Did you enjoy the gift of an older person who encouraged, challenged, cheered, and helped you through different seasons in life? Perhaps it was a teacher, a coach, or a youth leader.
It’s a rare privilege to have someone invest their time, wisdom, and care into you. I have been blessed to have several people pour into me. The ones that made the most significant impact faithfully pointed me to Jesus. When they prayed with me, applied scripture to my circumstance, and spoke truth into the places I struggled to surrender, and they helped me grow in my relationship with Jesus. Teen Mother Choices (TMC) wants each teen mom who participates in this program to have the opportunity to have this type of connection with an older Christian woman. This is why mentors are one of the Four Cornerstones of the TMC Program.
A TMC Mentor is vital to the success of the program. We ask much of these special volunteers, and the role can come with challenges. While incoming teen moms understand they will be paired with a mentor, not all are interested in connecting at a heart level. Like most of us, they can resist someone giving advice or weighing in on their choices. But as a woman rooted in her relationship with Jesus Christ and understanding she is ultimately serving Him, TMC mentors can persevere through these difficulties. Some teen moms have shared how they came to appreciate their mentors years after their departure.
Like many teachers, coaches, and even parents, it may take a child a while to appreciate all that has been done on their behalf. For the fortunate ones, you may get a belated “thank you,” but it doesn’t keep you from showing up every day.
Many of our programs lack faithful & available mentors for their teen moms. Might God be stirring in you a desire to walk with a teen mom during this season in her life?
