Titus 2 Moment: Michele

Michele is a good friend of mine whom I met at my current church. I didn't know her very well until I found out I was pregnant with twins (and was going to have an 18-month-old daughter when they were born). Lo and behold, Michele had walked this same path approximately 11 years previously! She and her husband had a 2 1/2-year-old daughter when their twin boys were born. No other person was able to offer the same level of practical and emotional support that Michele did during that stressful time in our lives. We're certainly not out of it yet, but those early days with two newborns and a toddler were so crazy that I don't have many memories of them!

Here's what Michele did for us: advice, advice, advice--always being willing to listen when I called asking ANOTHER question (I still do this). Availability: she let me bring the three small ones over a few times so I could hang out with another adult and her older daughter helped babysit them. They even bathed them for me when I went over to their house! She brought us food (tons of wonderful food for all different meals of the day). Once, she brought her kids over (all 5 of them now), left them at my house to babysit my toddler, and went with me to the doctor for the twins. Guess what her kids did while we there: they cleaned my house!!! She cut the boys' hair for me. She encouraged me to hang in there. In short, she's been a constant source of encouragement for me--partly because she's lived through such a similar experience (that is relatively unique).

Who do you know that is walking down a path you've already walked? How can you specifically encourage them in ways others might not think of? In the spirit of Titus's mandate that older women teach younger women, how can you step in and offer some practical instruction?