“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies….” Psalm 23:5a
For me, mentoring isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about being willing to sit with someone in the middle of what they’re feeling and what God is doing in her life.
I remember a morning MOPS (now MomCo) meeting years ago when a young mom stopped me in the parking lot after I spoke about marriage. She told me she never saw her parents argue. So, when she and her husband disagreed, she thought their marriage was falling apart. It wasn’t, but really, she was just facing something she’d never seen modeled before.
Her honesty stayed with me. It wasn’t that her story was rare, but it showed me something important about mentorship. Women often start new chapters with old ideas, old definitions, and sometimes what they need most isn’t advice or a plan, but someone who will sit with them and listen.
Through every season of mentoring, I keep learning the same lesson: being present matters more than having perfect answers. We often think mentors should give solutions, but more often, a mentor needs to say, “I’m not your problem solver, but I know the One who can solve the problem.”
Psalm 23:5 tells us God prepares a table for us when we feel overwhelmed, right in the middle of our questions and struggles. He sits with us before solving things and stays with us before speaking. He is the example of a true mentor.
Mentorship reflects God’s heart. He doesn’t hurry or overwhelm us with instructions. He knows we’re too exhausted for that. Likewise, a mentor should show compassion and patience while reminding her mentee that God is already working in her life.
Young moms shaped this in me. My role isn’t to take on their burdens, but to do as Psalm 23 suggests by preparing the table, a place where they can rest and breathe again.
Friend, you don’t have to fix the people God brings into your life or their problems. Just stay with them long enough for compassion to grow, so they can find hope again as you point them to the One who will never leave nor forsake.
Prayer:
Father, thank You for the women You place in my life. Teach me to show up with compassion instead of control, presence instead of pressure. Help me stay long enough for Your voice to be heard. Give me wisdom to point women back to You—to the One who restores, guides, and rescues. In Your precious name, Amen.
Want more?
Read Luke 10:38–42. What was the good portion Mary chose? Where is God inviting you to be present instead of productive? Who in your life needs a table, not a fix? What might shift if you trusted God to do the rescuing while you simply stayed at the table with your mentee?
