Get all the advice and instruction you can,so you will be wise the rest of your life. (Proverbs 19:20)

It started to get colder in the living room an hour after we had settled comfortably into a beautiful chalet at Green Pastures Renewal Center in Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

We turned up the thermostat. No cigar. The pilot light was still on, but there was no roaring flame in the propane-fuelled stove/furnace.

“Where’s the heat?”

We called the home of Jim & Charlene Bennett, the owners of Green Pastures.

Jim showed up promptly. We were delighted.

He explained that they had experienced the same problem before. He had brought in a technician to take a look and learned what to do to fix it. He had brought with him the exact tool needed to fix it as well. We were relieved.

Out came a rather large screwdriver. We were waiting with bated breath to see which screw needed to be tightened for the furnace to start spitting out heat again.

Much to our shock and surprise, he did not look for a screw. Instead he leaned over the furnace and bent over, holding the screwdriver by the “wrong end.” The handle was out front while the “edge” was in his hand.

He tapped the gas supply line to the furnace three or four times with the handle. Voila! A roaring flame rose up in the furnace and promptly started to heat up the atmosphere and our family. We were ecstatic.

You see, we were clueless as to what we should do to get the furnace working. But when we called on John, he knew exactly what to do, because of his prior experience. He had run into the same situation before, applied the same solution before and had success before.

So, when he faced the problem again, he was not fazed one bit! He knew that all he had to do was what he had seen the technician do. Simply apply the head of the screwdriver to the base of the supply line. Sure enough, he had the same results as the technician!

One of the ways in which God helps us overcome problems we face in life is by providing us with others who have experienced the same or similar issues earlier and overcome.

As infants and children, quite often these problem-solvers turn out to be our parents, teachers and other adults we know and trust.

As we grow older, we get help from our peers, from professors, from colleagues at work, supervisors, bosses, pastors, more mature Christians, etc.

I am sure that the Bennetts had to pay good money to get the problem solved by the technician who made the house call. But that expense turned out to be an investment that paid dividends when others experienced a similar predicament.

This is why we repeatedly emphasize the need for all who are serious about advancing into their destiny seeking out and finding a mentor who will guide them along the journey.

Sir Edmund Hilary would have never scaled Mt. Everest without the able assistance of Tensing and his other Sherpa guides.

Neither shall we achieve our destiny without the benefit of those who have experienced episodes similar to what we are going through, who know what to do, what to say, where to tap, where to point, so that we can stay on track and finish the race.

This way we can avoid the unnecessary expenditure of time, money and other resources that will delay us from advancing into our destiny.

Dear DWOD friend, would you kindly share with the rest of us how you have experienced the blessings of mentorship in your walk towards achieving your destiny? Please add your responses below.