Amanda Held Opelt
@AmandaHeldOpelt
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Songwriter, author of A Hole in the World & Holy Unhappiness (July ‘23). Writes about faith, the creative life, grief, & ritual. Rooted in Southern Appalachia.
Boone, NC
Joined November 2013
Blessed are the unentitled- the ones hungry for the table scraps, the ones grasping desperately for the hem, the ones satisfied w/ the simple word of healing without the miraculous performance. They know there is power even in the remnants, the odds & ends. Theirs is the kingdom
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I have no idea if I’m doing this right. If there are any of you out there who are seeking to raise their kids in the faith with conviction, clarity, and gentleness, I welcome your wisdom!
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One thing I try to communicate to my kids is that following Jesus is the most important decision you will ever make. And you make it every day. It is GOOD. And it is hard. AND it is YOUR decision. Daddy and I will love you no matter what. Phew…
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I have a lot of friends who grew up Evangelical who are no longer Christians. And one thing that seems to have made a big difference is whether their decision to follow Christ was made in an atmosphere of unconditional love…or if it was made in an atmosphere of fear.
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This morning, my seven-year-old was asking some good questions about what it means to be a Christian. These are such tender conversations…and it got me thinking:
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Good faith question here! What are Republicans currently doing to help improve health care in rural areas?
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And yes…I mean wringer. 😊 I write for a living but I don’t spell for a living.
As long as we’re all talking about Doug Wilson (since he seems to be influencing some of the most powerful men in our country), I’ll remind you that my sister was calling out his views on sexuality & the Confederacy YEARS ago, and lots of y’all put her through the ringer for it.
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As long as we’re all talking about Doug Wilson (since he seems to be influencing some of the most powerful men in our country), I’ll remind you that my sister was calling out his views on sexuality & the Confederacy YEARS ago, and lots of y’all put her through the ringer for it.
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Don’t believe the lie that every body responds the same to pregnancy, birth, and postpartum 😬.
I am 36 weeks postpartum. I have had 4 babies in 4 years. Don’t believe the lies that having kids destroys you.
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Gosh, those were hard days.
Imagine hundreds of tiny islands. Each island has 100 - 150 people on it. The island has no power, no comms, and is running dangerously low on food & water. And there are no boats. That is Western North Carolina tonight.
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One year ago today. We had no idea how bad it actually was out there.
My internet is in and out, but if you are the praying kind, we really really need it to stop raining in Boone. All our creeks and mountain springs have turned to rivers. We are safe so far at our house but water rescues are ongoing and we have hours of rain left.
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Y’all, I’m always a little guarded on here. And I don’t feel a need to offer my take on every single news story or current event. But I need to tell you that I am extremely discouraged. Extremely concerned about HOW we are talking to and relating to one another these days.
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After Helene, we saw the harmful impact of our algorithmically driven discourse in real time. The brokenness of our online discourse…the depth of it…really dawned on me then.
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New post…and this one’s a tender one. I love this place, and so many are still hurting. https://t.co/utTEFjYkgh
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Stop forcing people to proclaim total loyalty to either party when their conscience does not permit them to. The way of Jesus is ancient & enduring & I’d rather hitch my wagon to that hope than any man-made political party, no matter how vehemently it claims the moral high ground
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So many people assume that if I criticize the right, it means that I support or approve of the left and vice versa. This imposition of false choice, this false dichotomy is totally manufactured & a product of our current political ecosystem, our two party system, NOT the Bible.
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To choose a third way is to say that my moral allegiance is to Christ and Christ alone. That allegiance transcends political parties which come & go. The role of the believer is to be salt & light. When either side fails to embody the way of Jesus, we denounce that failure.
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I’m seeing a lot of critiques on here lately of “third-wayism.” Some say that choosing a third way is to be lukewarm, wishy-washy, or afraid of offending someone. On the contrary: to choose a third way is to reject a manufactured binary that has been forced on us by culture.
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If you are struggling to take in and cleanly categorize everything that’s happened in the last 2 weeks, please know you aren’t alone.
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I know this isn’t a shocking development, but anyone else noticing that posts that criticize Big Tech’s role in our polarization just do not get the same algorithmic attention? My team is noticing this on multiple platforms at the moment.
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I just taught my first class since Charlie Kirk's assassination. We spoke about the attack for more than an hour. My students at @lipscomb, to a person (and regardless of whether they were on the right or the left), engaged thoughtfully and mournfully. There wasn't a hint of
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