Thursday, March 17, 2011

We NEED discipleship!

Pictures are coming and I have a fun fundraiser for my trip this summer that you are all going to LOVE!!

But first I wanted to share something that has been on my heart recently.

Discipleship

Titus 2 says: "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." (Emphasis added)

This verse is very clear. 

We ARE NOT supposed to live this life alone. 

We NEED older women in our lives teaching us.

We need someone who has been through what we are going through now, who have seen what is on the other side of graduation, who can teach us and guide us through our struggles and our lives. 

We NEED that. We are made for that. We are commanded to live this way.


This past fall, my spiritual life hit a rock. I was exhausted. I love serving and being there for other people, but I had no one directly pouring into me, serving me, leading me. I had my small group and I was learning from them, but even then, it wasn't quite enough. I also had a women discipling me for the work that we do with international students. I love my time with her, but our time is focused on training me for that ministry, not always just on my personal walk. 

I needed a woman who was older. Who was out and completely away from the college world. Who could tell me that the thoughts and worries that I have about my future are totally normal, that she had them too, but that God truly is in control and has a beautiful plan for my life. 

So I asked someone to be that person for me. I asked a woman who I have babysat for for many years, if she had that time to pour into my life. I am so thankful that she said yes. 

We have just been meeting for a few short months, but already I have learned so much from her.

Even just watching how she interacts with her family. How she loves and disciplines her children. How she interacts with her husband. Just watching a Godly marriage has taught me so much. (not that my parents don't have a Godly marriage- they do, but watching someone else's marriage)

We talk about struggles that we both have, struggles that I'm going through that she has already been through, struggles that she has that I KNOW I will one day go through as well.

We NEED relationships like this. 

I'm not saying that the campus ministry way of having older students disciple younger students is wrong. Its not. You can still learn so much from people who are just a few years older than you, and I have. I am so thankful for the leaders that I have had in small groups over the past two years. I have learned so much from them.

BUT, there is something different about being discipled by a senior and being discipled by a wife and a mother. Someone who has done college, but has also done work, marriage, and children. She has so much more life experience and knowledge to be shared. 

AND, while I hope that I will stay in touch with the people from college that have made an impact on me and that I will stay in touch with the woman from international friends who is also discipling me, the relationship with these people will change when I am no longer in college, when I'm no longer working with international friends. 

I KNOW that I will still be in touch with Veronica LONG after I graduate. I love her kids WAY too much to just not be in their lives anymore. I know that even when I'm on the other side of the world, I will need to talk to her and see pictures of her family. And when I come back to the State's, her's will be one of the first homes that I go to. 


I'm writing this today because I know that there are girls out there across the college campuses in the area that desperately want this kind of relationship. That desperately want to just be inside someone's home. That want to simply SEE a child! 

I'm from Summit, its my home church. So when I hit a rough patch in my faith, I knew who I could turn to. I asked Veronica, but I know countless women who would have been willing to be that person for me. I have a huge support system at Summit to fall onto when I need to. 

A lot of people don't. A lot of students only know the college students that they ride to church with every week. A lot of girls have never met a woman at Summit. 

I want to start to fix that. 

I have already sent 2 of my friends who want to be mentored and discipled to a woman that I know and love to be discipled. I want to do more. 

If you are college student who desperately feels this void in your life and wants to be discipled by a woman in the church, PLEASE let me know!! I will find you someone!! I want to help you fill this need.

Ladies, if you would be willing to disciple one of this wonderful young ladies, PLEASE let me know!! We NEED you in our lives!!! And remember, we are college girls. When I go to Veronica's house, yes, we talk about our walk and our struggles, we also play with her kids, I watch her kids while she runs to the grocery store. I help her fold her laundry, we look at catalogs and I tell her if shoes are cute or not (not that she should really trust my fashion advice). 

We NEED relationships in our lives. God did not create us to do this life alone. We need people who have walked the road that we are now on and can help us along our way. 

We NEED that. 

So please, comment, e-mail, text, call- WHATEVER just please let me know if you either want to be discipled or would be willing to disciple someone. 

My e-mail is lsdroege@gmail.com


PLEASE get in touch with me!!

Also, feel free to pass along my information to any of your friends who might be interested in either being discipled or discipling.


Much love!!

4 comments:

  1. I think this is great. The Summit tried to put together a Women's Mentorship Program a few years ago, but nothing came out of it.

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  2. I definitely agree this is a great thing and I would love to invest into a college girl/s. Something that I would do as well as spending time with her one on one, would be to invite her into my small group. We have a mixed group of married/single and it is multi gen, so it is an amazing place to learn from people in many different life stages.

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  3. courtney, that would be AWESOME! I'll pass your name along to Dave!! Thanks!

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  4. Laura, I am so glad you wrote this and someone sent it to me. We do have a need for discipleship. I would've loved a mentor in college and would be delighted to do this for someone else. Let me know how I can help, but remember that I live all the way up in North Durham, which is a haul from UNC.

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