Amber C Haines
About the Author

Amber C Haines, author of Wild in the Hollow, has 4 sons, a guitar-playing husband, theRunaMuck, and rare friends. She loves the funky, the narrative, and the dirty South. She finds community among the broken and wants to know your story. Amber is curator with her husband Seth Haines of Mother...

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
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(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
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  1. Amber,
    Let me first say that you rock a fedora! I wish I could wear one, but I have a “bucket head” as they say lol. All kidding aside. I don’t know where I’d be if I’d given up on people, friends, the church loving me through the ugly. Life does get scary and hard. Seasons can be good or they can be awful. Sometimes they feel like they’ll never end. My self preservation valve is to retreat…to withdraw. Oh so thankful that I had friends, who like Jesus, came looking for me when I was lost. He IS the cornerstone and He will never abandon us. Help us to trust that part of Jesus that He places in all of us. Your beautiful, radiant smile speaks volumes. Thank you for your words this morning…
    Blessings,
    Bev

  2. Thank you for heartfelt, transparent sharing, Amber. I may not be your sister across the church aisle, but might I be your sister across the miles? I always so appreciate what you write (and the *way* in which you write it), and I always resonate. I love this verse in Ps. 68: “God sets the lonely in families, He leads out the prisoners with singing . . . . ” I’m not saying that you were lonely, but we surely can be lonely without our family, without our kin. And ironically, the truest dearest family should be the Body of Christ. It’s this family and those sisters of yours whom you’ve depicted here who will spend eternity together. I’m convinced that the same Lord who has not abandoned you has led you to them. Funny–about women. I have not so much felt the alienation of women friends in the church, but when I was in the workforce before having our daughter, I can tell you that I hated working for women. They could be petty, jealous, conniving gossips, always undermining you to make their own mark and stake off their own territory. I hate to say that, but it was true. Women gave women a bad name, and I preferred to work for men. I also tried to be a *different* kind of woman boss. And while I have many women friends in the Church (whether my own church or other Christian women), the one difficulty I’ve found (and it’s painful) is generally in not being used in the areas of my gifts. I say this not arrogantly. Other authors, speakers, and singers I’ve known have candidly shared this same pain…we have to go outside the Church proper because we are not used within its doors to edify the Body of Christ. And that is mystifying and hurtful. I think this happens more at the hands of leadership of women’s programs than the women at-large, themselves. And I love my women’s circle at church. We can express *anything* and still be loved, cared for, and accepted. Actually, we are kind of the renegade circle. =] And my Christian women friends in home ministry and now on the Net have been a godsend. We need each other, Amber, and I’m so glad that you have found your triumphant tribe. You ladies are beautiful, vulnerable, creative, and loyal to the King and to each other. Please know how much you need each other, and how much we reading need YOU. I”m grateful that those walls came tumbling down for you, so that with your sisters you can tear down other walls like hatred, prejudice, poverty . . . and the many social issues you all write about, and keep building bridges of love, hope, trust, and faith. Sooo grateful for you, dear one.
    Love
    Lynn
    Love
    Lynn

  3. “Will they stay if I change?” This is a question close to my heart.
    I’m grateful to you for asking the questions and sharing a snapshot of how you’ve walked through them. It helps.

  4. I loved this post. Been there . . . and sometimes I’m still there. In that place where I wonder if my friends will still be my friends if I change (and I have). Navigating how friendships change and grow through life change is H.A.R.D. And trusting people with our dreams, our fears? I think that’s what makes it hard because we don’t want these tender parts of ourselves to be crushed or rejected. Yeah, I guess I’m there a little bit right now.

    Thanks for the exhortation to lay down our fears. I will do that.

  5. In the midst of the pit of depression & anxiety now, no energy to be eloquent but enough to thank you for writing a piece that made a difference for me today.

