EP 72 | Amber's Story: Healing After Life Falls Apart

A single break changed everything. Amber thought discipline would keep life in order—straight A’s, strict faith, and hours of exercise that looked healthy from the outside. When a double pirouette ended with a broken foot, the illusion shattered. What followed wasn’t instant perfection but a new kind of honesty about addiction, control, and the slow work of healing with God at the center. 

Together we unpack what addiction can look like beyond substances—perfectionism, productivity, and legalism—and how to step out of their shadow with tools that actually help. Amber talks about the community that sustains her, the spiritual mentorship that keeps her grounded, and her calling as an author creating faith-based resources on anxiety, depression, and recovery. 

If you’re craving a story that names hard things and still points to hope, this conversation is for you. Listen, share with a friend who needs courage today, and if the message resonates, subscribe and leave a review so more people can find a path toward faith-led recovery and real-world healing. 

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Amber Ginter is a teacher-turned-author who loves Jesus, her husband Ben, and granola. Growing up Amber looked for faith and mental health resources and found none. Today, she offers hope for young Christians struggling with mental illness that goes beyond simply reading your Bible and praying more. Because you can love Jesus and still suffer from anxiety. You can download her top faith and mental health resources for free to help navigate books, podcasts, videos, and influencers from a faith lens perspective. Visit her website at amberginter.com. 

Connect with Amber

Instagram: @amberginterauthor

Facebook: Amber Ginter Author

Podcast: Authentically Amber

Learn more about the Mental Reset: A Christian Co-Ed Retreat for Anxious Hearts here. 

About the She Surrenders Podcast:

On the She Surrenders podcast we are talking about women, faith and addiction all on the same platform. There are many podcasts for women and sobriety, but very few for women seeking information and stories from others about faith-based recovery.   

Help us reach more listeners: like, subscribe, review, and share. 

Find us on Instagram @shesurrenders_sherry, on Facebook @shesurrenderssherry, and online at www.shesurrenders.com. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome back to the Sheet Surrenders Podcast. I'm Sherry, and my heart behind this podcast is to bring you the excellent news that faith-based recovery is where you'll discover the joy in life you never thought possible while you were in the bondage of addiction. The stories you'll hear from women and sometimes men who have walked in your shoes or alongside someone who has will inspire you to pursue the same freedom they've found. This freedom comes from surrendering not only our addictions, but also our guilt and shame to God. Matthew 19, verse 26 tells us, with man, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. I pray that today's episode brings you to a new understanding that this is true for you too, because it is. Now, on to our guest. Amber did grow up with a lot of substance abuse in her home, but substance abuse um would not turn out to be her addiction. Amber's going to talk about a different kind of addiction and how God got her attention by breaking her foot. So it's an interesting story. So welcome, Amber. I'm so glad you're here with me this morning. Hi. Thank you so much for having me, Sherry. Yes. And I just love that your story is a little different than the usual here on She Surrenders, but I know that someone listening is gonna really resonate with this or think about that person that they need to pass this on to. So with that, I'm just gonna pass you the mic and let you begin at the point that you feel is best to be um starting at. So take it away, Amber.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Absolutely. So, like Sherry mentioned, I guess my story and my thread of addiction is definitely gonna be different than most of you are uh used to listening on this podcast. But I do hope that it, you know, helps those of you feel seen and validated that can relate to this, um, and that you will see pieces of maybe your story or family or friend's stories in mine. So uh I think that I always say that my story started really from the womb. I was actually born prematurely. I was born about three months early. I had to stay in the hospital 31 days. And I know my mom hated that. She had to go with my dad back and forth to the hospital like an hour for 31 days. So I always start with that because I think that there's a threat of resilience in my life. And that's always a word that people have described me as. Not, you know, I'm not saying that in a bragging way or conceited, but like that's always a word that people use. They're like, oh, you just persevere, you you're resilient. So thankfully, after the 31 days, I had numerous blood transfusions, as well as, you know, my lungs weren't developed and I was on a cheese wedge and all this stuff because I couldn't keep food down. Um, but really, thankfully, I recovered fairly well as a little kid. I didn't really have health issues. I always say that I grew up in a quote unquote Christian home and everything was pretty good and happy go lucky, and I was free and charismatic, I guess, up until I was 10. And that was the first time that I was threatened by someone in my family, someone that I love dearly, and they threatened to kill me. And by the time that I was 14, I knew that my half siblings were involved in, you know, drugs and alcohol and abusive situations and theft and in and out of prison. And I really did have this belief where it was just like, okay, like they just do bad things and like I'm not gonna be like that. And then unfortunately, when I was 14, I started noticing similar symptoms in my father when he was placed on disability from a work injury. And he, you know, wasn't involved in drugs and alcohol, but almost overnight he became like Dr. Jekyll and Hyde. And so we went from being really best friends to just like, whoa, like, why is he flying off the handle? And why is he so upset? And, you know, why am I praying and his pain is not going away? And so, as my way to cope with all of this, I felt like I had to take on this pressure to become the second parent of my home. So I became very perfectionistic. I was very legalistic with my faith, with my school, with if I didn't have a 4.0, I would do anything to get that. Um, and unfortunately, I also developed an eating disorder and an addiction to exercise that I kept hidden for seven years. And so that was, you know, my my addiction, my way to not hurt somebody else, but I didn't realize I was hurting myself. And so it really wasn't until I got to college. So, you know, seven years later, I was a sophomore. And I always say that God broke my foot, and that's what freed me of that addiction. And it's it's funny looking back because there are very few times in my life that I feel like God speaks very directly or clearly to me. But when he broke my foot, like I knew that he did that to save me from that addiction. And, you know, then I I couldn't exercise and I couldn't do these things. And it was crazy because almost overnight I like was no longer counting calories. I no longer had this constant clock in my head. Um, and you know, thankfully I was able to recover from the eating disorder and the addiction to exercise at that time.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Okay. Wow. And I'm just curious. So, you know, that seven years, like 14 to 21, basically, with all the chaos in your home. And you have an eating disorder. So I imagine you're getting you're quite thin. Um, and is anybody noticing? Did you get called out on it in those years or questioned, or did you have to defend or oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

