THE BLESSING OF MENTORING

THE BLESSING OF MENTORING

I think I was born to teach! I was a kindergarten, first, and fifth grade teacher. I taught Sunday School and now I teach a Bible Study. I lead Brownies and Girl Scouts which was all about teaching! I taught things like basket making and painting and other crafts at our local Y. I volunteered to teach middle school children that had fallen behind in their studies. I think all mentors are teachers, but not all teachers are mentors. The difference is a mentor is not only a teacher and experienced advisor but someone who invests in another person’s life. I think I am a teacher and a mentor. I just love people and want to make their lives richer, better, fuller and more blessed! Today’s Practically Speaking is about the blessing of Mentoring.

I think everyone can mentor someone and should! And I think everyone should have a mentor.

We don’t have to be teachers or parents or anything special to mentor. All we need is a desire to make someone’s live better!

THE BLESSING OF MENTORING

Once we start investing into other’s lives it can be very addictive!  Mentoring is about building relationships. And helping… and of course teaching and imparting wisdom. Mentoring is a blessing. Taking our abundance and sharing it with others because we care! 

Mentors can make great differences in people’s lives! And those we mentor can make great differences in our lives too. It’s a win/win relationship!

My daughter Jacqueline has been mentoring a young girl she taught for over 3 years. Now, not only that girl but her brother and mother feel like an extended part of our family! We really have very little in common with this family at first look. But, our hearts are entwined and we love them.

They are such a blessing to us. Jacqueline and Jonathan, her husband, have poured into the life of this family and the blessings have splashed out and over onto us!

When they were recently visiting StoneGable I came downstair early in the morning to make breakfast and I found my husband and the little 4 year old boy cuddled up together on a big, comfy chair and Bobby was reading something to him on his phone. The little guy looked up and excitedly said, “GiGi, Paw-Paw is teaching me about the Eagles… I’m an Eagles fan!” It was such a heartwarming scene. That darling little boy has blessed us beyond words! Watching this inner-city child ride around our backyard on Paw-Paw’s tractor is sheer joy! This family has blessed our lives far more that we have theirs!

THE BLESSING OF MENTORING

As important as it is for all of us to mentor someone, it’s equally as important to be mentored ourselves.

I’ve been thinking about mentors a great deal lately because I would really love to have a mentor right now in my professional life. It’s been on my mental to-do list for months and months. I have an idea of who I would like to mentor me. She is well-known and famous and amazing and generous and fabulous… and I really look up to her.

So this week I’ll write to her and ask her if she has time to mentor me. Sorta scary. I love the idea of sitting under her and learning and having a vested relationship so much that I don’t want that bubble to burst!

But dreaming about this possible mentorship is not product or forward moving. I need to make it happen, or at least try! So wish me luck! I’m asking her this week!

THE BLESSING OF MENTORING

Mentoring is a blessing you don’t want to miss! 

How about you? Are you a mentor to someone? Do you have a mentor? Why don’t you share your inspiration here!

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THE BLESSING OF MENTORING

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21 Comments

  1. Tina Bonner says:

    Wow! Yvonne, you constantly exhibit Jesus. You and your family serve people from every direction. You do it with your whole heart and with genuine sincerity. You are such a blessing! I’m praying for your desired mentor. I know if it’s not this person, God will bring you someone perfectly suited for you! Loving hugs to you and your family.

  2. i am sure this person that you approach would be happy to mentor such a warm and gracious women like you! happy mothers day

  3. Yvonne…I will pray that she responds with being honored to be your mentor. But remember….if her life for whatever reason is full look around you. There are many women out there with talents and gifts that are not obvious from the outside as we look at them.

    One of the things I have always had in my life is relationships with women who are a variety of ages and backgrounds. Currently 28 to 80 they range in age, I am 63. So much talent and common sense…I love them all. I have learned so much.

    You might be surprised at the backgrounds of many and the connections they may have. I have mentored to many women in my life not on a one on one basis but when the need arises. My career days led me to some amazing people and opportunities and even though I’m considered retired right now…I still network. I have been nicknamed Miss Resourceful.

    Your mentor is out there…we all need to pray for your guidance. Afterall we have been blessed with the best blog out there in Stone Gable. Happy Mother’s Day!

  4. Yvonne, I will be praying that this special person is waiting for You! GOD is clearing her schedule right now so she can say Yes! with no hesitation! Yvonne, I have only been following your blog for awhile now, but I can feel it in my bones that this will happen for You! And I agree with June that we have been blessed with the best blog out there! Enjoy your Mother’s Day!

