The power of Intergenerational Mentorship

I have always had a heart for intergenerational mentorship. I didn't know why I did, until now. Maybe it is because the bible commands it in both 1 John and Titus. Maybe because it makes me get out of my comfort zone. Or, maybe because it shapes me just as much as it shapes those around me.

As some of you know, I feel God calling me to write a book.  So, whenever I feel God calling me to do something, I try to step out in faith and do something to test to see if it is truly from Him, or something from my own desires. 

 For reasons beyond my understanding, i found myself carpooling with a new found friend to a writer's group in Ridgefield. This is an hour away from my house. So, as we are driving, I'm thinking to myself " What am I doing?" I am writing along with someone whom i just met, who happens to have published her own children's book, and has been around the block a few times in the area of writing.  So, I'm nervous because I don't know what to expect.  I take that back. i do know what to expect, or at least I think so. i expect to be sitting in a room with all of these well- read, expert novelists who have published more books than i have paper in my house.  I expected to sit there , quietly take notes, and not say a word. That is, until my friend asks me to go again next month. Then I know what I will say.

So, we get there and it appears that I am right. But, then they start talking. As each person shares, I find myself in the awe of the fact God has brought me further along in my concept and idea for this book than I ever thought I was. When one woman shares her story of polishing her essay, submitting to a writing contest,  not winning, and questioning God's direction, I pull out the two paltry articles I had written for some digital magazines. I feel led to read my first one, which is all about my own experience with that and how God wanted me to share my story, and my heart, not to make every line of writing the most beautiful prose ever written.  When the meeting is over, I slip away to the ladies' room to prepare for the long ride home, and the same woman said to my friend " I know I'm going to learn a lot from her." Me!?  Really?! What do I have to share with all of these "expert novelists?" And then I realized. God has given me my own experiences and my own story to share with the world. It doesn't have to be the prettiest, most glorious story, but a story.  The beauty comes when I am willing to share it with the world.  That's when the mentorship really begins.