So I've always been naturally thin, which I think kind of just like added to the fire. So I've always been naturally thin. Um my mom, like I think I inherited it mainly from my mom, but both my parents are pretty thin. But my mom, when she was, you know, my age at that time, like 14, she was like five'e and weighed like 90 pounds. And I remember her saying that boys would bark at her in the hallways and like call her a dog and stuff, but she didn't have an eating disorder or anything like that. She was just that was just naturally her thing. So for me, I wasn't that tall at that time, but I was definitely getting called out because you know, my parents started to notice, I don't know that they noticed the thinness, but they noticed that I wasn't eating or like I would push food around on my plate. Um, and I was never like a uh, what do you call it? Like I was never like a purge kind of person. Like it was just I would pack food and throw it away, or I would, you know, eat very little and then exercise for like three hours. So um, you know, my parents threatened to take me to the doctor. I remember going to the doctor and like picking out the heaviest clothes that I could so that like that, you know, nobody would notice. And so I did go through that, but then um even after I had gained a little bit of weight, like I still, and I've talked to my mom about this, like I still like would lie to her face and like I would lie to people that had concern. Um, up until I mean, really up until after I recovered, I wasn't willing to like admit that I had lied and and cheated and done all these things that I said that I didn't do.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Did you so you felt relieved though when you broke your foot? It was kind of like, well, this is over.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

In a sense, uh, yeah, I I will never forget the day that I did break it because I was at dance and I'm still a dancer, but I did a double pirouette, which is like two turns, and I like my foot wobbled and all my weight went crashing down on that foot. And you know, silly me, I'm like, oh I'm okay, my foot's starting to swell. So I stick my shoe back on my foot and then I drive home. So I like definitely made it worse. But um, I remember getting home and crying on my bathroom floor. I like locked the door and I was screaming at God. Like I was like, why did you do this to me? And I just remember that that was, you know, the one time I heard his voice and he was like, you know why I did this. And I was just like, you're right, but I'm angry. And so I did feel some relief. Um, it wasn't, you know, in some ways it was overnight where I didn't have the compulsions um to like think about numbers anymore. Um, but it really was like a cool part of my faith where I felt like, okay, like he took that. And I think that's the crazy part of my story is that was my experience with that for seven years. But my other struggles of like anxiety and depression, you know, I've prayed for those to go away and they're still not gone. And so it's definitely like learning the difference between how God heals and like what that looks like in different areas of your life.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Mm-hmm. Definitely. Now you're 21 and you got a healing foot. And so what happened from there?

