Leaving a Trail of Light
Welcome to another beautiful week. I trust your October has been off to a great start.
I have had so many people who I have met in my life whose lives have challenged me in beautiful and sometimes uncomfortable ways.
In recent times, one of the people whose life is becoming worth studying is a close friend of mine.
Hers is a life that has taken a pivotal turn on the back of mentorship. And watching her journey has made me appreciate more deeply the impact of mentorship.
Because truly, mentorship is not merely about having someone you admire or have access to whose life looks like what you desire.
This week, in my conversation with Dr Omolola Okeowo, she said something that is worth repeating here:
“You are not patterning after them, really. You are patterning after the God in them.”
And dearest sister , I think that distinction is key.
Because there is the temptation, when we deeply admire someone, to try to reproduce their life rather than learn from it.
We may even begin to sound like them without realising it, because it is quite easy for admiration to subtly transform into imitation.
But God did not create you to become another version of the person you admire.
The person may just an example and their journey your template. But God remains the source.
The very popular scripture, Isaiah 60:1–3, says:
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”
The order of this made me ponder a bit.
Even before kings come to the brightness of your dawn, the glory of the Lord first shines upon you.
The light is not manufactured by you. You radiate it just the moon reflects the light of the Sun.
While reading this scripture I visualised the light from our rising like footprints in the sand—showing another person what may be possible. Showing a path that people can travel along too. Such that your obedience becomes a template for someone else.
You see, one of the beautiful things about mentorship is that when God does a work in one life, that life can become light for another.
One of the things Dr Omolola spoke about was learning to look beyond the outcome of someone’s life to the process that produced that outcome.
Because it is easy to become so attracted to the testimony that we forget to study the journey. So yes, mentorship is not really about copying someone’s outcome.
It is about learning from the principles, posture and process that helped them become who they are.
And then taking those lessons back to God and asking:
What does this look like within the context of my own life?
Truth is, your mentor can guide you. They can challenge you. They can correct you.
But they cannot walk with God for you.
So this week, perhaps it is worth asking yourself:
Who are the people whose lives I am currently studying, intentionally or unintentionally?
Am I learning from the God in them, or am I slowly trying to become them?
And:
What can I learn from their process beyond their outcomes?
May God surround you with people whose lives stretch you in beautiful and, sometimes, uncomfortable ways.
May He give you the humility to learn, the wisdom to discern what is for you, and the courage to remain steadfast in your own journey of becoming.
And above all, may His glory continue to shine upon you so brightly that your own life becomes a trail of light—showing others what is possible when a woman walks closely with her God.
Keep walking. Keep believing. Keep becoming the amazing woman God already sees.
Yours in walking and becoming,
Teim❤️
Host: Reframe Her Worth