Compete in the good fight of faith. Grab hold of eternal life—you were called to it, and you made a good confession of it in the presence of many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:12 (CEB)

Forty-four years ago, the famous court decision, Roe vs. Wade, was passed. Twelve days earlier, my first baby was born and I was in the fog of new–motherhood. All the discussion about this hot topic was under the radar for me and I admit, I missed it.  It wasn’t until seven years later, the impact of that fateful decision began to penetrate my thinking and I realized that I never wanted to miss something as important as that again.

It wasn’t that I was a bad citizen — I voted. Maybe, I read the paper. But I had a friend who ran for Congress and needed some help getting out the vote on Election Day. I volunteered and was hooked in this wide swath of life called politics. Because my children were school-age, the issues that concerned them, concerned me. As a result, not only did I support the pro-life position but also worked on education reforms in my school district.

I spent twenty-five years in the heat of the battle. It is with a bit of amusement that I watch and note that the millionwomanmarch is creating such a stir. You would think that women never cared about anything before. Ask the suffragettes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries what they hoped to accomplish. Of the 58 million aborted babies, how many women didn’t even get a voice? A fellow at the gym had to get home so his wife could go to the march in Tucson. When I asked him why she wanted to go, he said it was to solidify with other women against husbands who were telling them what to do. (I wondered how he felt about that but said nothing.)

The Madonna’s of the world do not represent me. Ashley Judd will never see me spend any money on her movies again. The angry, resentful, bitter attitudes displayed may make them feel better but I can assure you that it does not speak for all women. We who are older worked in our own ways to make a difference. We did not sit home, watch soaps, and eat bonbons. And the fact of the matter is that it is hard work.

Elections have consequences and fear is surfacing as the primary one for women today. The battle cry is to unite, train women to run for office, disrupt where possible to get the attention of the media, be a pain in the neck. That may get you some scrutiny for awhile but I certainly don’t want my granddaughters to follow in your footsteps.

Lawmakers have to learn the art of compromise which is sadly lacking these days. I ran for a party office and as pro-life as I was, I learned how to approach each lawmaker in liberal California to get their endorsement. We sat down and discussed what was important for each of us…where to give a little to get a little. As a result, every lawmaker always took my call. They could trust that I wasn’t going to yell at them, disrupt the chamber while in session, say and write filthy things on the Internet, or embarrass them.

I have had two chats on Facebook over the last two days with young women that I know — Christian wives and moms — that believe the world, as we know it, is going to end with Donald Trump as President. He was not my candidate but he is now the duly elected President. The one thing I can testify to is that we will survive. When Bill Clinton was elected, I was devastated but I received a fax early the next morning that said, “Never, never, never, never give up,” a quote by Winston Churchill.

One day I realized that in my effort to change the world, it was my effort and not God’s. All the time, energy, and money spent to make a single change can be overturned by the voters in the blink of an eye. He called me to get out of politics and into the role of Mentor Mom for a group called MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). What greater calling than to influence the mothers of the next generation for Jesus where real change takes place, than to march in the streets and create chaos.

I hope that one day my five granddaughters will say that their Nana was a strong woman who believed in faith, freedom, and family and fought the good fight every day of her life.