Isaiah 25:1 Oh Lord, you are my God. I will praise You. I
will give thanks to Your name. For You have been faithful to do great things,
plans that You made long ago.
I had a coffee chat a few days ago with a dear lady that has
recently moved to Abu Dhabi and joined our church. I just love when God takes
such a simple get together and turns in into a time of deep encouragement to
those whom He loves.
Where will you go after Abu Dhabi? How long are you staying?
Aren’t you ready to come back to America? How long will you continue to teach
there?
These are all questions that we hear more often than not.
And more often than not, our answers were vague. Because sometimes when you
follow Christ, the future is a bit vague. We knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt,
that He called our family to Abu Dhabi in September 2014… but for how long, who
knew? We sure didn’t. What would come after Abu Dhabi? Would we just pack up
and leave and return back to our 8-5 jobs in the states leaving behind all that
we had learned and gained here in the UAE? Our time here has certainly had its
ups and downs. But I can’t put into words the work that we have seen our God do
in just the short few years that we have been here. It has been such a time of deep
growth, encouragement, and strengthening of our faith.
At the beginning of this school year 2016-2017, Zach became
pretty certain he was finished teaching when the year was over. But what would
we do? We can’t stay in this country unless we have a visa to be here and you
can only have that if you are employed. We love this country. We love the
people. We have settled and this has become our home. We are in our routine of
life and daily being encouraged by what the Lord is doing. But like every expat
(non-native) who enters this country, we can’t stay here forever. Eventually
you have to move on. No expat retires here. It’s not possible. It’s kind of a
scary thought when your husband, who has only ever taught, comes to you to say
he is finished teaching. Um. What? You can’t. You have to teach. It’s what you
do. But no. The Lord confirmed to him, and eventually to me, that his teaching
career is over. It’s time for something else. But what?
As most of you know we have become very involved in our
local church body. By the grace of God, Zach has had the opportunity to preach
a few times. And as humbly as I know how, all I can say is, “wow.” Whenever he
is sharing what the Lord has prepared him to share, it’s so normal for him.
It’s like second nature. I am so, so deeply encouraged as his wife to see this
unfolding. To see that the Lord is preparing him to shepherd a church one day.
A few weekends ago, he preached a sermon on Habakkuk. Now, I
have heard of this book of the Bible but I’m not sure I can say that I have
actually ever read a word from this book of the Bible. After he preached, it
was mindboggling how many ways the Lord confirmed his sermon. A dear friend had
been reading Habakkuk earlier that week and had used one of the verses as her
“life verse” recently. Another dear friend was, unfortunately, in a car
accident and was able to use the sermon of Habakkuk and “cling to God” through
this time. There are at least 4-5 more stories of these that have deeply
encouraged us that it was indeed the Lord speaking through Zach during Friday
morning.
So. Where to now? A certain individual had brought up Zach
going to seminary quite a few times. But oh, we were certain that was not where
God was leading us. We have such a
heart for the Middle East. When we say we love living here, we love living here. We love the
opportunities we have here for the Gospel. We love the relationships that have
been built across different cultures. I could go on and on. But the point is,
it was so clear when God brought us here, we were certain it wasn’t time to
pack up and leave already. After a month or two of saying no to seminary, we
realized we had not even spent time in prayer, asking the Lord if that was in
His plan! Sometimes, we just think we know what God wants and we go with it,
without ever even praying about it. So... we spent time in prayer and just like
the peace we received about moving to Abu Dhabi, the same peace came over us
both about seminary.
Off to seminary we go.
That’s right. God has confirmed that the next step for our
family is for Zach to pursue seminary. It’s a huge step, no doubt about it. We
will have to prepare just like we did when we came here… sell all of our
belongings, get set back up when we arrive, etc. It will be no easy task as now
we have an extra child to bring along! But we know God is faithful, and where
He leads, we go.
Which seminary you may ask. That’s a good question. Zach has
applied to both Dallas Theological Seminary and Bethlehem Seminary. DTS
actually has a campus in Atlanta so it’s possible we may end up close to
family. So for now, until we hear from admissions, we will head to Georgia,
Texas, or Minnesota. After seminary? Who knows? Only God. We would love to
return back to the Middle East, but we will seek the Lord when the times comes
as to where He would send us. Maybe in the states, maybe to another continent.
That piece is for the future and we are not concerned with that piece of the
puzzle for now.
My coffee meeting. It was one of those where it was so
encouraging that I left on such a spiritual high. We shared stories of how we
were called to Abu Dhabi and how we have seen God’s faithfulness while we were
here. As I retold our story of coming here, I was reminded so deeply of God’s
providence and hand on our lives that it was certainly His plan. And the ways He
provided? Wow. It gave me peace that He will continue to provide as we take
this next step of faith, move back to the states at the end of the school year
(July-ish), and follow His lead.
He is ever-faithful. Of this, I am certain.
How can you pray for us?
·
Full time, flexible job for me (Michelle) to be
lined up before we leave
·
That our exit of the country goes smoothly…
there’s a lot that has to be closed and in a certain order. It can get pretty
frustrating.
·
The Lord would give us direction on which
seminary to pursue
·
Finances would be met without going into debt
(as we have been able to get 100% out of debt while we have been here)
·
That Braxton and Weston would settle well
wherever we move
·
Faith and trust in Christ would be strengthened
through this
Blessings everyone!
Gallmans
