A Mentorship Story
Brook Hills
[caption id="attachment_533" align="aligncenter" width="944"] "" by Alan English / CC BY-NC 2.0 / Cropped[/caption]
For me mentoring is a natural outflow of the love that I have for God. The more I love God the more love He gives me to love others. It is like a spring that overflows from my heart. I pour this love into my family, neighbors, people I meet along the way and a wonderful group of women that I lead in a Wednesday morning Bible study.
Out of this Bible study an opportunity to mentor/disciple a younger woman developed. What a blessing this has been! Our relationship developed because this young woman was bold enough to ask me if I would meet with her outside of the Bible study because she wanted to learn more. How great is that! We now spend several hours a week together outside of the Wednesday Bible study time. It is a time of relationship building, getting to know one another deeply, and coming alongside in the messiness of life. It means trusting one another, being vulnerable, and even being open to the possibility of rejection. It is a time of fun and laughter (lots of that) and sometimes tears (thankfully not many of those yet). Because she is a relatively new believer, we are walking through John together. For me it is seeing Jesus through fresh eyes. It has been exciting and a blessing to go back into the Old Testament to explain events in the life of Abraham, Joseph, David and the Israelites; stories I heard growing up but are new to my friend. It is refreshing and uplifting to see the excitement and the “on-fire” for God attitude she has.
I also found out mentoring means being available. I admit a couple of years ago I had been asked to mentor a younger woman and rather reluctantly I said yes. That was my first problem; my heart wasn’t in the right place. All I could think about were the things I had on my schedule, the commitments I had, the women I was already shepherding in a Bible study, etc. I wasn’t available except on my terms. Ouch! No wonder that one didn’t work out and neither did the one after that. But, God has a way of peeling away those things that get in the way of His commands. I am glad I listened and finally obeyed!
It is my prayer that more of you will look for opportunities to pour your life into someone. There are women all over our church every Sunday. Say hi, strike up a conversation. Show others the love Jesus had for you by opening yourself to a possible relationship with someone new.
Sue Burmeister and her husband, Bill, have been members of Brook Hills since 2005. They have four adult children, two of whom have been adopted from Russia. In addition to mentoring women one-on-one, Sue has led a women’s small group for the past 3 years. In her free time, Sue enjoys reading, taking IDM courses, crocheting, gardening, and spending summers in Wisconsin with Bill.
For me mentoring is a natural outflow of the love that I have for God. The more I love God the more love He gives me to love others. It is like a spring that overflows from my heart. I pour this love into my family, neighbors, people I meet along the way and a wonderful group of women that I lead in a Wednesday morning Bible study.
Out of this Bible study an opportunity to mentor/disciple a younger woman developed. What a blessing this has been! Our relationship developed because this young woman was bold enough to ask me if I would meet with her outside of the Bible study because she wanted to learn more. How great is that! We now spend several hours a week together outside of the Wednesday Bible study time. It is a time of relationship building, getting to know one another deeply, and coming alongside in the messiness of life. It means trusting one another, being vulnerable, and even being open to the possibility of rejection. It is a time of fun and laughter (lots of that) and sometimes tears (thankfully not many of those yet). Because she is a relatively new believer, we are walking through John together. For me it is seeing Jesus through fresh eyes. It has been exciting and a blessing to go back into the Old Testament to explain events in the life of Abraham, Joseph, David and the Israelites; stories I heard growing up but are new to my friend. It is refreshing and uplifting to see the excitement and the “on-fire” for God attitude she has.
I also found out mentoring means being available. I admit a couple of years ago I had been asked to mentor a younger woman and rather reluctantly I said yes. That was my first problem; my heart wasn’t in the right place. All I could think about were the things I had on my schedule, the commitments I had, the women I was already shepherding in a Bible study, etc. I wasn’t available except on my terms. Ouch! No wonder that one didn’t work out and neither did the one after that. But, God has a way of peeling away those things that get in the way of His commands. I am glad I listened and finally obeyed!
It is my prayer that more of you will look for opportunities to pour your life into someone. There are women all over our church every Sunday. Say hi, strike up a conversation. Show others the love Jesus had for you by opening yourself to a possible relationship with someone new.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34)
Sue Burmeister and her husband, Bill, have been members of Brook Hills since 2005. They have four adult children, two of whom have been adopted from Russia. In addition to mentoring women one-on-one, Sue has led a women’s small group for the past 3 years. In her free time, Sue enjoys reading, taking IDM courses, crocheting, gardening, and spending summers in Wisconsin with Bill.
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