Who Is Your Mentor?

'...Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.'

Zechariah 8:23

I have always been interested in the concept of mentoring. When I was growing up, I always wanted to tag along with my youth group leaders because they were cool without being a parent or therapist, and I knew I could trust them to give me sound advice, support, and friendship. Later in graduate school, I began to look for mentors who were in my field of study, to help me down the road that they had already traveled down. When I became serious about my faith journey, I was vigilant about finding women who I looked up to, to help and guide me in my spiritual development. These women never mentored me for personal gain. They served selflessly and ever so patiently as I, a baby in my faith, cried, fell down, scraped my knees, and began to grow in my hunger and thirst for Jesus.
I did not find these women in the yellow pages. I looked for them in my world. I prayed to God to provide women who were more experienced and wise to help me to become the woman I am today and who I am becoming. For different stages of life, God provided new mentors. I thank God for the way in which these women have made themselves available to me as a young woman, a wife, mother and now a mentor to other women.
Elijah mentored Elisha. Elisha became one of the greatest prophets in all the bible. One of the primary reasons for this was Elisha's hunger. Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah's spirit. It was this hunger that drove Elisha to be sold out to God's purposes for his life.
As a woman, wife, and mother, you will need people to provide you with good advice and examples, and become a trusted friend. Who is your mentor? Who are the people God has placed in your life? What are you learning from them? Is there anything preventing you from gaining their wisdom and experience? Ask God if there is someone He would have you mentor or be mentored by. They may be someone in your world already. God bless as you grow.