When our daughter was little, she had a thing about hearing our instruction and finding the cutest way to circumvent it. We laughed, but we soon realized it did her heart no good to do a good thing instead of the right thing. I'm sure, like me, you have found yourself doing good things instead of the right things that God has called you to do. Two things. That's it. There are really only two things we really must do in life.
I received the following question that I answered in my monthly, “Ponderings of the Heart” column: Dear Ami, Philippians 2:3 tells us to “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Is the latter part of this really healthy? If you avoid looking at or considering your own value, aren’t you undermining your own emotional health? Signed, Confidently Humble
Having received the following question, I responded via my column in the His Favor Newsletter: Dear Ami, Do you have any insight on “knowing Jesus in His suffering”? Signed, Slightly Scared…. Well, the answer to this question could cause some waves! Are you ready for this one?
Having received the following question, I responded via my column in the His Favor Newsletter: Dear Ami, I understand the importance of forgiveness, but is reconciliation the same thing? Must I reconcile with everyone, even unsafe people? Signed, Cautious…. Wow! What a sticky question! Come read my response at amiloper.com
I relish meandering through hours of recorded decades of my littles growing and then having littles of their own. A more difficult time to relive was our granddaughter’s stay in the NICU after birth. We are grateful that our little Princess shows no signs of her early difficulties with her lungs, but it is painful to see the videos of her hooked up to IVs, breathing tubes and oxygen tents. Read about this journey and what it taught me about receiving healing from the Presence of the Lord!
My Dad was working with me one evening when I was little to learn to ride a bike, holding onto the back of the seat as I tried to coordinate pedaling and steering. Suddenly, I noticed a football-sized boulder to the right of my path. It scared me though it wasn’t on my path, so I kept my eyes on it as we approached. But somehow, the more I stared at that rock, the more I diverged toward it! Finally, I hit the rock and fell. That’s when Dad said something that has always stayed with me...
My Dad was otherwise the picture of health when, at the age of 59, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. When he told us, it hit with a shockwave, a numbness cultivated by denial and ignorance. I was barely in my 30’s and had no inkling of the devastating ramifications he was facing. Dad’s ways of coping with the diagnosis were… unique. Come read how Dad coped, from the odd to the brilliant.
"Dear Ami, Does the Bible explicitly prohibit sex before marriage? I believe that Biblical sexual purity means abstinence before marriage, but my cousin brought up this issue as a challenge, and he uses it to justify premarital sex. Signed, Perplexed"… Come see how I answered this intriguing question at amiloper.com
What started as a common illness with the doctor’s admonition to rest for a few weeks has become a two-year battle against a fatigue that has tethered me to my home and drained me of energy. Yet in God's great redemptive power, He’s let my heart grow and learn, even while my physical body has been battered and weakened. Come read three of the things the Lord has taught me through ongoing illness and fatigue.
What is this Christmas going to look like? Will my people be able to get together? If you are a Believer in Jesus Christ, you know your joy is found only in Jesus. That beautiful truth doesn’t exactly stop the aching loneliness of being alone and bereft of your beloved traditions. We need more than the words of this sentiment. We need a way to access the felt truth behind the sentiment.
This year has kicked me in the teeth. It has ripped my heart out and stolen my breath away. It’s been hard to see the light of day. But, like a Divine appointment, a book with wisdom for the broken came into my life this year and has given me a tool that has helped to keep my head above water.
Birth is so natural to us, clearly our expectation. But death? Death is different. Death is unnatural. We stand in the face of death with mouths agape, wondering what and why and how. No matter how expected, no matter how sweet the home-going, death’s finality and foreignness shakes us. Why? We can tell our intellect that death is as natural as birth, but why does it still grieve and bewilder?
Last year was an intense year of wandering in and out of brain fog for me. It’s better this year, as the Lord begins to heal and restore all that last year stole. But the lost feeling reminds me of another time I predictably feel a fog roll in: on the battlefield. I’m not speaking of a tangible battlefield, but the battlefield of my heart and mind when the enemy hurls his flaming arrows and the fog of war has me reeling.
Yes, Jesus laid His life down to save us. What a mind blowing Truth! Yet, are we aware that He is still giving of Himself? A good husband doesn’t just lay his life down for his wife in the ultimate, take-a-bullet-for-you way, he also lays his life down in smaller ways daily. In the same way, Jesus is laying His life for you TODAY!
Someone leveled some pretty gut-wrenching accusations at me. I had humbled myself and apologized for any conceivable culpability, but when I shared them later with the Hubs, he had told me the accusations were unfounded. How are we supposed to humble ourselves, but not let a false accusation dominate our own opinion of ourselves?
It is the shortest verse in the Bible, yet, in my view, one of the most powerful and I love how it stands alone – that two-word verse – almost forcing the reader to pause over it in a “Selah” moment. Take the journey with me as I discover new depths to this brief passage of Scripture.
Embarrassingly, there have been times in my past when I thought that I was the chosen instrument of change in someone’s life. Read the blog to see how the Lord revealed His heart and showed me just how different His ways are from mine.
God doesn't need us to pray polished prayers. When we are hurting, even angry with God, will He accept our honest prayers? Will He turn a cold shoulder, recoil from our honesty or give us the silent treatment?
