There is a misconception today that older women must befriend older women and younger women must do likewise. Perhaps it’s the current generation or the idea is not as commonplace in most circles today. However, growing together, lifting up one another in love must become more commonplace today. Younger women need the wisdom of older women coming alongside them as they seek to learn and grow. Embracing mother culture brings us closer to Christ.
In her book, Growing Together: Taking Mentoring Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests, Melissa B. Kruger brings both mentor and mentee together with practical and encouraging tips on how to live life together by establishing a deep relationship. This relationship goes far beyond prayer requests and small talk and dives right to knitting hearts together.
Why Establish A Mentor/Mentee Relationship?
In the book of Titus, chapter 2, Paul exhorts older women to come alongside younger women and guide them in the Christian walk. In today’s culture, being a women is hard. As women, we struggle with comparison, anxiety, depression, and various other temptations that plague our thoughts. Where we entertain feelings of shame, grace and mercy must intervene. However, we can’t begin to understand how to accept that grace and mercy without the voice of wisdom. God often sends that “voice of wisdom” in the form of a wise women who’s walked the journey before us.
Cultivating a mentor/mentee relationship between Christian women allows both women to become stronger in their callings as women of God. Pressing into these relationships:
- keeps one another accountable in their callings
- holds each other up in times of depression and struggle
- give them a change to share in the joys of every day life
- helps one another form healthy goals and habits
- provides more opportunities to dive into God’s Word and become stronger in a praying life
If you’ve been hesitant to reach out to another woman or begin embracing mother culture with a friend, I encourage you to just jump in anyway! It’s okay to wrestle with feelings of awkwardness or fear. Melissa addresses all of these things in her book and provides practical tips for getting started in cultivating deeper relationships that help shape our affections toward Christ, both in the joyful moments and trials in our lives.
*I received a free copy of this book from Crossway in exchange for my honest review of this book.*