  5. Yvonne, I have never before followed a blog until now. I am realizing that stonegable extends way beyond just decorating with so much heart and soul. I, too, have been a teacher….taught 3rd graders for 20 years many of whom were challenging, difficult children which made me love them all the more. I retired less than two years ago, and although I have a wonderful, close family including a 93 year old mother, three children and three grandchildren, I still yearn to be a teacher and mentor. Currently I tutor a first grader at a nearby public school. I am encouraged by your blog to extend that relationship beyond the regular school year into the summer and next school year. Thanks for that encouragement.

  6. Yvonne,
    You are such a positive, productive person that I know you will have a mentor. You MAKE things happen, not just think about them. There is a mentor for you. If this person you ask this week cannot be your mentor, I know there is another person who will be able to mentor you.

    Happy Mother’s Day.

    Judith

  7. Yvonne, thank you so much for this message. It could not have come at a better time for me. I have been asked to be a Mentor Mom at our church for the MOPS group. I have been a little hesitant about doing it because I am a Grandmother whose Grandchildren are almost grown and wondered what I would have to offer these mothers with preschool children. You have given me that little push I needed to let God use me. You are an inspiration and a blessing to all of us. Thank you so much.

  8. You are a very wise woman. I really enjoyed this post. You are making me think about whether I have been mentoring someone. Happy Mother’s Day.

  9. Yvonne, thank you for speaking to all of us women and our hearts. For years, I prayed to be a Spiritual Mother and now I am, by mentoring and coaching leaders of our Women’s Small Groups. I also co-lead Small Groups too! I have been so pleased with the spiritual growth of all of these young women and their lives! It is a real joy to be a mentor to another and I will pray that your mentor will graciously accept you!

  10. My mentor is also my blessing!! She is 99 years young and full of wisdom. She shares the best knowledge about any and everything. She is a Christian woman who has experienced a lot, worked since she was a teenager and been a mother figure to many without having any children of her own!! She was raised by her grandmother and received a foundation for life. I am so grateful that God has placed her in my life and I am thankful for all of the time we spend together. I can’t wait to celebrate a centurion with her in 2017!!!

  11. GwenCondit says:

    As I read through these comments–a mentor 99!!– and how you challenge us and want to challenge yourself in a new direction where you’d like. A mentor…I think about the women and men outside my family that invested time to mentor ME! And still do even with them in their 70’s and 80’s. I was finding myself in a position to mentor several young women ohh between high school and now in their twenties. Their lives are not easy. I bring positive feedback and Jesus. I too have a longing to minister to teens for a short season on what to look for in a godly man. Going to church is not enough. And signs of abuse. But God has not opened doors. My handicap gets in the way of much I used to do. But computers help. I too have said a prayer for your mentor door to be opened. Blessings

  12. Wow, Yvonne, I had to re-read your expressed to desire to make sure you weren’t, once again, hoping to reach out and be a mentor to someone else. Your capacity to want to grow and better yourself is so admirable. I wish you nothing but success in reaching out to this person (they must certainly be outstanding for you to feel the need to covet their skill!), and look forward to hearing the relationship forged.

  13. I too have longed to be a mentor and mentored to by those brave and wonderful women all around me! But to make it personal where you can unload the longings of one’s heart and reveal all the warts and wounds of life along with all the joys! To share wisdom and understanding, or to just sit silently……together. I have found a wonderful mentor. Her name is Mary, and she is the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ!

  14. You are such a blessing Yvonne. I pray this person you desire says yes.

  15. Gail Shafer says:

    Yvonne I pray that your prays are answered!

  16. Linda Chapman says:

    I mentor a group of young moms in our home! They are a huge blessing to my life. It has been a joy to watch their families grow and see life changing events! It has also been sad since two of the girls age 34 lost their husbands to sudden death. The other girls have reached out and encouraged those two through those times. It is such a joy to give and watch them grow, but, a bigger blessing to my life as I learn from them. I encourage mentoring, because as we give to others we are blessed in return. Titus 2:4 is the verse God used 35 years ago in my life!! I started with a SS class and now have this group in our home!

  17. Cecilia from Georgia says:

    Thank you for such an inspiring article. I am a tutor and mentor for students with learning disabilities and ASD at a small college and have been so enriched by the progress and maturity my students have developed in the few years they are here. I stumbled into the position and was planning to retire as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, however, God had another plan for me. Now, 12 years later I continue to help my students succeed both academically and socially. It has been the most rewarding thing I could ever have imagined. I hope I have made a tiny difference in just one life while working with these young adults.

  18. Yes I have the privilege of mentoring a woman recovering from drug addiction. She’s eager to learn about Jesus and follow him. What an honor!

    I love the beautiful concrete cherub and bird water feature. May I ask where you got it? We have a pond and something like this would look wonderful!

    Blessings

    1. Hi Donna, God bless you in your mentoring! I took that picture at LeDew Gardens in Maryland.