The past couple of months have been a time of difficulty for us personally as we have had some health concerns come up with Ibrahim's kidneys. While we are for now reassured that we can see healing and with a small amount of medication can keep things managed we have still struggled with these moments emotionally. Trusting the Lord with our health should be so easy, after all He did indeed create us all, but we are always people who like to be in control. We are very much like our son, who is now three, and tells us, "I want to do it!" We must learn in our daily walks that our loving Father is only looking out for our best when He lets us experience things that we have to cry out to Him for help in. I often allow Nisseem to struggle with something until he asks me for help, to let him learn to ask for it, but my hands itch to help him. How much more does our Father want to help us?! Sometimes we just have to let Him help. So, this is what our hearts are crying in these times, to help us to remember that His fatherly hand will never let us down and we don't have to be in charge. And as we have experienced this, we have discovered our very broken hearts make fertile land for which He can work. This past couple of months through all the struggles, we have seen two Muslims come to Christ in our work!

So, while times of trying are just that... trying, and we have no words to make it all go away, God made special plans for what to do with us in that time. And just like with our son, we don't get angry with him for being upset at being out of control, neither does God hold it against us for being upset for losing our notion of control. He knows what we go through and that is the essence of why Christmas is so beautiful because He came to go through the daily struggles of everyday life, not just the cross, but life. He gets us! How much more glorious could anything be than just that! We love you! Have a blessed Christmas!