    • Naomi,
      Prayers for God to deliver you from the evils of depression and anxiety! May He draw near to you and bring His healing touch to you mind, body and soul!
      (((Hugs)))

  6. I needed this reminder. Friendships have always been a struggle for me. I hope to be in this kind of community one day, and even better not to give up on friends before I think they will give up on me. I generally stay, but I have been hurt a lot. And I have been going through some shifting and the friends tend to shift too. I have a couple that I think will stay, but I am not sure if things got really really hard exactly what would happen. I pray to be in an authentic community. Thanks for writing. Always blessed by your words!

  7. Just what I needed to hear today! “Don’t give up…” I can honestly say that I’ve been there done that many times over and stuck it out through it all. BUT this time I was ready to walk away and quit! Thank you for the reminder that hope, faith, friendships, and the CHURCH are all worth fighting for!

  8. Wow, this was a good read. The story of my life in this season of my life. I love this line, “And what you look back and see is how grateful you are for the questions
    and the change, how thankful you are that you didn’t stay the same, how
    faithful God is even when you wonder if He’s the woman in The Shack.” I am thankful God is doing so much change in me over these past couple years, major shifts in thinking, powerful shifts that is bringing about so much more fruit and light to others through the stepping out in faith God has me in. Thank you for being such a blessing Amber through your writing and authenticity to others. (Btw – I am still in the process of reading your book and I’m loving it!) XOXO

  9. Hi Amber,

    I do have to say, when I changed, I did have friends who left. It was very lonely. But, I do have to say those alone times even though they were excruciating were growing times. I found I didn’t know as much as I thought, but found out the foundational truths I trust, are truly there, deep. I’ve been deeply disappointed by the church, but also know Jesus like I didn’t before. Do I need people? Absolutely! I do have a couple of close friends who I trust, and had to forgive, and some that left, are still gone. I don’t have many acquaintances.

    • My computer is acting like a word processor gone bad, almost like a monster mind of its own. =0

      The friends I do have, I trust, but I know people will let me down. I will too. But, the change needed to come. My whole family changed, we needed to change. It was a many year answer to prayer. But painful?! Horrible, but necessary, and grateful for the change.

      Good word Amber, keep speaking it!
      Joanne

      • Joanne, I’m so glad you shared about your loss of friends and the loneliness that you experienced. I rejoice with you for the perspective the Lord has given you to be able to see the securing of foundational truths in the midst of the painful circumstances. May the Lord continue to bless you with comfort in His loving presence!

  10. Hi Amber, there is so much about this post I love and all I can think is “koo koo pants!” Been there, friends have done that, and we stay tethered. I have these five friends that God has banded me together with, knit our hearts to one another, and we aren’t pushing away from the table. Nope, not for a second. We cry, laugh, get low with faces to the floor and storm heavens gate together. We have all stayed in our local body when we have watched wounded with an unwillingness to reconcile file out one after the other. We’re still here. We’re clinging to The fringe of His garment and feeling that power go out.

    I love women, too! But it wasn’t always this way, I had to ask for it and it came with studying faces. I began to crave to know the soul behind the face. I had to ask for a deep affection for those I would speak to or write for and God has been faithful. I once was guarded, judgmental, a master of comparison, now all I know is that we are all in this together and these are the ones who I can text in the middle of the night or wake to pray with at 5:30 am on Wednesdays.

    The kinship is one of the most precious of gifts.

    I love your memoir. It spoke “me” to me. Thank you for giving us you.

    Held,
    Trish

  11. Like Joanne said when I changed I had friends who left. The changes in my life were two fold; one happened when I developed disabling reactions to common substances such as fragrances. I could no longer be in the presence of these things and function. It would require others to make notable lifestyle changes for us to be together. Secondly, as in desperate need I began to seek out to understand God’s ways in suffering through His Word, I began to ask questions and initiate spiritual topics on a deeper level than I ever had before. I have experienced others pulling back from me as these conversations seem to make them very uncomfortable. It has been very lonely.

