Amanda was a young woman I admired from a distance as a devoted wife and mom. We were just getting to know each other beyond the usual surface conversations, but there was no mistake that Amanda was hungry to grow as a godly woman.
I wasn’t quite prepared for what happened next in our budding friendship. “Will you mentor me?” Her question instantly stirred up a spectrum of emotions. Me? Lord, I’ve never mentored anyone. I wouldn’t know how to begin. I’m the one who needs a mentor!
We discussed what a mentoring friendship might look like and prayed whether God was leading us to seek Him together. Now years later, I can’t imagine my life without Amanda being in it. Our relationship has been one of God’s sweet blessings in my empty-nest season, when it’s tempting to feel life lacks purpose.
I might have been more comfortable about this idea of discipleship if I’d understood the definition of a mentor. Skip Merriam-Webster. Let me give you the skinny using Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth’s words:
Mentoring is simply drawing on your life experience in the context of everyday life to provide encouragement and exhortation to those who are younger.
Can you picture it? It’s a lifestyle. Older-to-younger. Life-to-life. Day-to-day.
Living out the gospel together in Titus 2 community can be exciting and daunting all at once. You don’t need to be a seminary grad. You don’t need to be a published author. Scripture doesn’t even limit the age requirement for being an “older woman.” Sister, if you love the Lord and His Word, if your life is bearing the fruit of the Spirit, if you’re open to pouring into another woman’s life with humility and dependence on God’s grace . . . then the adventure of mentoring is for you!
Are you ready?
During the month of October, we want to take you with us on a mentoring journey to remove the fear and uncertainty of how to fulfill this beautiful calling—“older women likewise are to . . . train the young women” (Titus 2:3–4).
We’ve gathered practical wisdom and ideas from two dozen Revive Our Hearts Ambassadors and staff who have experience in life-on-life relationships. As you read their thoughts on what’s worked for them (and what hasn’t), we hope you’ll be inspired to seek out a mentoring friendship of your own. There’s an “Amanda” waiting to learn God’s truth and love from you!
And as you do, I pray you’ll experience true joy from investing into others’ lives—because ultimately it’s not about us; it’s about displaying Christ’s glory to the world.