Have you ever had the opportunity to influence those around you in a significant way?

The term "mentor" can be very intimidating, yet mentoring is simply being willing to get involved and influence someone else's life. As you consider mentoring, Jesus is one of the best examples because his relationship with his disciples was a mentoring relationship. Mentoring consists of four basic concepts:

1. Get Involved
2. Listen
3. Pray
4. Be a Role Model

Understanding these concepts can help you appreciate this unique relationship and become an effective mentor.

• Get Involved
  Mentoring relationships often begin when we simply get involved in the lives of others. You cannot influence others if you are not willing to invest the time to really know them. When Christ called his disciples, He spent time getting to know them individually, including what they liked to do, their families, and their background. He took the time to build good, solid friendships with them.
• Listen
  When we spend time with people, it is easy to drive the conversation rather than taking the time to really listen. You will be amazed at what you can learn when you stop to really listen. It is important to understand that you are not expected to have all the answers. There will be times when someone may tell you about something they are struggling with, but you do not have to have the answers. A good mentor is a friend who is willing to help that person seek the truth whether it is in Scripture or from the counsel from a trusted adult.
• Pray
  Don’t underestimate the power and influence of prayer. Just knowing that someone is praying for you and with you when life is hard can be a tremendous source of encouragement. The best part of prayer is that there is nothing formal about it. God wants you to converse with Him in prayer just like you do with your close friends. Don’t make prayer complicated and formal - just share your heart.
• Be a Role Model
  The way you live on a day-to-day basis can be a very powerful influence on those around you. Christ did so much of his teaching and ministry in the midst of the ordinary activities of life...across the dinner table, walking down the road, and in the marketplace.

Mentoring requires that you to be willing to get involved in the life of another person to give them support, encouragement, and true friendship. If you will invest yourself in the life of a girl in your world and allow God to lead, you will find that God takes care of the details.

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:23-25 (NIV)

Karla grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her father was a Southern Baptist Pastor, so she was blessed with a family who instilled the love of Jesus in her life every day. God brought Karla to Nashville to work for a local evangelism ministry, where she met and married gerhusband. Currently she is a homemaker and writer. Carla and her husband have been blessed with two wonderful daughters, ages three and one.