“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
Matthew 7:24-27
At the beginning of this year, my husband and I had moved back to our home town where we had both grown up. The previous chapter of our lives entailed beginning our degree and apprenticeship, getting married, moving to the busy city, falling pregnant, completing my degree, moving apprenticeships, and finding a house back home. As most people will describe their lives… we were very BUSY. When we moved back to our home town, the pace of life slowed down immensely. My husband was now working for a local business and no longer had the hour and a half commute to work and I was in my second trimester of pregnancy – free to slowly begin my business as a nutritionist, and stay home to keep the house. The pace of life had changed… and we were loving it.
It was in this new chapter that I felt God prodding my heart to spend time with Him – in His Word and in prayer – and specifically to study what it is to be a wife and mother in His eyes. I began reading Elisabeth George’s book “ A Woman after God’s own Heart.” In this book I learned so many things such as:
- how important prayer life is,
- how to support my husband and future family, and
- how to prioritize my time and energy as a wife and mother.
Eventually my studies lead me to the passage of Titus 2: 3-5
“ Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers. Instead, they should teach others what is good. These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.”
Titus 2:3-5
I realised the importance of seeking wise counsel from older women. Women who love God and have already experienced the stages of life that were about to be new to me.
I have many Godly women in my family to follow in the footsteps of, but I felt the need to pray specifically for a one on one mentorship outside of family. So I began to pray.
The Lord heard my Prayer
A few months later I headed out early one morning to pack up after a wedding. Believe it or not, being in second trimester of my pregnancy, I actually wasn’t much help. I did what I could and then stood back to let the men do the heavy lifting. In this time, I got talking to Katherine. We talked about many things pertaining to being a Godly mother and wife and in that conversation, I just felt the Lord’s peace. Afterwards I began to pray that if Katherine was who God had for me as a mentor, that He would make it clearly known to me.
Within the next week I came across The Refined Mother blog, and the following written in Katherine’s About section “her heart is to share lessons learned the hard way with younger women, mothers, and wives to enable them to reach their God-given potential and achieve peace, joy and productivity while raising God honouring children, in a Christ centred family!”
After talking to my husband and reaching out to Katherine, we began a mentorship over weekly cups of tea.
My challenge to you, as a Godly woman, is to pray for a mentor in the faith. I have learned so much from Katherine and I can see how God is using her to help me build my house on the rock of Jesus principles and teachings, so that myself and my family will withstand the storms of life and bring God all of the Glory.
A note from Katherine: It has been my absolute privilege mentoring Brookelynne. She has a teachable spirit and a heart for The Lord. And I am convinced that a combination of her messages from “in the trenches” combined with my messages “in hindsight” will bring value to you, our dear friends.
I would like to re-iterate her message on the importance of mentorship. I myself have a handful of Godly women who are well ahead of me in their journey, as my mentors. I would not be where I am today, without their wise advice and teaching.
And whether we have been officially asked to be mentors or not, Elisabeth Elliott often reminded us, that we are all in a mentorship position, no matter how young we are. A Christian teenager mentors her younger siblings and cousins, as we older women mentor those a little behind us in the journey. What a wonderful privilege, and what a wonderful encouragement to keep growing in faith as we travel our own journeys.
2 thoughts on “Building your House on the Rock – by Brookelynne”
Thanks for sharing.
Keep up the good work.