A “thin place” is where God’s grace is waiting to happen.   Your thin place might be an important threshold, a soul friendship, a fresh chapter in your own life story, a painful secret or fear, or a time of hardship. Whatever the circumstance, a thin place is where God and humanity meet in a mysterious way. These moments open us to places of rawness and beauty. When we enter into a thin place, something seems to break open inside us, and words are inadequate to describe what we are experiencing. In these moments, we feel a sense of breakthrough as we break free of the ordinary and experience the extraordinary amid our daily lives.   Drawing on her Irish-Celtic heritage, Julianne Stanz helps us explore those times and holy places of transformation. Inspired by faith and guided by spiritual practices, we can experience each thin place as a point of departure on a sacred journey to a truer understanding of who we are meant to be. 2023 Illumination Book Awards Gold Medalist, Spirituality 2023 Independent Press Awards Winner, Spirituality 2023 Association of Catholic Pubishers Excellence in Publishing Awards, First Place, Spirituality  2023 Catholic Media Association Book Awards, Second Place, Healing & Self Help   “Far more than simply another addition to the 'Celtic spirituality' genre,  Braving the Thin Places  is a remarkable study in how God is closer to us than we are ourselves, and how our lives are full of opportunities to recognize this, allowing us to meet God in moments of wonder, sorrow, kindness, and gratitude. Julianne's magpie mind draws from Irish folklore and traditions, Scripture, Greek philosophy, Roman poetry, and so much else, not least the fabric of her own life and experience, to compose a deeply practical handbook for living our lives in the awareness of God's love. At times deeply poignant, especially in mapping out the heartbreak and friction that can so often be part of the most intimate relationships, this little book is a gentle and thoughtful guide to letting our wounds heal and helping each other thrive as loving workers in the Lord's vineyard.”  - Greg Daly, editor,  Leaven  magazine. "It may just be a resonance with the Celtic places of my own heart but something seems so full, alive, and adventurous about the encounter with God depicted by Julianne Stanz's Braving the Thin Places . It is Julianne's uniquely Irish spirituality, common sense, wisdom, and storytelling ability that allow her to paint a real-life picture of a spiritual life, in pursuit of and pursued by a God who, is good... but in no way tame. "Braving" reminds us that life to the full, and a faith worth living, depends on our ability to stop skimming the surface and instead plum the richness and depths of both the joys and sadnesses that press in on each of our stories. It is there, in the wilderness of these liminal "thin places," that God wants to uniquely encounter each one of us; and Julianne's new book is a sound guide in how to 'go there' with Him." - Tim Glemkowski, Catholic speaker and author, director of strategy for the Archdiocese of Denver "Julianne Stanz has given us a gift in  Braving the Thin Places , offering wisdom that is at once timely and timeless. By explaining Celtic spirituality through her own life experiences and showing us how to integrate its methods and practices into the daily mess of our lives, we are invited to explore what it really looks like when we embrace grace and thus begin to see God's presence in every moment. And when we embrace God's presence, and see how we are transformed by his grace, everything changes for the better. Julianne invites us on this journey with her, and  Braving the Thin Places  is the perfect companion for that journey."  - Katie Prejean McGrady, award-winning author of Follow: Your Lifelong Adventure with Jesus and host of The Katie McGrady Show on Sirius XM's The Catholic Channel   “The marketplace is saturated with books on Celtic spirituality, often which fails to do justice either to Irish Christianity and the deep spiritual undercurrent that is the source of this spiritual wisdom. For many in the Church, this triteness has sometimes led to a rejection of such spirituality, dismissing it as a New Age phenomenon. In Julianne Stanz' book, one discovers how attractive a Gospel-centered, Celtic spirituality can be for the modern person. Stanz is a gifted writer and storyteller. That fact is impossible to ignore on every page of the book. But this is not the only gift that Julianne possesses. She finds a way to get to the heart of the human condition and to find a way that the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, can provide wisdom for every one of our desires. Marvelously, she seeks this wisdom in a way that accessible to any reader. With her capacity to speak to the seeker and the committed Catholic alike, Julianne Stanz has established herself as the most persuasive Catholic evangelist of her day.” - Timothy P. O’Malley, author and director