Love Your Role Model as Yourself

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. Proverbs 31: 25-26

Have you ever longed for a person outside of your family to walk this journey called life with you?

12 years ago, I felt such a void in my life that wouldn't subside. As I grow older, I realize that it takes a community to raise a child. One day my daughter will be grown and realize that her earthly mother had many imperfections. She already knows I have some, I have made it a point to bring it to her attention that I make mistakes and often it takes an I'm Sorry to make things right. However, it could be that she might wake up one day and say, I think I need a mentor, someone who I can talk to that will be objective without judging me or me hurting their feelings.

Years ago, I asked God to bring someone into my life and HE far exceeded my expectations!!! Diane is like a second mother to me, although she is too young to be my mom, she is filled with wisdom beyond her years. I have so many "Dianisms" that I often repeat to my kids as well as other friends. She raised a family and is now raising a grandchild.

Proverbs 31 talks about The Wife of Noble Character. Proverbs talks about bringing her husband no harm, working with her hands, providing food for her family, starting a business, helping the poor, extending her hand to the needy, making coverings for her bed, bringing respect to her husband from outsiders, watching over the affairs of her household and not being idle, fearing the Lord. I can honestly say after all of these years, my dear friend is all of these!

I could fill a book of how she has cared for her family; the most vivid picture being how she sat by her mother's bedside for months off and on, especially the last weeks of her mom's life. She has taken countless meals and visited young moms who were in the hospital or having their babies. My most precious memory was on Thanksgiving Day, 2001. I had to stay in the hospital for 4 days after the birth of Dylan. Paul was most graciously home, preparing Thanksgiving Dinner for my family, with Abby by his side. While my family was having dinner, Diane came up to the hospital and sat by my bedside. She brought me a piece of her homemade cheesecake which was absolutely fabulous, did I mention that she is an awesome cook too? On a holiday, she thought enough about me to come sit with me and she left her family for that period of time!

We have taken many walks together, cried together, prayed together. God has used her in my life in such a profound way. One of the biggest gifts of love that she ever gave to me was a blanket of many different patterns that she knitted for me. The thread is soft and I have run my fingers over the stitches time and time again. When I am cold or sad, I go for that blanket for I know what a sacrifice of time and work it was that she gave to me. When my dad died, I cried to the Lord that night and said, I feel so alone and He quietly reminded me that He had given Diane to me years before.

Diane is like a grandma to my kids, she is with them on their birthdays. She has gone to eat lunch with them at school and come to our annual Christmas Cookie Parties. She has had tea with Abby and I and was there to see her get her very first horse. Some people say that to be an influence on someone you have to have your act together, to be full of wisdom and knowledge, to have great spiritual insight. Diane didn't even know if she wanted to mentor me, but she had a servant's heart, filled with great love, not only for someone like me, but a greater heart loving Jesus.

If someone in your life has had a profound influence on you, tell them how much you love and appreciate them! I always say, don't wait until the person dies and everyone talks about them in their eulogy. Say what you feel today, for you never know if you or that person has tomorrow!

Do you feel a void in your life and need someone to walk the journey called life with you? Ask God, He will provide for you. Are there people in your life that you could influence? At every stage in life, there is someone that you can be an influence to. If you are a teenager in a sport or at school, there are always younger kids looking up to you, if you are in college, there are always teenagers wishing they could be you, if you are a new mom or dad, there are always newly married men or women who need a mentor, if you have children that are grown, there are always new parents that need a mentor. Are you open to making a difference in someone else's life?