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Yeah. So I was really great. I feel like that was my prime, it was like 21 to 23. Those are the best years. I really developed a healthy relationship with food and exercise. I led a dance team at my college. So I was dancing two hours every other day. And the days I didn't dance, I would go run. And running was previously something that I used to kind of like punish myself, but I learned how to really enjoy it. Um, and I loved running. I would run, you know, three to five miles every other day and just like was my prayer time with God and loved it. And then um, you know, I'm commuting from college. So I'm still kind of in this toxic environment of verbal abuse and seeing my siblings shoot heron up their arm and die and come back to life and like all this stuff, but like I still felt really strong in my faith. And so it really wasn't until I graduated college that I felt like again my life got flipped upside down like it did when I was 20 or when I was 14, happened when I was 23. So I graduated and I just got super sick like overnight. I anytime I ate food, I would have excruciating stomach pain. I was constipated this for like a month and could not go to the bathroom. I remember being at King's Island and like I'm eating food and it's not going anywhere. And I'm like, my I think my stomach's gonna like explode. Um, and so I was in the ER pretty much like every month, and doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. About six to seven months later, I was diagnosed with 10 plus physical and mental health issues. Um, it was the first time that I finally realized I think I need to go to therapy and probably process some of this. And I think I need to use some holistic measures because people had just told me, like, well, Amber, like your pain is just in your head and your anxiety is not real and just stop worrying and like all these unhelpful things. And so um really when I started going to therapy and started getting holistic treatment, my my mind expanded and I also started to understand and have a lot more empathy for people that do have not just like chronic mental health issues, but physical health issues as well. And that's kind of the journey that I have been on since I've been 23 has been learning to heal all of these health issues and becoming an advocate for our overall health and especially mental health. Um, and there's you know a lot more things that happen in between that, but that's kind of where I've learned um to have more empathy for people with their struggles and with their addictions and with things that they're going through, and to not let those things define us by you know, the things that we've struggled with. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

So how old are you now? I never I didn't ask that. So how long ago um so I'll be 30 in like two weeks. Yeah, so this has been like seven years that you've been on this journey. So, and so this is something that you're still working on, just health journey that you're on. And how do you feel today? Is this something that you're constantly still managing?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Oh yeah, it's definitely like a ba a daily fight. And I think unfortunately, my body is immunocompromised because of all the health issues. So sometimes, you know, I've learned that like I just have to understand that I have a chronic illness and that it's not just gonna go away and I need to not push myself, and when I do, then I'm gonna end up in bed. And so um, it is a constant chronic battle. Um, but there are definitely parts of that that are much better than they were. So for example, um, I have stage two endometriosis, which if you know your listeners don't know much about that, is absolutely awful. It's one of the top 20 most painful conditions that you can have in the world. And um, thankfully I've had two surgeries, and so my pain is a lot more manageable than it was. It's still not perfect, but heck yeah, is it better than when I was 23? I mean, I landed myself in the ER multiple times for that, and it's like, oh, I can't do anything for you. Um, and then my anxiety, you know, is still a daily fight, but it's definitely better than it was. And so um, there's a lot of ebb and flow in that and part of my journey and part of my story.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Mm-hmm. Wow. So how do you how do you find support? Do you have a support group? Or I also know you're an advocate for helping others. I love talking to people about recovery, and I find that supportive in itself. So do you journey with others in the same type of arena?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah, so I think that you know, my my support group might look a little bit different than like traditional. I know in recovery circles, like we talk about like AA and groups like that. So I don't, you know, belong to an official group, but I do have really great um family and friends that I have sends opened up about my struggles and they check in on me all the time. And I have a wonderful spiritual mentor that I see every week, and we text and voice text and and all the things that we can keep each other accountable. Um, but yeah, I mean, for the supportive part of others, definitely that's what my platform is and my social media and my email lists is I am encouraged by, you know, those emails that I get or those DMs that are like, hey, like thanks for sharing about being scared to try medication. Like I was also scared, but like your post encouraged me that I can, I can try it and see if it works for me. And so, like, that's really, really encouraging to me. And um, I do involve myself with like a lot of volunteer work with organizations. So I work with to write love on her arms, for example, which isn't a Christian organization, but I do get to like respond to people that are struggling mentally. And that also brings me support and joy to tell other people like you are not alone even if you feel that way, and you know, your struggle does not define you, and that there is hope even if it feels like there's not hope right now.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's wonderful. Uh, I mentioned um that Amber and I know each other from a writer's group. Um, and I'd like you to share about some of the things you write about as well and that you're working on.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

