Mentoring in Modern Times

For most of my life, I've had a mentor. A Titus 2 woman is what we call it in Christian circles. As a teen, I worked in the school library one period my junior and senior year and Mrs. A listened to my drama. I'm sure  she prayed for me many, many times. She was so wise and gracious. I'll never forget her tenderness to me.

During my college days, my intern supervisor coached me in marriage, parenting, and spiritual matters. We're still close friends today, although she claims I mentor her as much as she does me. I'm not so sure I agree...

At this moment, I don't have an intense mentoring relationship. I have an accountability group and lots of friends who support me, but no older woman really mentoring me. I was recently talking to a friend about this and we lamented that it's simply hard to find a mentor these days. Although it's not easy, it is worth the search. All those resolutions you made last week? A mentor would be a great person to help you walk those out. The benefits of a mentor are too numerous to list, but one thing is for sure, she'll change your life! It's a beautiful thing, don't miss out on this important relationship in your life.

I prayed about finding a mentor for this current season and one woman did come to mind, and I believe I could do more thinking and come up with a few more I could approach. If God wants you to be under another woman's guidance, I know he'll supply you with the perfect match. However, I think we can supplement that with some good, online influences. I have been reading Tomato Soup Cake for a couple of years now and I'm drawn back time and again because of this momma's gentle and wise ways. Grab a cup of tea and plan to spend some quiet moments soaking in her sweetness. She's in love with the Lord and it shows. Her parenting is kind and firm, and she lives a life of uniqueness. She's not concerned with living as the culture says, but as God has outlined for her. I know you'll love her!

Mystery

I know that I must not understand Jesus' words when he said that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. I think it must be about salvation, pointing to the fact that salvation is not based on works...

It can't point to the Christian life. I read on the blog about baby Audrey Caroline that we all can take a little of a hurting sister or brother's pain and carry it for them through prayer. I didn't know what I thought about that line at first, but that was right before little Libby's heart surgery. When you watch your friends allow their infant baby to go under the knife, have her heart stopped so it can be patched and stitched, there is some carrying of the burden going on for sure.

I'm sure this post is just therapy for me today. I had a great morning-I went for a walk, had a great time in the Word and I prayed through my prayer journal. Maybe that's where the ache started. I've been praying for salvation for a long list of people-some for years. I've yet to see fruit (but I'm still trusting!). Our family is praying for Donna who's in one hospital while her non-responding mom is in another in ICU. Baby Harlee is doing well, but when you're born at 26 weeks, well is relative. Aaron has been seeking the Lord for a coaching job for months...there's our own confusion over moving out to our land to pray about...and what about the homeschooling mom (my age) at church who suddenly became a widow on Thursday while her family was on vacation?

If my heart wasn't throbbing with pain after that, it sure was as I sat next to my husband as he poured out his heart. He's lacking direction. He's exhausted. He has a wife who's nesting and has such an obsession with moving to a house adequate for her expanding family.

Oh, it hurts to see others need a solution, a miracle, an answer. It hurts to feel helpless in helping them. It's an honor to pray for others who need the Lord's touch, but it's a heart investment. When you pray for people, your care for them increases and you find yourself picking up a little more of their burden. It's all good-it's great! But it's still hard work. Heart breaking work.

I don't have a great witty ending for this post. I don't know my point. My word of the week is conflicted. I've felt conflicted over several issues lately and it's not going away. How do we feel happy about finding out what our unborn baby's gender is on Wednesday (!) while feeling incredibly sad for a mourning sister while feeling frustrated about our little housing budget in a crazy economy while feeling helpless to help our hurting husband? How does that reconcile?

Hmm, is it a coincidence that my iTunes played Natalie Grant's Held while I was typing out this post?

Need prayer!

Would you please pray I can find my wedding ring? I took it off to shower yesterday (Monday) morning, but couldn't find it when I dressed. I've searched high and low-even digging through the trash. I don't know where else to look. I have a bad habit of multi-tasking and not paying attention to what I'm doing...this is probably the cause in this case :(

Thanks!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Updated 10/10 4:45 CST to say I found my ring earlier this afternoon! It was in the little basket I keep my hair dryer, mousse, spritz and stuff. Thanks for praying!