Summer Stories — Omar & Lael Abdali

Oh hello. Will you please introduce yourselves to those who may not know you out here and let us know how long you've been married and the names and ages of your kiddos. Yeah so my name is Omar Abdali. I'm Leo. Yeah and so we've been married for six years. Six years. Yeah so we have four kids right and one on the way and all boys we have well we don't know about the new baby but four boys and five-year-old then two identical twins three-year-olds and then our last one one-year-old and then this baby right here. So exciting. When is new baby coming? Probably early December. Early December. Okay so like between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yeah probably. Okay from six to seven. A family of six to a family of seven. Okay yes so exciting. Okay now I have to ask some people in here don't know you guys do either of you have any unique hobbies or talents? I could fix my own heat pump but so I mean I try to be as handy as possible so I don't know about unique talent. I feel like everyone in Tennessee could do this. If I was back in Baltimore. I can't do this. It would be yeah yeah I think he's right where we grew up it would be very unique but he could fix stuff but I think it's unique. I think it's good. Yeah I am I'm an artist. I do like drawing and that's been really fun. I've been doing that pretty much my whole life. So good. So good. Okay so we we want to hear how you guys came to Christ. So Leah will you start? How did you come to know Jesus? Tell us your testimony. Okay I was really blessed. I had Christian parents and they got saved when they were they were young young adults and so I got to grow up in a house where we went to church and I always knew the name of Jesus. I remember being about five years old and I think it was around Easter time where we had a Sunday school presentation of the gospel and I remember just kind of coming forward and saying I believe in Jesus. You know I believe that he died for the my sin and that I'm a sinner and so that was when I started following Jesus and yeah I think there there was a lot that happened in between. I don't know if we want to get into all that now but that was the beginning of it. Yeah. Okay now we need to hear from Omar now. If you had the same upbringing tell us how you came to know Christ. All right so I mean I have to go pretty far back. So my mom and okay so my mom and dad they met in New York and my mom was a Catholic and my dad was Muslim and so what happened was that they got together and they had kids and the philosophy was, so I'm one of six, the philosophy was that we'll go to a church and a mosque and decide you know like pick a choice right so it was up to the kids to decide and quickly that didn't

really work out because so Muslims they would meet up on Fridays and then have teachings on Sunday and what happened was that my dad basically said hey you know let's let's we want them to learn about Islam so let's have them go to the mosque on Sundays and my mom she's like well I want to be a nice Christian and so she was she took a step back and so we end up just going to the mosque all the time and the idea is that eventually maybe we'll go to a church and so I was since a young age up until like 11 or 12 I was going to a mosque every Sunday and they were teaching us you know they're teaching us how to read the Quran teach us Arabic how to speak Arabic and and then they'll teach us the prayers like all is different how to prostrate to Allah and all kinds of stuff so we were going through that process and what ended up happening was my dad ended up getting schizophrenia right he got schizophrenia so he started seeing all kinds of visions and started calling it's kind of sketch but he started calling calling me and my siblings demons. And so it got real bad. And then we ended up moving from New York to Maryland, Baltimore area, just because it was closer to my mom's family, my mom's sister, that she could kind of help us in this situation. So we ended up moving to Baltimore. And when we did, we lost connection with that whole Muslim community. And we stopped going to the mosque just cause with my dad, my mom wasn't gonna take us to the mosque with my dad. And so it kind of was like a hidden away thing. But we had- So I gotta ask though. So like, you know, with your mom being Catholic, did your dad ever ask her or make her wear like a hijab or anything like that?

