I’ve had the privilege of knowing Amy Menter for over 24 years. Her heart for the Lord and reaching others with His love isn’t superficial. She has been an inspiration to me as I’ve watched her go back to school to get her Master’s degree and begin counseling women in an effort to point them to Christ.

I invite you to pour a cup of your favorite hot beverage and join me as I welcome Amy on today’s blog – speaking from her heart on the topic we’ve been discussing this month: love.

In my line of work, I come alongside hurting people, those who are burdened, beckoning to believe, utterly brokenhearted or even bruised deeply by love that went in the wrong direction.  I sometimes sit quietly with them in their pain, a place where words fail and presence alone comforts.  A place where all I can do is pray and ask Jesus to nestle in, hold them, and be the Comforter in their shattered and broken places.

As I witness the exposed and bleeding shards of their fractured hearts, I’m reminded of what C.S. Lewis once said:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable.  Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken.”

 In other words, he says to love is to risk.  There is the risk of death, rejection, abandonment, humiliation, misunderstanding and unappreciated sacrifice by those upon whom we pour out our love.

But that’s only one way to look at the risk.

There is the risk of love that leads to life, and to a life connected and together.  A love that can lead to the sweetest acceptance and the deepest communion of being known and understood.  There is the risk that sacrifice for who you love gains you more of who you love.

And Jesus showed us all of this through His death on the cross.
Jesus risked all, giving His very life for us.  For we who reject, humiliate, abandon, misunderstand and attempt to destroy our relationships at times.  While we sinned like this, Jesus stepped in and showed us His love by dying for our sins in our place (Romans 5:8.)

He offered us a love that led to Life.  Eternal life (Romans 3:23.)  He provided acceptance for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and the deepest communion of being known and understood (Isaiah 43:1 & Psalm 139:2-4.)  He provided sacrifice that gained more… more of those He loved (I Corinthians 6:17,19-20.)

But often, instead of love’s risk being embraced, broken off and freely given, I see, and have also personally experienced, love’s risk leading to recoil and self-protection.  I’ve seen love running in the wrong direction.

Isolating.  Silencing.  Harboring grudges. Believing the worst.  Hiding questions.  Retaliating.  Punishing.  Doubting others good will.  Being unkind, envious, impatient, defensive, rude and out to hurt. Thinking evil. Losing hope. Not suffering long.

All the opposites of how the Bible teaches us to love in I Corinthians 13:4-8, and how to walk and be fruitful in the Spirit in Galatians 5:22.  For the Spirit leads us (even when we are hurt and in difficulty with those we love) to communicate, or defend ourselves, with a motivation that is characterized by clarity, humility, kindness and sincerity, not with one characterized by self-protection, secrecy, pride, anger, fear or self-righteousness.

Amy Menter is a wife of 26 years, during which time she served with her husband as he pastored and started churches for 16 years and then moved into the service of a deacon for 1-1/2 years at Faith Baptist Church in Circleville, Ohio.

Amy is an independent licensed social worker and has her own Christian counseling private practice. She works with traumatized women, and those struggling with depression, anxiety and marital difficulties in hopes of bringing God’s Word, Presence and Help to them. Find her devotionals on her Facebook page, Devoted Daughters.