I don’t have a job. I left my full time job as a nuclear engineer almost 20 years ago. At that time, I became a stay-at-home mom, and then, a homeschooling mom. Now that my last child has graduated from high school, I find that I am jobless. There is no need in my family for a stay-at-home mom, because children are no longer at home. There is no need for a homeschooling mom, because both my children have graduated from high school and are in college.
I find that this transition from stay-at-home, homeschooling mom to an jobless, empty nester is a challenge. I’m not ready for it, but it is upon me, and I can’t run from it. It has chased me down. So I must accept it. Help me Jesus.
I have been dreaming with God about what my dream job would be. I don’t want to be an engineer again, ever. Surprisingly, I don’t want to be a famous blogger and speak at TED Talks. I don’t want to open a eclectic shop and sell my happy note cards and creative garden art. When I did some soul searching and dug deep down, I discovered what I am truly passionate about doing. The answer surprised me.
What I really want to do is mentor. Full time.
I am currently mentoring four young women, ages 25 – 40 (I am 44). God spoke to my heart and asked me to mentor each one of them. When God asks me to mentor a woman, it always stresses me out. I look at my calendar and my jammy pants and my electric blanket and I think, “I don’t have time for this. And I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to stay at home.” But each time, God has told me to enlarge the tent pegs of my life and to stretch myself to welcome another woman under my wings.
What I did not know when I began mentoring is how much I needed these young women in my life. As we have spent years together in a mentoring relationship, they have become some of my closest friends. They have loved me unconditionally and lavishly. They are there to pick me up when all of my emotions have come crashing to the floor. And a fringe benefit is they give really good Christmas and birthday gifts.
Most of all, my relationship with these young girls gives me purpose. There is a wisdom from life experience that I possess and they need. I am blessed so much when they ask me for wisdom and I share it, and then they call me a few days later and tell me that they did what I advised them too. “Wow,” I think. “They listened to me. And it worked for them.”
Over the years, I have mentored many woman and have had a variety of mentoring relationships. Some girls really needed to be discipled in God’s Word. Some women needed wisdom navigating friendships and conflict. Some women just needed to know that someone cared about them enough to actively pursue spending time with them. One young lady really needed some advice about her wedding night.
In all of these mentoring relationships, the common thread is these women just needed a friend.
You may be looking at your life and thinking:
I can’t do that.
I don’t know enough about the Bible to talk about it with someone else.
I don’t have my life together yet.
I don’t have enough time to spend with someone.
You may be thinking that you can’t be a mentor. But can you be a friend to a younger woman? Can you have coffee with her on a regular basis? Can you listen to her, cry with her, and share with her the wisdom that God puts in your heart? Can you share your own life and struggles with her?
Then you can be a mentor. You can be a friend.
Ask God today what younger woman in your life needs a friend. Pray about how you can serve her by being her friend. Invite her out to coffee, and ask her if she needs a mentor. From experience, I’m pretty sure her reply will be, “YES! I’ve been praying for a mentor.”
Just do it. You will be richly rewarded. I guarantee it.
Sharing is caring. If this post encouraged you, will you share it on Facebook so that it could bless your friends,too? Thanks for helping me to reach more struggling women with encouragement, hope, and grace.
