Mentoring Young Women, Part I

Active relational Christian mentoring should be a normal part of every true Christian woman’s life. Whether we are intentionally mentoring our children in knowing God or we are mentoring another woman or young lady at church, Christian women should be focused on mentoring other women. Sadly, so many Christian women live for themselves and their family to the exclusion of helping other women in need. This may not be out of unkindness, but from simply thinking that we are just too busy to get involved. Moreover, we often think of someone in need as being an individual who doesn't have food or housing. Certainly, that can be the case, for there are times when mentoring addresses an immediate need. However, ARCM more often starts our slowly with the mentor listening and fellowshipping with the potential mentee until she finds out what is really bothering her. Then the woman can decide if she is qualified to mentor her or if a more specific type of mentoring is needed such as; Counseling, Guidance, Coaching, Teaching or Sponsoring types of mentoring.

Unfortunately, many women don’t even think about mentoring another woman. Others may think that day to day mentoring is trivial and not worth the effort, because they don’t see the importance of small things in theirs or the lives of other women. However, it is the small things that can become huge and derail our lives before we know it. It doesn't take a very large rock to derail a train, and it certainly doesn't take much to derail our lives if we are not focused on Christ and living for Him. So, it is important to listen to other women and empathize, which is the first step in helping them to crush that huge rock in their lives into pebbles that are manageable. The Bible says that, “The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.” – (Proverbs 27: 9. NLT).

Young women today are inundated with millions of small things in their lives that can when piled together cause stress, spiritual dryness, mental sickness, and many other maladies. In looking for solutions or for self-help, many women will turn to things that will not help them like drugs and alcohol. Some will even add more and more things on their daily calendar just to keep busy, so they do not think about the problem. In such situations, the woman needs another woman to talk to and to comfort her or support her. Indeed, everyone needs someone they can talk to or someone who will be there for them when a crisis occurs or when life seems overwhelming. For, “as iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.” – (Proverbs 27: 17. NLT).

Unfortunately, many women today don’t even know they need someone to lean on or someone to give them support. But without support from a fellow Christian woman, some women will fail to turn to the One who has all the answers, which is God. Many women need another Christian woman to remind them about or to point them toward trust in God. Christian women can give another woman support and help diminish spiritual dryness. But to do so, we have to step away from our own busyness and self-centeredness to do something for someone else. Most of the time, befriending someone starts with just showing that we are interested in them or that we care.