Mentoring Series: It looks like this

What does mentoring look like?

I get this question a lot, especially from young women who are mentoring someone else for the first time. Questions like, "How often are we supposed to meet," or "What are we supposed to go over?"

Here's the thing. There's no one answer.

There are so many awesome ways I've seen women go about mentoring and discipling. I know people who go for hikes together and talk about the Lord. Sometimes, mentoring is getting together over a cup of coffee or, in my case, tea.

Some wonderful women in my life have mentors who meet once a month, some get together every day. My mentor and I meet every other week; she's crazy busy and I'm not always able to drive so that works best for us.

I've seen people going through the entire Bible together, or doing a book of the Bible then rotating to a book on life or theology or a specific biblical topic. Over the years I've read books by Annie F. Downs and Bob Goff, A.W. Tozer and Francis Chan, and many more. Some, my mentors picked out for us to go through, others I chose to take one of my manatees through.

All gave a great opportunity to open up and talk about life, sometimes ask hard questions, and ultimately bring it back to how awesome our God is and how He works in the lives of so many.

Mentoring doesn't have to mean you do it the way someone else does. It doesn't mean you have to check off certain boxes just because they look fancy. The heart of mentorship is coming alongside someone else and investing in their life. It's walking together, learning and teaching and growing and challenging and encouraging--it's so many things.

It looks like the woman you get coffee with a few times a year. It looks like waking up an hour early to call her and check in every morning. It looks like sitting down in the same corner of Starbucks for three years, going in so often the baristas know your names and drinks. And it looks like investing in someone for a season, be it a long one or a short one.

Sometimes, people come into your life for a short while. Sometimes they're in it forever. And sometimes your role in a relationship will change from mentor to friend, or in some other way. But one thing you know you'll find in these beautiful relationships is two people who want to grow closer to the Lord and are consciously investing in that. Investing in each other.

If you're not sure where to start in a mentoring journey--how to ask someone to disciple you, how to be open to discipling others, how to get started when meeting up for the first time--take some time and pray. Pray for the woman you want to invest in you; pray to be the type of woman to receive well and pour out, too. Pray for the Lord's guidance in the process when you don't know what to do.

Then take a step in boldness. That might be texting someone and asking her to get coffee with you. That might be asking a woman at your church if she knows of anyone you might be able to meet with. It could be choosing to say 'yes' to something, or saying 'no.' But great things can happen when we take a step in boldness, a step in courage.

Mentoring doesn't have to look fancy or perfect or hashtag Insta-worthy. It just looks like the body of Christ coming together and participating in the fellowship of believers that is so important for us all.