Comments on C h r y s a l i s ღ: How to Guide Erring Younger Women Gracefully

Bluecottonmemory: I love this: None of...

2011-11-20T23:46:36.911-08:00
Bluecottonmemory: I love this:

None of these women ever offered unsolicited advise but they offered relationship...

How blessed you were to know these older women, who offered the hand of friendship, without criticism or judgment.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Years ago, I read an article in a Christian magazi...

2011-11-19T21:04:54.215-08:00
Years ago, I read an article in a Christian magazine about a "Mentoring Moms" program - where older women connected with younger women (and vice versa) - at a conference I sat next to an older women and told her about it; she said, "We so need to be needed." And she started that program at our church. I so needed to create healthy, appropriate expectations of what a Christian marriage looked like at 60, 70, - Did you still fight? etc. - and I met the most amazing women who became spiritual moms. There are younger women looking for spiritual moms to pray for them, to answer questions honestly when asked - and to be encouraged. None of these women ever offered unsolicited advise but they offered relationship - which blessed and enriched not only my life, but my sons' lives as well!

Lori, Lisa, BarbaraH, Denise, Denise, & Sen...

2011-11-15T20:02:48.233-08:00
Lori, Lisa, BarbaraH, Denise, Denise, & Senkyoushi: Thank you all for your wonderful, thoughtful comments. You have all offered such good advice!

Personal email replies are on the way to you now, if you left your address with your comment.

Hugs, e-Mom ღ

I'm thankful for this discussion. It's a ...

2011-11-14T20:50:53.231-08:00
I'm thankful for this discussion. It's a touchy one. In my limited experience it seems that when an older woman teaches on this and gives personal illustration of how she learned and is still learning it, it is well received and you can see the Lord working on the women present. I'm not very good at face-to-face confrontation. I've been working on this. Often,when I pray about it, the Lord opens the door wide for me to walk through. If I barge through on my own timetable, it falls flat.

I'm soon to be a mother-in-law. One of my friend's who has been a mother-in-law of daughters-in-law for several years often says, "Wear beige and say little." Most daughters-in-law don't want that kind of talk from their husband's mom. Having said that, my mother-in-law and I have a great relationship and when we are having a real heart-to-heart, I appreciate her gentle rebukes. It's a two-way street and one to tread lightly on.

You are a very wise woman my friend.

2011-11-14T17:01:26.516-08:00
You are a very wise woman my friend.

I spent a summer mentoring teen girls when I was i...

2011-11-14T11:24:51.761-08:00
I spent a summer mentoring teen girls when I was in college, and I had the experience of being mentored while I was an RA at a Christian college. To me what's often missing in mentoring is a mutuality. I didn't want one-sided relationships. I wanted to pray for the girls, and I wanted them to know that I craved their prayers as well. I echo Lori - sharing your own life helps mentoring. And I think it makes it more natural.

I like Lori's thought of sharing from our own ...

2011-11-14T08:24:24.447-08:00
I like Lori's thought of sharing from our own experiences, a coming alongside rather than seeming to "pounce" on something someone else did wrong.

Since our e-mail exchange, I've thought, too, that especially in the case of submission, sometimes it is better to let the husband and wife work things out for themselves. In the one incident I mentioned of a wife directly opposing her husband in front of us, a little later they went out to their car to get something and were gone quite a while, so I think they talked things out then. :-)

Excellent advice here, e-Mom. The older I get, the...

2011-11-14T08:10:38.398-08:00
Excellent advice here, e-Mom. The older I get, the more I need to take this mandate seriously, in whatever forms it comes up (on-line, real-life with family, friends,...).

I have been mentoring women for the past 8 years. ...

2011-11-14T05:18:27.775-08:00
I have been mentoring women for the past 8 years. I have found the younger that they are, the more teachable they are. I just use God's Word as my guide and continually steer them back to that when they have questions or doubts. I also use my many experiences of blowing it and how doing it the right way is so much better!