The things that characterize our family life are:

God is Sovereign, God is Love, God is Personal, and God is Present.

I want my family to know that God's hand is on us. We went through a significant trial last year and I said this is God's work in our lives. This is God's tailor-made trial for the Swanson family. But we knew that God loved us and was caring for us.

Well, four things. First, God is sovereign, God is love, God is personal, and God is present. These are the things that characterize our family life. I want them to know that God's hand is on us. We went through a significant trial last year and I said this is God's work in our lives.

This is God's tailor-made trial for the Swanson family. It was very difficult but we knew that God loved us. We knew that God was caring for us. We knew that He was tailor-making that particular trial for us. I asked my children, would you like to receive somebody else's set of trials, or would you like to receive our set of trials?

Which one would you like? And they said, well, we'll just settle with ours. Because These were the trials that God intended for us. We know that He loves us. We know that He's sovereign.

We know that He's all wise, and He is going to give us what we need for our sanctification and for our benefit. So I want them to know that God's hand is on us, that God is very tightly involved in everything that we're doing, and that God has sovereign in all of the things that are occurring in our family's life, whether it be good or bad or perceived as good or bad, and that of course all things will work together for good to those who love God. So that's the day-to-day testimony of God's nature and work in the Swanson family.