Author's Introduction

     Author's Introduction 

  
The stories and essays I will be sharing in MOM & OTHER MENTORS: Thriving in the Titus 2 Principle, will include stories of my birth mother Mary Gillette Brown;(center photo) and spiritual mothers Evelyn Green (left) and Frances Farley (right). These three humble women have lovingly and powerfully impacted my life. The Titus 2 principle is God's design for women to encourage other women to follow Jesus and to live the abundant life He died and rose again to give us.

For some reason God graciously provided me with two spiritual mothers over a span of four decades. He just brought them into my life and I assumed most Christian women have a spiritual mother. That is, until I learned during the Bible studies I was leading, that most women have never been blessed with one, and God sent me two!

All I could think was, "Wow, I must really need a lot of help if God sends me two in addition to my own precious mother who loves me unconditionally! Mom was always my greatest cheerleader and trusted confidant!" These are strong traits of a mentor.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a spiritual mother is a mentor. The concept comes from Scripture. "Older women are to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." (Titus 2:3-5)

Spiritual mothers can be any age. What matters is the older woman is to share wisdom from her own life experiences and teach the younger how to live a joy-filled, godly life. She could of course, be her own mother, aunt, grandmother, older sister; or the relationship could be a 35-year-old mentoring a teenager. There are no rules.

My experience with my spiritual mothers is that they're women who have been faithful followers of Jesus for decades and have hearts filled with rich, life-giving wisdom and humility. They're fierce prayer warriors because of painful life struggles. They know God is a mountain-moving God and they know it brings God glory when they pray. They fight to walk closely with Jesus everyday because they're fully aware they're sinners who need His help.

And there's no fanfare with a true spiritual mentor. She is trustworthy. She doesn't boast or brag about her wisdom and knowledge. She has a (mostly) gentle and quiet spirit because the Lord has quieted her soul repeatedly with His love over the years. She has a deep, beautiful relationship with her Savior. She has the joy of the Lord and a sense of humor because she's learned not to take herself too seriously. She dearly loves her family and the whole wide world of believers! She is full of life, not pride.

She is someone you would not expect to be filled with a huge dose of Holy Spirit power. But when she walks into a room she's radiant with God's presence. See, it's not her goal to impress anyone with worldly things like designer clothes, people-pleasing, or financial or material possessions. Her desire is glorify her Lord as she is "clothed in strength and dignity and can laugh at the days to come" (Proverbs 31:25). She loves and trusts God with her life.

Her garments are woven with peace and praise. She is filled with confidence of Christ's love and light in her. This describes my spiritual mothers.

Living in the Titus 2 principle-- whether it's a teen girl and college student or middle age and senior woman -- this can be life-changing because it's God's invitation to nuture and to be nutured. We were made for this, Sisters!