So that is one part of my story I guess I left out is that the same time that my world came crashing down at 14, that was the age that I felt very strongly that God was like, you're gonna be a writer and you're gonna be an author. And I was like, okay. And it was funny because I had actually always said I was gonna be a veterinarian. I still love animals, I love dogs. And I took all the classes in college or college, in high school to be able to like be ahead on vet tech. And then I realized I was really bad at math and science, and that um all these things that I did for animals, like I was in the new uh I how do I say this? I was like the head of the newspaper in high school and all these articles I wrote for animals, I felt like God was like, you know, you could write about me, right? And I was like, Oh, I guess you're right. And so um, yeah, Sherry and I met through Caroline Beidler's mastermind group. And I am today, I'm a full-time author. I was able to leave my teaching job to be able to do what I love now. And so I specifically and primarily write for teenagers, young adults, and Gen Z struggling with mental health. Um, I do write nonfiction and I try to give them practical biblical resources and tools for how to manage things like anxiety and depression, eating disorders, mental health conditions. And so I am in the process of traditionally publishing my first book, um, working on that with my agent. And I'm actually sending my final three projects to her this weekend. So hopefully they will go out to publisher soon and we will hear something. But yeah, that's the crux, I guess, of what I write is nonfiction for Gen Z mental health.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

And I decided I wanted you to talk about it because it's so important. And there's um just that there's good information out there for that age and coming from a good resource like yourself, and especially in the faith-based arena, that you also inspire through retreats.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

I'm super excited. So one of the things that I felt like God put on my heart was creating a safe space for people to heal from these mental health struggles because we don't heal very well in isolation. It's also really hard for Gen Z to open up, and I know that because I was a teacher, and so like these kids aren't gonna share their life story on day one, but on day, you know, 45, they might be willing to. So building relationships is really important to me. And so I felt like God was leading me to host a retreat, and I wanted it to be really unique and I wanted it to be something that had not been done before. I'm kind of like a go big or go home kind of person. So this is, to my knowledge, the first co-ed mental health retreat. It's called Mental Reset, and it's going to be hosted June 5th through 8th, 2026 in Hawking Hills, Ohio at the Golden Acres Lodge. It's a beautiful place that holds around 30-ish people. And so it's open to anybody 18 and up. And we're bringing in authors, speakers, therapists, fitness instructors, food, worship leaders, all sorts of stuff for four days and three nights just to actually learn how do we biblically and practically help each other manage anxiety? I'm not promising you're gonna leave with no anxiety, but it's like, how do I learn to make that more manageable? How do I have community and support with other people? How do I learn to talk about it openly and be supported? And then there's obviously lots of time for rest and hiking and connecting. And some people just want to, you know, be alone because they're introverted, and that's fine. There's time and space for that. So it's really for anyone struggling mentally that feels anxious and overwhelmed and like they need a mental reset.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

