Fridays with Faith welcomes... AMY HARKNESS

Amy Harkness has served for three years as a spiritual director in private practice at Glendale United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, ordained through The Institute of Christian Spirituality at Lipscomb University. As an elder in the Presbyterian church, Amy serves as pulpit supply at Glencliff Presbyterian Church. The daughter of a minister and a compassionate caregiver, Amy felt called to the ministry at an early age.  Amy’s young and beautiful grandmother lived with her family as she was treated for cancer which became a second language. These relationships were foundational as Amy served as a nurse at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for 14 years mostly in pediatric oncology and later a hospice nurse. But Amy avoided her call to be a minister until she discovered her own witness of the redemptive grace of Jesus Christ. Survivor of a catastrophic illness, shame, guilt and offensive relationships, Amy recovered wholistically, writing a book called A Song and A Prayer about using shame and guilt and all our life scars to be who God intends us to be. Screenplays are in the works as is another book called Letters to Women in Prison identifying commonalities of the incarcerated and the free held back from spiritual fulfillment. Amy has a smart, talented and beautiful 15 year old daughter who is her most endearing challenge and greatest joy.