comfort we’ve been comforted. I can’t comfort somebody if I’m just sad in my bed every day, all day. It’s changing your narrative. You can look at a day and write it off as bad or you can find reasons to be thankful for it.” 

Corinne says it’s also important to have outlets and remember you’re bigger than your trial.

“It’s important to do things. If I’m just feeling sorry for myself, I’m basically saying all I am is my illness, and that’s not true. I’m a hard worker. I’m a court reporter. I’m a Bible study leader. I’m a friend. I’m so much more than my disease.”

DOUBTS OF PURPOSE

Corinne has doubted the Lord can heal her and has felt like the Lord is far away in her pain.

“That’s something I’m working on. The way I work on it is, again, setting up my stones of remembrance, remembering the times He’s delivered me from other things.

“Also, reminding myself of truth. I’ve had a lot of image issues — doubting who you are and your own view of yourself. The only thing I can do for that is immerse myself in the Word. When lies fill my head about some of the things I feel about myself, I have to remind myself of what the Lord says about me, the things that I know are true. All day we’re bombarded with lies and they come from our own heads too. I’ve learned to be really careful about the voices that I let inside of my head, things I look at on Instagram or TV or allow in my mind. We’re more impressionable than we think. To defeat the doubts, you have to put yourself in a good headspace. Set yourself up for victory. If you’re surrounding yourself with garbage, you’re gonna get stuck in garbage. Surround yourself with the good things to grow and to develop.”

TRUTH, PURPOSE AND DEFYING DOUBTS 

Corinne needs to reminder herself to live purposefully. “Otherwise, we can get selfish. Your day becomes about what is going to make you happy. 

“Wake up and think, ‘How am I going to redeem this day? How am I going to make this a day that’s going to be worth it? How can I help somebody else? 

“That does have to be on the forefront of my mind or it’s not going to happen. We’re distracted and can think, ‘Well I have to work. I have to go do this,’ but how much time does it take to do random acts of kindness? You need to be able to have that as a mindset.”

WHY LIVE PURPOSEFULLY?

“If you’re looking through the heavenly, kingdom perspective, your life is just going to be different because there’s a bigger goal. There’s more at stake than living for yourself and making yourself feel happy and good. Sometimes I forget that and that doesn’t seem as important to me. Constantly renew your mind to know heaven is at hand. There’s a purpose. Realize what’s truly important is serving the Creator who created you and remembering you will come face to face with Him one day.

“If I did what I was supposed to do and I had a job and I made money and then I had my quiet little family, that’s great, but you didn’t do anything to help anybody. I don’t think He just designed us to have this cushy little ‘I’m just doing what I need to do’ life. ‘I did what I had to do for the day, and that’s enough.’ But why when God created you to do so much more?”

HOW DO YOU FIND PURPOSE IN YOUR LIFE?

“This is something I’ve had trouble with for a bit. It sounds silly saying it, but I felt I couldn’t figure out what my purpose was until I was married — me and my husband could figure it out together — or until I found the perfect career I was supposed to be doing. When those perfect things align THEN I could fulfill my purpose, but I’m realizing those things might never happen and God has me where I am right now for a very specific, deliberate reason.

“I need to take advantage of that. What’s cool about purpose is that you don’t have to reach a point in your life to pursue it. It’s so tangible right now.I’ve had a mindset change from feeling like I can’t be used right now to realizing this is such an optimal time for me to be used because of where I’m at and of the things that I have.

HOW TO LIVE PURPOSEFULLY

“Do a self-evaluation. It was a big thing for me to realize areas I could improve on, areas I’m good at and using that to make a difference, to touch people. I’ve learned a lot of weaknesses I need to work on, pray about and grow in. I’ve also seen areas I’m good at. I can use that. 

“It’s important to set tangible goals for yourself, to create a purpose for the day. If I wake up and don’t have anything on my agenda, I’m not really going to do anything. Every night before I go to bed, I’ll open a note on my phone. I’ll write out a to do list. It encompasses everything, but I try to add, ‘Text this person from girls’ study,’ 

“Do little things to serve the Lord.”

Her last piece of advice?

“Find a routine that works for you where you can spend time in the Word because ultimately, that’s the only purpose that matters — spending time in the Word, letting the Lord shape you, finding ways to fill yourself up so you can pour out to others better.”