I’ve never fired a gun or drawn a sword but I assure you, I mother like a warrior.

Our eldest son got married at the tender age of 20. The wedding itself was a glorious celebration of God’s faithfulness and provision. My son’s bride is every bit his match. She is smart, passionate, devoted to God and fiercely loves our son.

Our son is a substantial young man. He cares about weighty issues such as racism, sexism and poverty. He hopes to leverage any of his privilege to bring God’s kingdom to the earth. If I take him at his word, I had a hand in this. At the reception, he stood up and gave the following testimony:

“A lot of who I am today is not just because of homeschooling but because of the attention and love that I got on a daily basis. The ways that I can get along with others, the ways that I can perform well academically, the ways that I can love and respect my new wife, most of them stem from (my mom’s) parenting and leadership.”

In case you were wondering, yes, I was crying.

My husband and I have made some radical parenting choices, including ten years of homeschooling. Our goal was simple: teach our kids to love to learn and incarnate Christianity in our home. How we learned and the level of care, compassion and love we showed each other was just as important as what we learned.

With this in mind, the boys’ schooling was not confined to grammar, history, and math. Theology, the works and words of Jesus, how our faith might impact larger social issues were all fair game. One specific topic I sensed God wanted me to explore with my sons was the disparity between how the world values women and how God values women. I became convinced that part of my job was to teach them how to see and treat women as co-heirs.

We repeatedly turned to the creation story. “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, NLT).

Author Carolyn Custis James writes, “God created woman to be a warrior alongside the man in advancing God’s kingdom throughout the earth.” That calling, she says, applies to all of us “from the cradle to the grave, whether we are single or married, divorced or widowed, childless or moms, infirm or able bodied. . . . The strong helper isn’t a role a woman puts on like a white veil as she heads down the aisle to the altar. It is a lifetime calling for all of us.”

Mothering has provided me with a sacred opportunity to step into God’s calling as a warrior. As my sons would attest, this has been a win-win for all of us.

Dorothy Littell Greco, author of the recently released marriage book Making Marriage Beautiful (David C.

Cook, 2017), works as a photographer, writer, and pastor outside of Boston. Find out more at www.dorothygreco.com