Oh yeah. Yeah. So she wore the hijab. She was even like kind of participating and reading the Quran. And she was pretending to be a Muslim in front of this family. Like she wouldn't say she's Muslim, but she would go through the whole thing and be like, oh yeah, yeah, Allah is great. You know, all gods. And she became very universalist and she became very universalist. And it was all just so that she could be all things to all people. And so I barely know who Jesus was at all, right? So we get to Baltimore area and we stopped going to a mosque and then my dad has schizophrenia. And so, me and my siblings, we started sneaking pork and started cheating on Ramadan. Yeah. Wait, is it bacon or? Yeah, yeah, yeah. All of it was so exciting. Yeah, so I, so, you know, it was, it started at like the, this is so silly. I wanna hear it. Elementary school, you know, elementary school, middle school, it's like, oh, they gave us pizza with pepperoni on it

and then found out that, oh no, we're not supposed to eat that, but then everyone was sneaking it. And my siblings, we would have gatherings where we'd like share pork with each other. You know? And it's like, don't let my dad find out or my mom find out. Pepperonis are the best part. I know, I know. That's awesome. So, oh man, so rabbit hole. So. Sorry, cause she. Okay, so what happened was, so me, all my siblings ended up becoming atheists, right? We started just saying, you know, this is crazy and, you know, I don't wanna be prostrating, you know, so many times a day and going through Ramadan and, you know, it was just, and then, you know, my dad has schizophrenia. So it was very confusing. Everyone became atheists. I went to college and during this time, you know, there's a lot of crazy stuff going on at home. And so my goal in college was to get an engineering degree and to basically live the good life and just forget about my whole family. Just be gone. Cause they're so crazy. And I met a friend named Will.

He was the leader of crew, which is like this Christian ministry thing. He was the leader of crew, but he never actually told me the gospel or anything, but I was friends with him. They'll come in later. So what happened was I graduated from college and I ended up working at NASA and I was doing detecting life and detecting dark matter and working on telescopes and all kinds of stuff. Wait, wait, wait. You were detecting life? Yeah, I was on a detecting life mission. Yeah, so. What does that mean? They didn't, she said they didn't find anything. Okay. They were detecting the lack of life. Yeah, detecting the lack of life. So we, so we went. We don't have to upload it online. It's okay. Now we want to know. Did you find life? He has an NDA. He can't say anything. So I, so. So I, so after work, you know, I was getting paid decent and I'll go home and everything was on auto pay.

And I was sitting at home and I started trying to make my own video game. And I just felt empty. And I really thought that I made, I got everything I wanted. You know, I was able to chuck through school. Oh, I need to go back to my college days. I got to point something out real quick. So while I was in college, halfway through college, my dad ended up getting breast cancer, right? And that's, I mean, that's like unheard of. And my dad said, oh, I got breast cancer. It's rare. It must be from Allah, essentially. And what he said was he's going to deny all medicine because he's going to prove to me, my siblings, that Allah's real. And he said, this will be the final stand. You know, I'm going to prove Allah's real. And it ended up becoming terminal. And I ended up dropping out of college to be with my mom and my siblings and my dad. And we were like around the clock giving them like medicine. And it's, you know, it's not easy. started getting real bad, and he started breathing real hard, and then he said, look, Allah's gonna, Allah's gonna save me, Allah's gonna save me. I'll prove to you guys, Allah is the true God. And he prayed, and when he started praying to Allah, it just went real fast, and he just died. And that was like the nail in the coffin for like, me and my siblings. I'm like, okay, yeah, definitely there's no God. Like, that just proved there's no God. Just because I was, you know, I only thought

