And so we continue. :o)
After the first workshop about spiritual warfare, Katie and I parted ways for the second workshop. While she attended a workshop about missions fundraising, I went to one about woman to woman mentoring.
Ele Parrott led this workshop and I will be completely honest and say that as excited as I was to take this workshop, as soon as I saw Ele, I was bummed. I had expected a younger woman, bubbly and full of energy. What I saw was a kindly, older woman who greeted me with a smile and a handshake.
Please don't ask why I assumed what I did. I don't even know. And I'm horribly embarrassed.
So as my excitement dwindled and my level of skepticism rose, I sat in my chair and waited for the workshop to start. Women started filtering in and chatting with each other. As it got to be time to start, Ele kind of reined everyone in and asked to open in prayer. Once again, my embarrassingly naive attitude crept up on me and I braced myself for a formal 'old lady' prayer. I'm laughing at myself as I'm writing this. I'm also cringing...Oh Jesus, will I never learn?!
As soon as that woman opened her mouth to pray I felt some Holy Spirit conviction come down on me...whew! Ele has got more fire than women half her age and it's a fire born of tough life experience and years of walking intimately with her Lord. I was immediately transported by her vivacious spirit and praise the Lord, open to her message.
Before I get too far into what I learned at this workshop, I want to preface why I wanted to take it at all. A title like 'woman to woman mentoring' doesn't exactly inspire a ton of excitement does it? Au contraire...as soon as I found this one on the list I knew that I wanted to take it.
I spent many years really disliking women...I didn't trust them, I thought they were all backstabbers and lying gossipers (mostly because that's how I was once upon a time - talk about projecting one's own shortcomings onto the rest of the world!). The Lord really got a hold of me several years ago and showed me just how valuable my relationships with other women are.
He has definitely instilled in me a deep desire to help encourage women in their relationships. The heart of a woman can be complex at times, but the beauty in it is incomparable and to see that beauty reconciled to the Lord and to other women is so powerful. The strength a woman has when she is vulnerable with the other women around her is unreal.
So I wanted to attend this workshop because now that I recognize this passion to help mentor and encourage women, I needed a little direction. Ele provided some of that much needed direction.
Basically she laid out what spiritual mentoring is and what it isn't. Pretty basic!
Mentoring starts with grace. John 1:14 says that Jesus is full of grace and truth. Ele pointed out how important the word order is here. People need truth, but the truth can be brutal. Grace needs to be given before the truth.
She stressed how important it is to BE in someone's life, not just speak into it. In order to be in someone's life, I have to be certain things in my own life first.
1. I need to be a woman of the Word of God
-not a woman about the Word, but of it
-detox from all of the Christian help books and rely completely on the Bible
-I need to allow the Spirit to instruct me and interpret Scripture for me
-"As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him." ~1 John 2:27
2. I need to be a woman of faith
-"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." ~Hebrews 11:6
-I need to step out onto the invisible, not the non-existent
3. I need to be a woman of prayer
-"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." ~James 5:16
Authentic spiritual mentoring is coming alongside of another, partnering with who the Holy Spirit is being in their life, infusing truth into their reality in an appropriate and timely manner.
Spiritual mentoring is not:
1. Trying to fix someone - people are not projects and we don't have the power to change anyone.
2. Telling our story - it isn't about me, it's about them.
3. Imparting our wisdom.
4. Finding our significance or importance in mentoring.
-We are only here to prepare the way for Christ, making them independently dependent on Jesus. As the relationship progresses, I will decrease.
Her final word of advice was to know who to mentor. Look for the listeners and the ones who want to grow. The best relationships form when a woman seeks out a mentor because she is ready to be transformed.
I don't think there's anything I can add to this, pretty self-explanatory. I am really looking forward to taking this lesson and applying it to my own life. Definitely feeling more equipped.
Until the next post... :o)
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