"Likewise, older women are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teachin what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored."
- Titus 2:3-5
Girls' ministry pioneer, Jimmie L. Davis, defines mentoring as "coming alongside a young woman to model godly womanhood, teach biblical truths, and train her through life experiences." Escalating divorce rates show that Satan is attacking the home. Young women need to be equipped with the knowledge and experience of godly older women to boldly conquer spiritual warfare that occurs within the walls of her home. Your mom is a lot smater than you give her credit for!
These mentoring relationships of older and younger women occur throughout Scripture, such as Naomi’s advice to Ruth in the Old Testament and Elizabeth’s guidance to Mary in the New Testament (Ruth 3:5, Luke 1:41-45). God even orchestrated the passage in Proverbs 31 describing a worthy woman referred to earlier to be an intense word given to King Lemuel by his mother (Prov 31:1). This God-breathed advice comes to the hearts of women straight from the heart of a biblical woman. God knew and understood the need for women to influence one another; He created His daughters to be this way. I mean, I know that if this passage was described by a guy, I would be more likely to dismiss it. I would be like, "Right...you expect me to do that that?! Yeah right! Keep dreaming!!" But the king's mom knew that it was possible to be this kind of woman. While guys can definately be a spiritual influence in our lives, only godly women can model how to be godly women. They've been there and done that, and we should be smart enough to listen to their advice.
Many churches are beginning to respond to this need by creating a girls’ ministry within the youth ministry of the church. Smaller churches can rely on a team of volunteers composed of older women in the congregation. Girls desire to have a godly female role model to serve as a mentor and to disciple her through the distinctive path of womanhood. So whether it is your mom or some other older woman that you look up to, seek to follow in this woman's footsteps as she follows Christ.
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