If you have spent much of any time within a church body, you will hear over and over again the value and importance of being discipled by a more mature believer to help you grow in your faith and the exercise of it.
I could not agree more, but often many of us never have that experience in a one-on-one situation where someone not only “teaches” and “models” Jesus to us, but also walks with us as we learn more about Him and ourselves.
Many women may not be blessed to have a Titus 2 woman in their midst. Sometimes women may be hesitant to step into a discipling relationship. Sometimes they already have trust issues and sometimes they may find a structured program doesn’t feel very personal or supportive. They feel a need to not just be “talked to”, but be listened to as well as they begin their walk with the Lord.
Much of the time we need a great deal of loving along the way of being a disciple as we begin to experience what it means to live by grace.
We need to have someone help us remember real believers mess up. We need to know the Lord knows that we cannot be perfect even if He lives within us and the Holy Spirit is at work within us. That is exactly why He came…He IS our perfection and that is what His Father, our Father, sees when He looks at us.
We need someone to walk out before us the reality of His love and nurture, not simply seek to train us up in the way we should go.
I can say without question that those who have most impacted my growth have not been in pulpits or at the front of a Sunday School class. They have been “ordinary” believers who have loved extraordinarily…first of all the Lord and secondly, me. When that has happened scripture has become alive to me. I have been drawn more and more into a deeper walk with Him.
Each of us can have a view of the path ahead from time to time that gives us a glimpse of 
where the Lord is leading us. Much of the time we discover we truly need to walk by faith and not by sight.
The longer we move forward, we discover the Lord has been discipling us all along.
We can see how He has brought situations, people, and training into our lives that line up with our skills, passions, and giftings. Little by little intersections are brought about by or used by Him to lead us to the next part of the journey, to shape us to look more like Him.
The Lord is carefully building His Kingdom, one person at a time.
He is also preparing His Bride to be a companion fit for the King of Kings, full of grace and love, guided by His truth, generous in His mercy.
He knows our frame intimately because He saw us being knit together (Psalm 139:13). He has been pursuing our heart, soul, mind, and spirit from the very beginning. He is indeed the persistent Lover.
More than one person has played a discipleship role in my life. I praise Him for each one.
But the very best discipler I have ever had or known has been the Lord who has always pulled me back to Him when I strayed, always walked with me when I was weary, always carried me when I could not walk, and loved me perfectly even when I didn’t recognize He was doing so.
This is beautiful and true. He really is! Thanks for sharing!
Pam, Thank you for sharing this extremely edifying post!
I was in a situation where I had a desire in my heart that I confess, I would say, “Really Lord??”, because I was surprised that I would desire to do something that also struck such fear in me. But the Lord knew that desire also lined up with my spiritual gifting, and through a series of events, helping me to overcome my anxiety of even going out to even meet the person who would eventually be the conduit for bringing the desire of my heart to fruition, I stood in awe as I looked back at how He ordered my steps. Even more so, as I finally did what I desired, through fear and trembling at the outset, but then seeing how God carried me and strengthened me through the process so that I could say when people commented, “You didn’t seem nervous at all!”, It was all Him!
Thank you for bringing this faith-building memory to my mind. 🙂
Always blessed by you, Karen! Thank you!
The Lord is the best discipler of all! Yes. I don’t have an older lady in my life right now on a consistent basis, but I do appreciate those that I do have intermittently anyway: my mother-in-law among them.
The challenge for some of us is there are also fewer and fewer ladies who are older than we are!!
Yes! Discipling/mentoring is of the utmost importance. There is one gal in particular who made a difference in my life. But I must agree, that the Lord is the best discipler over all. His counsel never fails. (FYI – your link at #thoughtprovokingThursday took an early vacation. It isn’t working.)
Thanks for letting me know! Have had a few glitches this week while at our daughter’s as a granddaughter has had major surgery.
Thank you for these encouraging thoughts today! I’m holding onto this thought today, not only for myself, but also for my adult children, and those who have been like “spiritual children” to me. When I am not available or capable of helping them as I would wish that I could, JESUS is always there to take them deeper into His heart! And, He is doing the same for me, as I walk forward in the path where He has placed me also. I’m praying for your granddaughter this week! –Blessings to you!
So glad these words blessed you, Bettie.Thanks for your prayers for her. Surgery went well, but she has had a great deal of pain and nausea and meds are not really handling it all.
So thankful He is our discipler, and never leaves us to ourselves. Thankful for your words today and for following you at Holley’s. (The link you linked up with doesn’t work, however. Just thought you might want to know that.) Blessings on your day!
Thanks for letting me know. Had a tough day getting the post out as my granddaughter was having major surgery and didn’t double-check it.
Yes, true. He is our Ultimate discipler!