    Yet, since I’m convinced that everything in God’s Word is useful to help us grow in knowing Him and His ways, I want to continue to pursue the community that Jesus instructed His disciples to have. It’s hard and heavy as the memories of loss bubble up. I’ve wondered how to proceed as the doors seem to stay closed.

    A relevant article came to my attention today talking about persistent prayer even when the Lord is silent. We are encouraged to “cry out to him day and night” (Luke 18:7). The author said, “Real prayer begins with real desire, often with real desperation. We cry to God but he does not seem to respond. We are discouraged by circumstances, and sometimes by people, from continuing to ask. How does God want us to respond to this? He wants us to keeping asking and cry out louder!”

    Amber, as I read your beautiful expression of community in the body of Christ where “girlfriend” love is so evident, I was pulled even more to present my plea to the Lord with a louder cry today. So I am putting my hope in the one who can make a way when there seems to be no way! I’m grateful for any prayers you may lift up to Him on my behalf. I pray that He will bless each of you reading here today with the love of the Father and our Lord Jesus first and then the love of authentic Christian community!!

    • Diana,

      Your story breaks my heart. I will pray for you, Diana, that “you may be rooted and grounded in love and that you may know with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge and be filled to the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly what we may ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” Ephesians 3:17-20.

      I pray He directs your steps to a circle of kinship that will wrap their arms and hearts around you and hold you close, dear one! I pray He knits your heart and delicately interweaves it within a beautiful tapestry of colorful women! I pray this with expectation for you!

      Held,
      Trish

      • Trish,

        Your kind words and love focused prayer touched my heart like a healing balm! Thank you so very much. Your sympathy with my suffering as you brought this treasure of God’s word with it has refreshed my soul today. I love that picture of a “beautiful tapestry of colorful women”. I will hold onto this vision with expectation as well!

        Blessings to you,
        Diana

    • Diana,
      May God bring about a couple good friends whom you can do life with! I pray He will end your loneliness and bring about contentment, peace and happiness! Keep praying and I will also! Soon in His perfect timing He will make a way for you to have friends!!
      (((((Hugs)))))

      • Thanks so much, Beth, for your prayers! What a wonderful gift to give my lonely heart. I am encouraged today through it. Yes, I will keep praying and hoping along with you.

  12. Amber – this is just what I needed to hear today. “A shifting faith can be a scary time. You need your people.” So good and so true. Thanks for this.

  13. This really resonates. As a shy introvert, I have such a difficult time making friends. I’ve also been burned by most of my female friendships, and that’s left me pretty gun shy about getting too close. To make matters worse, my husband and I are fairly isolated, so it’s not like I have many opportunities to make friends offline. I’m married to my best friend, and we usually have so much fun together that I’m pretty content, but sometimes I get really lonely and hungry for a girlfriend to talk to and do girly stuff with. I have sisters, but we’re all pretty spread out in age and in different life stages and everybody’s super busy, so I hardly ever see them outside of holiday gatherings. I really miss having close women in my life and this is something I’ve been praying about lately.

    • Jean,
      Prayers that God will bring about a rainbow of sisters for you to do girly stuff with! May He take away the lonely and shower you with friendships and community!
      (((Hugs)))

  14. Amber,
    Loved all the pictures!! You certainly do look great in a fedora!!! I just loved this article. Your writing is superb!!! Life gets messy, ugly and hard. The natural tendency is to retreat and shut the door. God asks us stay–stick it out. Like others here I don’t like working for most women. They tend to be backstabbing, conniving, out for themselves! I have found that when life gets messy and I begin to change–I rush to certain good friends. They are the ones who understand, love you no matter what! Sometimes change can be good. I have found that during my 1.5 year trial with my aging dad-moving into assisted living, many medical issues, and now on hospice-that I have grown more and more in my Christian living. I find myself praying more and wanting more of God! Most of my women friends have stayed with me during my change!
    Blessings 🙂

  15. I’m finally reading this post today and you know what? God’s timing is perfect as always! Thank you for your honesty and your vulnerability to write these words that I desperately needed to hear. Bless you!