"I Felt Stuck in My Faith"

When her spiritual walk slowed to a crawl, Joy Williams turned to her mentor to get things going again.

by Mark Moring, Campus Life Magazine

 You're such a prude." Joy Williams heard that line plenty in high school, but she'd just smile and keep moving. She figured it just came with the territory of being a pastor's kid who was serious about her Christian faith. 

People looked at her and saw something different—in the way she acted, the way she talked. On the outside, she looked like a model Christian who had it all together—straight-A student, sports star, all-around leader. But inside, well, that was a different story. "I felt uncool," says Joy. "I felt self-conscious. And I felt stuck in my faith. I wasn't growing." Joy needed a jumpstart.

 That's where a young teacher at her high school came into the picture. Hillary Brubaker, just a couple years out of college, had something Joy wanted: Faith that was real. "Hillary was the spunkiest, most carbonated, wonderfully devoted woman of faith I've ever met," says Joy, now 20 and one of Christian music's rising stars. "I wanted to be like her." Late in her sophomore year, Joy went to Hillary and said, "I see where you are with your faith, and I know where I want to be. You're closer to that goal than I am, so I want to hang with you." So they hung—on lunch breaks, after school in coffee shops, and on occasional Girls Nights Out on Fridays. They talked. They prayed. They read the Bible and good Christian books. And Joy's faith grew like crazy. "She challenged my thinking and she challenged my heart," Joy says.

 When Joy graduated and moved to Nashville to pursue her music career, she couldn't bear the thought of going without a mentor. Hillary stayed back in California, and they kept talking on the phone. But Joy wanted someone up close and personal. Then she met LeChelle, the pastor's wife at the church Joy now attends. LeChelle picked up where Hillary left off—encouraging, teaching, praying, helping. "She's always there for me," Joy says.

 Joy is such a fan of being mentored that she decided to become one. She now mentors Bethany, a 16-year-old in the youth group at Joy's church.

"I think it's just as important to be a mentor as it is to be mentored," says Joy, referring to Titus 2:3-5. "That way, you can continue the cycle of pouring yourself into someone's life the way others have poured into you."

 Joy says you don't have to be a spiritual giant to mentor someone. "You just have to be faithful to the Lord. You don't have to be perfect."

More on Mentoring 

Joy encourages Campus Life readers to pursue their own mentoring relationships, saying it's a terrific way to grow in your faith. She suggests asking your youth pastor to recommend adults in the church who might make good mentors. Then prayerfully consider approaching one of them. You might also ask your youth pastor if he or she thinks you'd make a good mentor for someone younger. If so, perhaps your youth pastor could help you make that happen too.

To learn more about mentoring, check out Finding a Mentor, Being a Mentor (Harvest House) by Donna Otto, or Mentoring: Confidence in Finding a Mentor & Becoming One (Broadman & Holman) by Bobb Biehl.

 *This article first appeared in Nov/Dec 2003 issue of Campus Life. Used by permission of Christianity Today International, Carol Stream, IL 60188."