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by Debbie OgrodnickFocusing on my desktop monitor, I scarcely noticed the young woman enter my office and sit silently on the chair across the room. “May I help you?” I smiled.
Her eyes darted nervously around the room. With forced confidence she replied “I was on my way to get groceries and ended up here.”
God’s fingerprints were all over this ‘chance’ encounter.
A compassionate medical doctor had referred Lana* to a Christian counselor, one of many attempts to deal with her chronic depression. The counselor led Lana to the foot of the cross and into the loving arms of Jesus Christ. With nothing to give but the ashes of a broken life, Lana invited the Great Physician to begin his healing within her tormented soul.
Looking for a safe place
Lana needed a safe place to be restored, a place to learn about the God she had just recently met. So here she was, reluctant and cautious. Our five year journey together had begun. Neither of us would ever be the same again.
No one but God could have put together such an unlikely pair. She was single and in her early thirties. I was married, had children and was in my mid-forties. She was unemployed and had too much time on her hands. I was working full time and had more commitments and responsibilities in my life than I could realistically handle. Everything about our lives was completely different, except for one thing, we were bound together by our common faith in a living God, and that would be enough.
Lana’s restoration would not be instantaneous. There were years of dysfunction, unhealthy relationships, co-dependency, many forms of abuse, incest, abortion and a whole host of darkness that had, over the years, grown into a hideous, ravenous beast, bent on the destruction of the precious life that God had set apart for himself.
God made time to fit us in
The journey would be hard, the daily pace strenuous, the temptation to give up constant . . . on both our parts. And yet God in his mercy always gave us the strength and the determination to carry on. I often ‘didn’t have time’ for the lengthy unexpected office visits or the frequent phone calls, and yet in spite of my ‘business’ what needed to be done, got done. Often it was I who was the recipient rather than the giver during the times when God powerfully met us as we united in prayer.
Being a mentor is never one sided. Even as ‘an older woman teaching a younger woman’ God used Lana in her tender but growing faith to frequently impact my life through incredible wisdom and insight that she would share as I struggled with difficult situations in my life. Nothing was wasted.
I recently had the honor of serving as the matron of honor at Lana’s wedding. In five years God had restored what the locust had eaten. A bride had been prepared, washed clean by the blood of the lamb.
God can use you to mentor someone.
Often when we think of mentoring, a long term face-to-face relationship comes to mind. But if you have an hour a week, God could make time for you to mentor someone. TruthMedia offers online mentoring on all of our sites. Every day visitors, both Christians and non-Christians write in with their concerns and trained volunteer mentors pray for them and write back.
Many mentors have said that time and again God has given them the words to say. Some mentors write just once, other stay in email communication for longer periods of time. TruthMedia’s MARS mentoring system ensures that your personal email address stays secure. Mentoring is a ministry that can fit any schedule. If you’ve been looking for a way to expand your witness, online mentoring might be exactly what you’re looking for.
Learn more about mentoring and submit an application to mentor at www.truthmedia.com.
More about mentoring:
Video: Introduction to mentoring
What makes a good mentor?
* Not her real name
~ Debbie Ogrodnick is a prairie girl from Saskatchewan where she lives with her husband. They are the parents of three adult children. Debbie loves to see God leave His fingerprints on the everyday lives of people as He transforms them by the renewing of their mind.
