The Importance of Being Earnestly Mentored

The first time I was mentored, it happened without warning. The Lord simply placed the most Godly woman on the planet in my life, allowed us to become bosom friends and, voila.

It occurred to me one day that Muriel was my mentor as well as my friend when a mentoring program began at church. Eager to find a mature Christian woman who could help guide me along in my Christian walk as a wife, mother and in ministry, I read through the program's information. A picture of what a mentor would look like began to form in my mind and the face was Muriel's. I already had my mentor. Her children rise up and call her blessed. The eyes of her husband of more than 60 years still sparkle with delight whenever she walks into the room and she already offered great counsel on personal and ministry issues.

I returned the information to the program director and never looked back. Muriel knit her heart with mine and I'm the stronger for it. Since then, I have recognized several more mentors divinely placed in my life and each has been a blessing.

Most recently he's using my good friend Retta, who has been encouraging me in my theater reviewing. I'd been receiving prompting from the Lord that I should review theater, but I wasn't convinced it was such a great idea or how to start. Meeting Retta at a show, she suddenly started talking about how I should be reviewing. Coincidence? I think not.

"Start right now," she encouraged. "Review this show." So I pulled out a pad and pen and began one of the most exciting, fulfilling parts of my journey with the Lord yet.

He keeps opening doors, doors that should have been stuck shut for years, usually with Retta there along the way to hold them open. If something exciting happens, she's standing there cheering. If there's disappointment, she has an encouraging word, provides helpful information and redirects me to focus on the Lord. I hope that in some small way he'll allow me to return the favor.

The prayer of a mentor:
"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe." (Ephesians 1: 17-19 NIV)