Finding Home... Wild in the Hollow (A Book Review & a Giveaway!)

I know... I know... me and all. the. books. right?

But this summer is FILLED with some amazing new releases and this one by Amber Haines? Well, I knew before I ever held it in my hands that it would be filled with lovely words and deep down truths that would find their way into my heart.  The way this woman weaves poetic words around my soul and causes all the Yes and Amens to rise to the top just leaves me breathless!

Because I was blessed with a copy ahead of time (Thank you Revell!) --but had already pre-ordered it myself... well - you win! (Or, more accurately, if you are in the US, you have a chance to win...)

This, by Amber:

"...I wonder if you feel it too --the homesickness for a people and a place to belong, the desire for the freedom and safety you might find there, the thrill and the comfort. Maybe it's what draws you toward the things you hold dear. We often hold on to memories, places, people, and things because there's something of home in them. There's a sense of freedom, the belonging that happens with real friends that makes you feel at home. So many of us are working out a homesickness, and I believe the homesickness is what all our wanderings are all about. We're searching for home --a place of acceptance, a place of fulfillment, and a place of identity. At the basest level, we suspect that home is the place where we'll find our fit, where we'll finally be free."

Yeah... that is just from the Introduction, y'all! 
(Read: You're gonna want this book!)

I don't know about for you, but for me? For me... these words rang true and I searched for nearly a decade to find a Home that would ease the homesickness of my wandering.

It was in the searching, that I found God --sure. 
But it was in the searching that I also found me.

I found who I really am and who He created me to be and when you begin to stand up tall in who you are, it makes it harder to squeeze in to places just to fit in. The temptation may be there, but you know down deep that you just don't fit and it just won't work.

Homesickness.
That is just exactly it.  

We are homesick for a Home that we have not yet known, but it has been written in to our DNA and it is the place that we were made for and that He is guiding us towards... we were meant for community, for family, for connection --to Him first, and then to the others around us!

When I first heard the title of Amber's book, Wild in the Hollow, my spirit burned brighter with all the shouts of Hallelujah! I wasn't sure what she meant by it, but what it stirred up in me was the reminder of something God had whispered to me softly last year.  

It was when I was studying the Lord's Prayer, and one day during our study the leader had us just say out loud, "Hallowed by Thy Name..." over and over.  Suddenly, His Presence flooded the room and holiness was tangible. It took my breath away and I could feel space being made inside of me, and a bit of swelling from the inside. I don't know how else to describe it. So I asked Him what was happening, and He whispered to me, 

"When you hallow My Name, I hollow out more room for Me, for My Presence.  I swell in you."

Ever since then, I try to make this a habit... to hallow His Name, and let Him hollow out space in me for Him to abide.  

And then we went and did this wild thing and said yes to God to starting a church.

You guys... this is miraculous.  

We loved the Church all those years that we had no home, but we had lost hope that we would ever fit in or find our way to be a part inside of her again.  We tired of squeezing ourselves in and conforming and playing the games and jumping through the hoops... we were just so over it. 

We were blessed with a smaller community and we were falling deeper and deeper in love with the Lord and with these friends... this family.  What we were enjoying was church - although it was not on Sundays.  What it was was His Kingdom come... but still, there was this unspoken homesickness.

Then we said yes... out of nowhere... The invitation came and we both heard it and knew it right away... this was an invitation to come home --to build a home, and gather others to press in with us and let His Kingdom reign.

And then I opened this book and read Ambers' words... how she so beautifully, daringly, achingly, and honestly shares her life, --how she points us to the Kingdom and graciously offers to walk with us, as we journey home!

"All I ever want for myself is the kingdom version of me, the exact thing he is making me. All I ever want to be said of my sons is that to be with them is to be near Jesus."

Let that be said of all of us, Lord!

                                     
Oh Yes... the Giveaway! 

They've always been the kind of friends who don't know any better. They don't know how to not be close. ...At the end of the evening, we bowed our heads to pray because this had been the culture of our friendship years before, and our need for healing in community brought us wordless to a God so palpable that all we did was sit and cry. All we could say was, "We are broken and you are here."     (pp 104-105, Wild in the Hollow)

We are blessed to be surrounded by friends like this. My prayer is that you, too, will find your people who don't know how to not be close... who will sit with you and pray, "We are broken and you are here."

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Once again, I apologize to my International readers... this Giveaway is for US residents only.

P.S. I'm also linking up with these lovely writers:

JENNIFER DUKES LEE FOR #TELLHISSTORY

HOLLEY GERTH FOR #COFFEEFORYOURHEART

Have you read Wild in the Hollow yet? Have you experienced this Homesickness? If so, let me know in the comments how I can pray for you! It would be my honor. (And don't forget to enter to win!)