I think that's wonderful, and I think it's going to be an amazing success. And um, if you're one of those 30 lucky people that get to go, because the takeaway that I've always had as an attendee or as a a leader of a retreat is seeing, you see, when someone gets it and goes, you know what? There's someone else that has the same struggle as me. And just knowing you're not alone and you're not the only one, and someone is standing in the exact same space you haven't is so freeing. And that alone, right there, is the reason you should find a community in my eyes. Another reason that I really admire Amber, and I told her this already before we started recording, is with all the substance abuse going on in her home, she chose not to partake as she grew older. And I just told her that was really wise. That's a decision that not a lot of people have the good sense to make. Um, there was alcohol and Home, there was a lot of abuse um as far as addiction. Nobody was educating me. It doesn't sound like you were being educated and told, you know what, it's a good thing you should you should just not stay. You should just stay away from it, you know? And that's something you came to on your own. And granted, addiction manifested itself in different ways in you. Different than a substance, but I think that was wise beyond your years. I say that too is credibility for anybody listening. Um that um you've achieved a lot, you've overcome a lot, and you made some good choices at very early stages of life. And um, you need to be commended for that.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yeah, thank you. And and it it is something that looking back, I'm I'm very grateful. You know, my grandma, I spent a lot of time at her in my papa's house, and my papa passed away this past year, but my grandma is still living. We're very, very close. She's like my second mom. And she always says, and always said to me growing up, she's like, you know, Amber, like you could have been like your your siblings or your family, but you chose not to be. And she's like, that's that's a miracle that you didn't turn out that way. And it's funny because I know I've never really like seen it that way. It was just I saw what these people did, and I I didn't want to be like that. I knew that I was created for more. I knew that God had a purpose for me and I was gonna stay as close to his line of purpose as I could. But I think the greatest thing, honestly, that enabled me to not make those poor choices was when I did struggle with an addiction, because I used to think I will never be like them. But I didn't need drugs and alcohol to be like them. I needed an addiction. And I think once I realized that I had also struggled with an addiction, it was like, I'm gonna do everything I can, hell or high water, to make sure that other people don't go through that. Because seeing my siblings go through that and seeing me go through mine, losing my half sibling to overdose, it was just, I don't know, I have such empathy and compassion that I didn't have before because I know what it's like to go through a addiction, may not be drugs and alcohol, but a addiction. And it's not easy and it's not a road that we walk alone. And so um, yeah, I I feel honored. I mean, I I've definitely gotten like some weird looks and stuff when it's like, oh, do you want a drink or stuff like that? But um, it's like, no, like I'm good. And and I guess it's also helped I'm I've always been a water person. So it's just like I just give me some water, like I don't want anything else.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

Yeah, you also mentioned too though that you know, you said it gave you a new understanding when you were frustrated with these people in your life and you were thinking to yourself, which I've heard from many family members as they watched the person they love go down, you know, why don't they just quit? And now that makes sense to you because you didn't just quit what you were doing either. You know, it's just not that it's not that easy. It doesn't um resonate that way. So yeah, I mean, even though it wasn't the same, you had some things to learn. Um I mean, I guess like God wanted you to learn in the journey, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:09

And I think that every person should really learn to have more empathy for family and friends and outsiders or students or whoever it might be that has an addiction, because all of us have addictions. Like I don't care who you are, like you have an addiction. It might be to technology, it might be to your job. I struggle with an addiction to productivity, like whatever it is, I think there's a scripture that talks about, you know, becoming a slave to something. And it's like if you have become a slave to that thing, like that's holding power over you. And so you don't need drugs and you don't need alcohol and you don't even need exercise or whatever it might be to have an addiction, but everyone has one and everyone should have that empathy and understanding to know it's not just that easy as well, just pray about it and just stop and just read your Bible more. It's like we need practical biblical steps to recover from disease.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Absolutely. I always say if it's anything that's standing between you and God and honoring God or your time with God or your relationship with God, it needs to go. It needs to take a backseat and it has no place in your life because that's basically what addiction does. Well, I will make sure um to put all the details of um how they can follow you and um find out details about your retreat and um anything like that, because I'm sure there's going to be some interest. So thank you so much, Amber. You are just a light in the world of being an advocate for the Gen Z and many others, I'm sure. So, and I am just honored to know you and to spend this time with you today. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Thank you for having me, Sherry. It's been an honor.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you found encouragement and inspiration from what you heard here. If you know someone who could benefit from the She Surrenders podcast, please share it with them. Let's spread the word about the miracle of faith-based recovery. Don't forget, like, share, subscribe, and leave a review. Because when you do these things, it helps get the message to those who are seeking answers that can only be found when we put down our addictions and pick up the promises of a whole new life when we walk in recovery with the Lord. Have a wonderful week, and I'll see you next time.