Allah at that point. So it was like, yeah, definitely no God, you know, this concreted our atheism. And so, fast forward, I'm at NASA, and I'm finding aliens, finding aliens, which sounds so cool, but I was getting nothing from it. You know, I wasn't even, I didn't care to find anything. I, like, I thought I would feel enjoyment, but I didn't. You know, I'm like, maybe I'll go travel, and I was, I was like, well, what's the point of traveling if I could just look at the pictures online on Google, you know? Like, there's no point in traveling. And so, I was just, I was, there was, there was no purpose. I was just kind of just clocking in, and what ended up happening was, I decided to reach out to all my friends from college. You want to hang out? Because I, honestly, I don't know what to do. And none of my friends messaged me back, except for the one guy, Will. Okay, so he messaged me back, and basically, he told me that, hey, Omar, let's go, let's get lunch on Sundays. So, I'll go with him and get lunch on Sundays. And then, after a couple times, he said, you know, it'd probably be easier just to come early on Sundays, sit with me, do sermon, and then get lunch. So sneaky. So sneaky. Yeah, I mean, I didn't see it coming. So, I sat in the sermon, and that's when I was actually learning who Jesus was. And I was like, oh, wow, this guy, he really is a great prophet. And that was my idea. I was like, oh, this guy really is a great prophet. Wow, his moral compass is way up there, and wow, this guy, he's really revolutionary. Because the whole time that I was learning about Islam when I was younger, it was more about, you need to learn to submit. Learn to submit, learn to submit, learn to submit. You'll learn about this stuff later, but you need to submit now. That was the whole thing. So, I started actually learning who Jesus was, and I was like, whoa, this, this is, this is actually kind of mind-blowing, you know. So, I was interested in it. And so, I was going to church, interested, and then I met Lail. And I actually saw Lail at my college, because she was in crew. And when I went to get Will as a leader of crew, I saw Lail. So, I was like, hey, I know you, you know, from college. She didn't remember me, but I remembered her. So, me and Lail started dating, and what ended up happening was, we were dating, everything was going great, and then we started talking about, like, what if we got married? And the

question was, because I, I would say, yeah, Jesus is amazing. I love Jesus. I just couldn't say that he was God, or I couldn't believe all his miracles. I always had some reason behind it. Oh, he walked on water, because there must have been, like, rocks there, and he's doing this. You know, I just had all these excuses. So, when I went to, when we're talking about marriage and kids, Lail asked me, she's like, well, when we have kids, like, what are we gonna do? Because you don't believe in God, and I'm a Christian. And I said, well, how about we raise them? They go to church on Sundays, but, you know, we'll just let the kids decide. And I know. So, I said that. It only, it was like three years later, when I looked back and said, what? I had, it didn't even connect. Just like your upbringing, your dad. Yeah, it just happened. So, so I told Lail that, and Lail wasn't satisfied with the answer, and she broke up with me. She cut it off. She cut it off. She shut it down. Yeah, clap, clap. Some of the young people in here need to hear that you can do that. Yeah. Good job, Lail. Shut it down. Yeah, so she, she shut it down, and I went ahead, and I called Will, my friend Will, and I basically told him, yeah, Lail broke up with me, and he kind of saw it coming. But yeah, he saw it coming. But I told him, you know, she broke up with me, and I'm like, well, the issue is that it's just not gonna work, because I'm not gonna pretend to believe in God and believe Jesus is God. I just truly can't. And, and I was telling him my grievances, where I said, I could pretend like Jesus walked on water and did all these things, but when it comes to the death and resurrection, it's so clean-cut that there was no escape in it. Like, either happened or it didn't. And I told Will, unless you could prove to me right now the death and resurrection of Jesus, I can't be a Christian, and it is what it is. And he replied with, well, let's sign up for some church events. And so maybe someone could explain it to you, cause I can't. And he said, let's just pray. And so he said, let's just pray. And was praying that God would reveal himself to me

and that Jesus would come in my dreams and all kinds of stuff. And I got the phone with him and I ended up just working on my video game or something. And then it was like four in the morning, had to wake up for six in the morning for work. So I said, oh, well, this is gonna be terrible tomorrow, but it is what it is. So I went to sleep at four and I had a very vivid dream. And the dream was I was inside the church sanctuary and there was this elder lady that I knew, her and her husband, I knew them. And she was sitting, she was standing in the front of the church. It's front of the church sanctuary. And the pastor said, hey, go up if you need prayer requests. So I walked up to the front and I basically said, I didn't say, I didn't give like a straight up question. I was just like, I need something. And she said, it'll be okay. And gave me a big hug. And then I woke up in the morning and I felt so alive. I was excited. I was ready to like, I just felt so alive. And I went to NASA. It was the first time I was at NASA and I was waving to people and smiling to people, you know, and people were looking at me like,

