Mentoring in Action
Jun 20, 2023By Cindy Davis
My interest in mentoring came not from my own experience, but from watching my 10-year-old son experience grief. The sudden death of my younger brother had left the family in shock. My son’s fun uncle, whom he played football with and looked up to like a big brother, was gone. This led to a spiral in challenging behavior, mostly at school.
When I mentioned my concerns to Gayle, a children's ministry leader I knew, she quickly suggested mentoring for my son. Gayle's church had a successful mentoring ministry for young people. Young adults from local churches were trained and paired with a younger person, mainly from local schools. The two would do life together through activities like going to the cinema and playing games, designed to enable the young person to know they had a safe space to talk and be heard.
This mentoring relationship not only helped my son deal with his grief, but the relationship was a confidence builder and produced positive behavioral changes.
Watching this relationship, and the changes it made in a young boy's life, ignited something in my own heart. The “what if” questions of mentoring others surrounded my thoughts. There wasn't much written about the subject at the time, so the thoughts didn't go anywhere, but just in my head.
Roll on to 2018, almost 10 years later. Those thoughts never left. They had turned into a love and the love had turned into a burning desire I could no longer contain. One day as I sought the Lord, a picture appeared in front of me.
In the picture was a very long road, with people on it. The road had many other side roads, some were dead ends, others just went in circles and others were very long and led back to the main road. On each part of these roads there were people.
The side roads in my picture represent the distractions and temptations we all encounter in our walking, causing us to doubt, fear and even give up.
The straight, long road represents the path we are promised when we submit our ways in Christ. (See Proverbs 3:6)
The Bible tells us that the Lord is always with us. In the physical sense, this is so true of what a mentoring relationship is. A mentor walking alongside her mentee on her life journey, cheering, encouraging, praying and always pointing her to Jesus. How awesome is it when authentic mentoring relationships are created. The side roads will become fewer as we commit to walk with each other, helping one another to keep our eyes on Jesus.
I'm always fascinated by Jesus's interaction with the two on the road to Emmaus from Luke 25:13-34. In the passage we see a sorrowful two, discouraged by the events they had witnessed at the crucifixion.
The Lord himself comes alongside them and He listens, He asks questions and He even rebukes them when they express doubt and he reminds them of the Word. He walked with them and their eyes were opened.
This is mentoring in action! We are His hands and feet as we mentor with Him at the center.
Cindy Davis resides in Bedfordshire, England with her husband and son. She currently works full time in Aviation Tech. Cindy loves to serve in various ministries in her local church and she also heads up a women’s walking group with her community.
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