By Megan Criniere
A few months ago, I had this phrase that kept coming to mind, "My times are in your hands." I knew it was in the bible but couldn't remember exactly where. I looked it up, and there it was in Psalm 31:15. "But I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God. My times are in your hands;" As I read it, I knew the Lord was speaking to me that I can entrust myself and my children to HIm because the times and seasons of our lives are in His hands, and that is true no matter what the season may bring. As a family, we can trust Him, even through the hard things. His nature is good, even if the circumstances aren't good.
The Lord is revealing Himself to my kids and me in new ways. We feel the nearness of His presence, and it's making all the difference in helping us move forward. Most days after breakfast, we sit in the living room together as a family. The little ones are in and out as we journal, dialogue, pray, and worship. We try to start our day lining up our hearts with God's, seeing things the way He sees them, hearing what He has to say about His plans and purposes for our lives, being filled with His love and peace, and then moving into all the things that a normal day with 10 people in a house brings. Sometimes the list of tasks seems endless, but when we've had that time with Jesus, we can approach life differently. Because we've fixed our eyes first on Him, now everything else we see and encounter can be filtered through the lens of how capable God is and not how incapable we are. In this season, as my children and I are moving forward, there are so many weighty decisions to make and hard things to consider but I cannot seem to escape the deep desire to make God known in all of it. There is a deep assurance that God has better days ahead for us and that He isn't finished with our family's story yet; there are many more chapters still to unfold. It's definitely more than just us having bills paid at the end of the month (though, believe me, we are very grateful for that!) really, my heart would be to see lives changed through sharing the hope that we’ve found in Jesus. I think God's story, through Charlie's life, can touch a generation with that very message. I am amazed at how the Lord has brought people to us, that have the skill sets needed to help with this project, and they also share the same desire to get Charlie's story into the hands of people who need to hear a message of hope and love. I hope you will consider partnering with us as we go on this journey with the Lord and see what He will do with our little act of faith in starting this book. If you haven't seen it yet, check out the interview where I share my heart about the blog membership. After you watch the interview, please click the link below to sign up. https://www.charliestrt.com/james127 With Love, Megan Criniere