what in the world? And now I'm like, wow, I feel so great. I was doing, I was so happy. But I thought, well, the thing is that technically, you know, my, I just broke up with Lail and then I didn't get much sleep. So it's probably my brain releasing happy hormones at all these reasons. So that's where my mind went, you know. The engineer mind had to figure it out. Yeah, I just went to like, what's the physiological? So, so ended up happening was after that, the next day I was going to this prairie event with Will at the church. It was like a kind of like a men's prayer thing. Everyone kind of sits in the pews and prays. And on the way to the church, I was in the car with Will and I told him my dream and he's like, well, you know, it sounds like God was answering prayers. And I was like, ah, you know. So then I walk into the sanctuary and when I walked into the sanctuary, the pastor decides for the first time, he's like, hey, you know, let's gather up men in groups. And so he gathered me, Will, and it was also the guys, the wife that I had a dream of, it was her husband in the group. And I ended up going into that group and we're like, okay, let's pray. And then the guy said, but before I pray,

I just want to say, Omar, I had a crazy dream. And he said, this is sounds really random, but the dream was that you came, you knocked on our door. He opened the door and he said that I had to give him something. It was a very obscure dream. It was like, I had to give him something and he took it and he's like, it was very vivid. I just want to tell you that I have no idea what it means, but it connected with me so much because I needed something and I was like giving burdens. And it was like, it was so mind blowing to me. It sounded like such a silly dream, but it spoke to me. And I was like, what? And then my mind started racing. Like, wait, did my friend text him? No, we was in the car. We walked straight in. There was no time delays. I didn't see him on his phone. And the dream, it just sounds so random. How would he come up with that dream? And so my mind was like, what is going on? So then I, I said, God, give me one more miracle. Give me one more miracle, you know? And, and it's just so, it's so crazy. So I have a friend that I didn't talk to in years and he randomly called me. He's my best friend in high school. He doesn't follow, he doesn't follow Jesus,

but he called me. He's like, I don't know why, but I just have to give you a call and see, you know, how's everything going? And, you know, I hope you're having a good day. And I was like, you just called me like, why? He's like, I just felt like calling you like the first time in years. And I was like, this is, this is it. Jesus, you, this is it, this is it. So then after that, I went to sleep, woke up, and then I decided, you know what? Let me actually go after Jesus. I started reading the Bible. And suddenly when I read the Bible, it wasn't just, you know, Jesus saw someone and said, your sins are forgiven. And they're like, oh, who could stop the waves? I read it like, who could stop the waves? And it was like, whoa, it started like hitting me, you know, and suddenly I just, I started reading the Bible like crazy. I was into it. I was like, who is this guy? And, you know, like suddenly I was just on fire. And I told Will, we went to a men's retreat. I was on fire and all this stuff. And I went to Lael, I'm like, Lael, I know Jesus. And she's like, yeah, right, no. And so she said, we're not getting back together.

And, which I understand, but it was a little sad. But when that happened, my. My response was, it is what it is, I'm in love with Jesus, and I was just going crazy at church and just like praying and all that stuff. Hold on, we gotta pause now. Pass the mic to Leo. Leo, what did you think at this point when he called you and was like, I love Jesus now? Yeah, I remember he called me. I was in my car outside my parents' house, and I thought, I was like, I don't, I just don't know if, I wanna be sure that he has made this decision because he wants to really make the decision and not that he's making the decision just so that we can put our relationship back together. And so I erred on the cautious side and I did say no. Your parents raised you right. Okay, all right, you can continue, this is so good. Yeah, so. So you're running hard after Jesus now, you're going crazy at church. Yeah, I was going crazy. I was reading the Bible like crazy. I started, I went to the youth pastor at the time and said, hey, I need you to disciple me. And then COVID happened. Well, no, sorry, I fast forwarded hardcore. So he started discipling me, and then me and Leo. Yeah, so Leo's like, well, you're going too fast.

