Mentorship...

I started the journey of returning to a right relationship with the Lord about 7 or so years ago.  During that time God placed women in my life as mentors.  They poured into me, they prayed for me, they told me the truth about things that weren’t right.  God used them to grow and mature me so much and I am so grateful for that.  Those women are still in my life, but not as strongly as before.  I am surrounded by godly ladies now, but I’ve realized that I need one-on-one mentorship still. 

This morning, I listened to a program on Focus on the Family about a couple who have been married 30 years.  Their story really touched a nerve with me.  Although they were believers and wanted to honor God, their relationship started out in a not-so-great way, as they stumbled into pre-marital sex.  They  eventually got married, both with their own expectations of how things should be, and quickly found themselves in trouble…. For the first 10 years of their relationship, there was a lot of sin, hurt, and pain.  I thought to myself, “that is exactly what I’m trying to avoid.”  

Thankfully, we serve a God who restores and redeems.   He did that in this couple’s relationship through mentorship.   First she reached out to some godly ladies, who came alongside her, spoke truth into her life, showed her that she could only change herself and with the help of God, and encouraged her as she did.  God started making big changes in her, but things got so bad still that she asked her husband to leave.  That was the catalyst for him them seeking godly help.  He was mentored by a godly married couple and he changed drastically too.  Through mentorship, God was able to transform them and their marriage.  Now, 20 years later, they have a successful, not-always-easy, but godly relationship. 

This story spoke to me on so many levels, but the biggest message I received is that I NEED MENTORSHIP.  I need a trusted sister or two (or three or four) who will love me enough to look me in the eye and say, “this is what I’m seeing that needs to change, sis.”  I think you forget, as you mature in the Lord, that God is not done working on you.   I really have grown and changed so much (by the grace of God—to HIM be the glory!), but there is still so much to be done.   I think somewhere inside I thought that God would work on the big things that need to change and then work out the little things, but I’m starting to see that He starts with the little things and then when those are worked out, He moves onto the bigger things, and then when those are worked out, He moves onto the whoppers.  Yikes!

The best way for me to get on-board with God working out the huge problems in me is through the loving guidance of a godly woman.   Mentorship has worked in the past, so I know if I submit to God and the counsel of a mentor, it will work again.   Lord, I want to be the best version of me I can be and that is only through you.  Do you work in me, Jesus! But first, point me in the direction of a mentor...