Part 5- Admonishing Young Women: Spiritual Mothering

welcome back to part five of the woman of the word and today we're going to be talking about something that i think a lot of people desire to be and that's to be a spiritual mother in the body of christ and i want to talk about this with just my experiences and what i've learned um and so we're going to dive into this but we are in titus chapter 2 verse 3 to 5 and i just want to encourage you to go watch part 1 part 2 part 3 and part 4 of titus chapter 2 verse 3 to 5 a woman of the word series before you take part 5 it's absolutely beneficial for you to do that in part 1 we spoke about how to be reverent in behavior in part 2 we spoke about not being slanderers part 3 we spoke about not being given too much wine part 4 we talked about being teachers of the beautiful how mentorship happens through presence and proximity not just instruction today we go even further because paul tells us specifically what spiritual mothers are called to speak into the lives of younger women the verse that we're referencing is that they admonish the young woman the part of that verse that they admonish the young woman in titus chapter 2 verse 4 and what this means the greek word for this is sophronizo it means to bring someone to soundness of mind to restore good sense to bring someone back to a place of wholeness in their thinking this is what spiritual mothers do spiritual mothers bring someone back to a place in a sense of wholeness they do not lead with just advice they lead with listening they ask questions before they give answers they sit with someone long enough to understand what is really going on before they speak this kind of correction feels safe because it comes from a woman who has been through something not a woman who simply has all the answers imagine talking to someone who has all the answers but does not listen to what you have to say and does not give you advice from a place of experience truth delivered with compassion and story lands differently than truth delivered like a verdict so when someone is telling you if you want to be a spiritual mother and someone is explaining something to you and they want your console you guide them with story you guide them with something that happened in your life because it feels relational it doesn't feel transactional it feels relational and this person that you are teaching this younger woman in the faith that you are teaching can look at you and say wow i can learn so much from this woman because she has gone through so much of the things that i'm talking about because you are guiding her with story and not just a final verdict the question every spiritual mother needs to ask herself is this am i mentoring from my wounds or from my wisdom because wounded mentors wound others wise mentors restore if you are wounded you will be mentoring from a place of a wound so now when you are

mentoring them you're mentoring different place everyone i'm gonna i'm gonna give you an example let's say you have been rejected and hurt by a friend in the world and you come to christ and you haven't been healed from this pain from your friend in the world and you are mentoring someone like this person spiritual mom they come to you all the time about everything and they come to you about a situation that they're having in the body of christ because you're both saved now and they are having an issue with their sisters in christ if you have not been healed from that trauma from that pain from that hurt and from that rejection from that woman that you were friends with in the world now that you're in the body of christ you're going to be mentoring from a place of trauma you're going to be teaching this younger woman in the faith that they shouldn't be talking to this person forget about them leave them alone they shouldn't be treating you like that you're a daughter of the most high and that may be true they are a daughter of the most high but they're supposed to love their enemies like the word of god says right you're supposed to pray for them you're supposed to pray for your enemies you're supposed to literally last and pray for them and you're supposed to embody love but because you have not been healed you are still wounded now you are teaching from a place that is wounded as well but when you are not wounded and you mentor from a place of healing you're able to restore that person with the word of god and through your own experience and a beautiful example of this is elizabeth and mary in luke chapter one mary was young probably a teenager carrying the most overwhelming calling any woman had ever been given mary the mother of jesus the savior of the world was a teenager going through this having this type of calling imagine and when she came to elizabeth elizabeth did not question her or lecture her she affirmed her elizabeth didn't say why are you pregnant you're young and you haven't been married yet how did you get pregnant right Luke chapter 1 verse 42 to 45 says then she spoke out with a loud voice said blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb this is what Elizabeth told Mary and Elizabeth was much older than Mary but wise is granted for me that the mother of my Lord should come to me she's questioning how did I be been granted this blessing that the mother of my Lord she knew for indeed as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears the baby leaped in my womb for joy blessed she who believed for there would be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord Elizabeth

brought Mary to soundness of mind not to correction but to confirmation sometimes admonishing a younger woman looks like helping her believe what God already told her about herself and that is just it we were talking about how we're supposed to admonish the young woman we're supposed to be a spiritual mother to them and the way you do that is to confirm what God has told them what God has called them to be what God has delivered them from what God has healed them from reassuring them that they're in the right path reassuring them that God is with them that God sees them that they can do all things to Christ who gives them strength that no weapon formed against them shall prosper that God is with them to the end of the age that God will never leave them nor forsake them this is what a spiritual mother does when they admonish the young woman it is not just mentoring or just lecturing someone and just telling them what the Bible says this but teaching them with story telling them what they went through this is this is and like I said I wanted to share my personal experience this is what God has done with me in my life as I disciple women at the ROC I've been able to use my stories to help many women just grow to becoming newly married in Christ newly saved and married in Christ newly saved married and having children in Christ and I didn't really have a spiritual mother to teach me these things but I was so blessed to have my Lord and Savior and the Holy Spirit and my husband my husband washing me with the Word and the Word of God helping me be that woman of the Word helping me be that woman who learns all these things and now I can show I can use everything that I've learned with the Holy Spirit and teach you and teach women at the ROC and even you who are watching that a woman who admonishes the younger woman teaches the younger woman with story guides her with story doesn't just lecture her doesn't put her down but reassures her and confirms to her the very thing that God told her about her a woman who does this listens first and then guides with gentleness and story like I said she corrects from a place of love and lived experience not from superiority and a woman who doesn't do this she uses her wisdom as a platform to prove how far she has come her advice

feels like a verdict instead of an invitation back to wholeness it's like trying to lift yourself up oh this is how far I've come but really and really and truly you're not using your story to really teach the other younger woman and I want you to leave with this question am I mentoring from my wounds or from my wisdom what are you mentoring from I want you to think about that and tell yourself and speak to God and say God I want to mentor from a place of healing from wisdom from wisdom that I gained from you from these experiences and I want to pray for you Lord I thank you for the very woman that are watching right now that wants to become spiritual mothers that once admonished a young woman I pray that you make them a mother in Israel Lord give them Elizabeth's discernment to know when to confirm and to know when to correct and to always do it in the spirit heal them Lord God of anything that they are still pouring out of that comes from wound instead of wisdom that comes from the world instead of the word let the correction feel like restoration not condemnation Jesus give them your tone firm tender and always restoring in Jesus name amen God bless you and I will catch you in part six of the woman of the word you