MENTORING WOMEN
“Her life was a parched stretch of hard rock on which nothing bloomed.”
This quote describes many of the at-risk teen girls with whom I’m privileged to mentor at one of our local high schools. The hard rock represents the adversity that comes with poverty, substance abuse, and ignorance. It stretches to the lack of spiritual, mental, or physical capabilities to make good decisions to not only survive their teen years, but to thrive as accomplished adults in our community.
My passion in mentoring was born at a funeral. Jacquille, my sixteen year-old second cousin, was senselessly beaten to death in Peoria, IL. The church aisle was filled with hardened looks on young faces. I was provoked to action. Two days afterwards, I presented a creative writing workshop that incorporated reading, writing, and discussions to the high school counselors. As a freelance writer, I love great stories that can be applicable to everyday life. Our first semester in the spring of 2012, I introduced 30 girls to C.S. Lewis’ The Horse and His Boy. I focused on how Shasta didn’t have a choice in where he was born and raised, but he did have choices that he could make for his life. By the end of our time together, many of the girls went from the darkened reflections of despair to the blooming brightness of hope. Many recognized their need to take responsibility for their own decisions and overcome their past with a renewed determination to do better at home, school, and work.
Not every girl stayed all the way through. Some were waylaid by their friends and boyfriends, especially those who were threatened by their renewed sense of purpose for life. Sometimes mentoring doesn’t feel like I’m making a difference. Sometimes it feels discouraging and disappointing. However I can’t resist the provocation from the Spirit of God to keep pushing past external appearances and lean forward by planting seeds of hope—temporal and eternal—into the hearts of these young girls.
Are you provoked? What are your gifts, talents, and treasures that can be used to mentor people from a realm of despair to a place of hope? What are you waiting for? A funeral?
Crystal McDowell
MENTORING MEN
Mentor + Holy Spirit = Blessings innumerable and indescribable.
2 Corinthians 13:14 says – “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (ASV) The “Message” translation of this verse I really like. It goes: “The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Amen! The apostle Paul starts and ends each of His letters to different churches he started extending over 1500 miles throughout the Roman Empire. Not to mention that he composed these “love” letters in prison where I can’t imagine what the living conditions must have been like.
Going back to the passage, note the adjectives describing the attribute attached to each person of the Trinity. 50 years ago I remember my Lutheran pastor closing the service with this passage for the benediction. (This was before the NIV and Message was published.)
So, what’s this have to do with mentoring? … Everything! The communion or “intimate friendship” with the Holy Spirit is the heart and soul of mentoring. As I look back over the past 15+ years that I’ve been blessed and impacted by my primary mentor (Clayt), my 20-20 hindsight reveals how the Holy Spirit used him to influence my walk with the Lord in profound ways. He initiated the first meeting and though I didn’t know what mentoring consisted of, the bond of intimate, spiritual friendship grew over the years. His transparency, Godly wisdom, unceasing prayer, and dedication to the Lord rubbed off on me. I can honestly say that Cherry (my wife) and I would not be serving on the mission field today had it not been for the burning passion of Clayt’s. He stayed by my side through my bouts with depression and in making major career and life changing decisions by constantly praying for us, sending me cards and books of encouragement, and at the same time, always using God’s word as the basis of challenging my faith. He saw potential in me that I couldn’t most of the time. Clayt reinforced the Holy Spirit’s tug on my heart when He called me to disciple men here in the D.R. After coming to the D.R. in 2005 on a family mission trip, God put a burden on my heart so heavy for the condition of the men here. For my life of affluence all the angles (excuses would be more accurate) I could come up with for not leaving, the Holy Spirit (with Clayt’s help) convinced me that God’s plan was better than mine and that the eternal benefits far surpassed the earthly treasures that I still was tied to.
I think Paul’s message in his salutation in 2 Corinthians is the necessity of relationship in community and how vital it is for each of us in the body of Christ. As meaningful as the times are that I am in corporate worship or participating in different small groups, nothing has grown me more or given me a greater sense of purpose in the Kingdom than the intimate times of being mentored and mentoring someone else. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!
Dave Schwulst
clndj.schwlst@hotmail.com
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