Currently at my career at the Job Foundation, there was an opportunity for me to also volunteer and become a mentor to a sixth grade girl. The Job Foundation in Cedar Falls has a certified mentoring program, so many volunteers are paired with the kids in our programs. I am so excited I have been able to be a part of a mentoring opportunity since moving back to the Cedar Falls area. I had always wanted a chance to mentor and show guidance one on one with a younger student, and now I get to, and it is a part of the job I work at day to day.
This has been a really great time. There have been a lot of great moments including teaching her how to ice skate, which we are still in the process of learning, uncovering and solving the pieces of the escape room at the library, and sharing meals and ice cream together. I have learned that my mentee is wonderful at solving clues when it comes to escape rooms, and she has amazing creativity that she showed in the paintings we created and through going to a fused glass class.
The best highlight has been to see her open up more and more with me. She was always a bit more on the quiet end, especially when first getting to know her, but after spending more and more time with her as both the education coordinator and teaching the lessons at the Job Foundation to also being her mentor, I have had great conversations and great opportunities to get to know her better and better. I do hope I will have more opportunities as the years go by.
I do want to share through this blog post about the great importance of mentoring. I know not everyone has the opportunity to mentor or be a part of a mentoring program, but I do believe everyone has the opportunity to mentor someone in their lives. If a person reading this works as a teacher or somewhere in the school, then you already know about the little souls, maybe one or two in particular that you are always trying to mentor and bless. If a person reading this works as a hairdresser, they may be able to give great sound advice to those who are coming into their beauty shop every day.
Most other jobs provide an opportunity to mentor, even if it doesn’t seem so obvious. Every person has known a new coworker to arrive at their place of work, who maybe seems a bit lost, especially initially. A person who is willing to mentor is willing to look out for them and help them and give them advice. But even when a person doesn’t feel as though their job provides much opportunity to mentor, then there is always the opportunity to do this through volunteering in some capacity. In every community or in every church, there is a chance to volunteer. There is always a need to help and to bless and to mentor many others.
The Lord cares about mentoring. This is shown throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, we see Elijah inspire and encourage Elisha who would end up to be a prophet very similar to Elijah. Then in the New Testament, we see Paul being a mentor to Timothy, Paul led Timothy through how to be a good steward and minister of the word and how to be a disciple through speaking the word to others. Besides those examples, we are also given commands such as in 1 Peter 5:2-3 says, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them…not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” The flock here is referring to the people God has put in our care. Anyone God has put in your life could be a part of your flock and maybe someone you can mentor to.
I have been so blessed with this opportunity to mentor, but I have had other opportunities in my past, and most of the time, they were ones that dropped in my lap. A couple of times I have been asked to mentor some of the girls in my Bible study who want to learn more about God and have asked me advice questions. Through these questions and time together, I have gotten the chance to lead them closer to Christ.
My challenge for you this week is to first pray for a willingness to be a mentor and then second, to pray for God to provide you someone to mentor. It is all about putting this into God’s hands. God has a person who needs mentoring in your life, and he will provide an opportunity for you to be that mentor if you are willing and looking. It may not be the next day, but it will come when you are most ready. Then my next challenge for you is to be willing to accept this mentoring when it comes to you.
Another quick point: If you are a person who is reading this who also happens to be in the Cedar Valley, and you want to mentor a child who is a part of the Job Foundation, there is information on our website. We would love to have more willing and loving mentors for our students!
Colossians 3:23 Blog 