od is My Co-Pilot” — have you seen them? Bumper stickers sporting this slogan are fairly widespread. The idea is a solid one. Everyone needs the Lord on board when flying … whether through the house en route to the laundry room, to the office, off to a PTA meeting, or even in a heated discussion with a family member. After all, the Lord is an integral part of every facet of life. But what happens when Mom is the solo flight captain in the home? That is the case when single moms are raising Christian children. What about married moms raising Christian children … without a Christian dad?

The issue can be tricky. After all, the Bible says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:16) This can be rather confusing.

Faith will help these moms endure. It’s vitally important for them to remember that God loves these non-Christian husbands even more than they do. It doesn’t matter that they haven’t come to him through Christ … yet. God’s undying love allows him to keep nudging and may, in fact, one day result in these husbands accepting the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Elizabeth Arroyo of Nashua, New Hampshire, is a young married Christian wife and mother. Her husband isn’t a Christian. In fact, he isn’t much interested in even hearing about the Lord. Fortunately for Elizabeth, her husband has no problem with the fact that she is taking the couple’s young son to church.

“Tony was dedicated in the church as an infant,” she says of her now three-year old son. “My husband attended out of respect for me and my family, but he wasn’t really a participant in the service.”

Can young wives like Arroyo do anything to help draw their husbands closer to God? There are, in fact, a few simple steps they can follow:

1. Pray for non-Christian husbands with hope and faith that they will one day come to the Lord.
2. Don’t threaten them with Bible passages. After all, according to 1 Corinthians 1:18, “The wisdom of the Bible is foolishness to unspiritual people.” It would serve little to no purpose, and might lead him even farther away.
3. Praise your husband when he performs tasks that are God-pleasing.
4. Let your loving actions speak louder than your words.

Is the problem compounded when Christian moms want to teach their growing children more about the Lord? It can be. In fact in some cases, it presents an even bigger problem. This is where Christian mothers need to pray for wisdom and guidance, and most importantly, remember what their real responsibilities are to their children.

1. First and foremost, model godly behavior.
2. Pray for and with your children. If it’s more comfortable to do this privately in the child’s bedroom, then do so.
3. Teach your child biblical truths. Say something like: “We go to church on Sunday because the Bible tells us to love God with all our heart. This is just one way we show our love for him.”

Fortunately in Elizabeth Arroyo’s situation, she doesn’t have to hide the fact from her husband that she’s teaching Tony Bible stories and songs. A good friend of hers since childhood isn’t so fortunate.

“I have a friend who needs to keep her Christianity so private that she doesn’t tell her husband about even wanting their children to be Christians,” Arroyo explains. “She’s torn. She knows she should defer to her husband’s wishes, but her faith is more important to her than anything else in the world.”

For women like Elizabeth’s friend, it’s crucial to acknowledge that raising one’s children as Christians is pleasing to God. Ultimately he will find a way to bless her faithfulness. And in the meantime, she must realize that in no way does God want her marriage to crumble, even though she is married to a non-believer. This is abundantly clear in 1 Corinthians 7:13-14: "And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband …."

It’s pretty amazing that God wants nothing more than to bless those who refuse to even acknowledge him. That should serve as an enormous faith booster to Christian mothers who are flying solo as the religious leaders in their homes. Undoubtedly there will be times when it may seem easier to simply forgo raising their children as Christians. After all, it doesn’t feel good to keep secrets and to deliberately teach things they’ve been asked not to acknowledge.

Everyone has moments when abandoning faith sounds like the easiest thing to do. That’s when God’s faith in us comes in and permeates believers’ hearts loudly and clearly. The following passages of Scripture may in fact speak directly to their hearts:

• “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (John 14:21)
• One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' (Mark 12:28-30)

God’s love for these moms — (and to all mothers, fathers, and people in general), is stated clearly throughout the New Testament. It should help alleviate doubts about flying solo, and make it perfectly clear about just Who sits — upright, just, and faithfully — in that proverbial co-pilot’s seat!