So me and Leo ended up getting back together. Woo-hoo, we ended up getting back together. And we started praying together and just like just going after the Lord together. It was really cool. And so I was diving into the Bible and I was reading every day and I was asking people to disciple me. And then it's this whole thing, but we ended up getting married, COVID, well, COVID hit and canceled our wedding. We ended up getting married on the day of the wedding, but it was canceled and there's a whole bunch of stuff. Your wedding got canceled from COVID? Yeah, it was the end of March. Was that wedding? March, 2020. It was the end of March. And so I sent all my invites out and it was like, it's spreading, it's spreading, it's getting there. Everything's going to close down. Everything's going to close down. And then I was scared. I was like, well, what if they can't, what if they close down the office that makes marriages? And so I was like, oh no, it's going to go bad. You know, I'm going to be living in sin. So, you know, I eventually talked to Lea. I'm like, we're going to cancel the wedding

and just get married before everything shuts down. And everyone, deep sigh for everyone who was going to go to the wedding. Like, oh, I didn't want to die, you know? You know, because I could bail out of his wedding now. But yeah, so we ended up getting married and I just chased after the Lord and yeah. Well, we're so happy that the Abdali's are a couple. Yay, man. Your mama must've been praying so hard for you, Lil. She must've been praying so hard for you. I know you got a praying mama at home. Yeah, you do. She's like, he is going to find Jesus or else. Or else, yeah. Well, that's, man, that's so good. So now you've been married six, six years, okay. I was like thinking about it, like when I was trying to remember the first time I saw you guys here at the altar. And I feel like literally your first Sunday here, I mean, y'all just like stomped right down to the front, ducking in between like all the people and the kids, like set your babies down and just went after them. Like, man, these guys just love the Lord. But I thought they're for sure visiting, like people like y'all don't live here. You know what I'm saying? And so then you're here the next day, just running up like, who is this couple?

You know, so we love you guys. And we're so glad that you're here. And your passion for Jesus is inspiring too. And I know like in your like childbearing journey, like, you know, you have four kids now in six years and it hasn't been like the easiest go ahead. I know like we talked a little bit about this beforehand, like, but I think that the Lord has given you guys some wisdom in some of those areas and really cool story if you wouldn't mind sharing about some of that. Okay, yeah. So our first son, Noah, I felt the conviction to pray very specifically about my pregnancy with him and my birth with him. And I think a lot of people here could kind of relate to the kind of the way that I wanted things to go. I was praying for it to be like very natural and just for things to go smooth. And it was really tough because I ended up getting pretty much the opposite of what I prayed for. And that for a while was hard for me because I thought that, I thought, well, maybe the Lord doesn't love. me the way that he loves other people like I know he answers prayers when I pray on behalf of other people or when other people pray and I've seen him move in like big ways like in my dad's life and he was very sick and growing up when I was growing up and I saw amazing things happen then I thought maybe it's just me you know maybe the Lord just doesn't do that for me so I kind of I did feel like maybe I couldn't

pray that way for myself or maybe there was something I needed to do for God to to hear me. Yeah so I had I had a C-section with Noah and that was really really hard on me and then the next year we found out when we were on a like a little weekend vacation we both got food poisoning and and so we were we had gotten dehydrated from like puking and I went to the hospital and they said do you know if you're pregnant and I said I don't know. I guess you can check. So they said well you are pregnant. So so we were like oh this is great like we're having another baby and Noah was probably almost one then or close. And then so we were just excited about that and then it was probably two months later or so like we went in to check on the baby and they said oh we can't find Harvey like we're not sure what's going on. Do you have your dates wrong like they were really pressing like about my dates and I said I'm pretty sure I'm right like I'm pretty sure everything. And for a while we were just kind of in this strange limbo we didn't know what was happening and then I end up losing that baby and it was really hard on us. And that was another thing that I was really afraid I'm really afraid of. I used to lead worship a lot of the church where we met and the song King of My Heart you know that bridge where it's like God is never going to let me down and I would always leave that song and just feel a bit afraid of like I just don't know what I would do or how I would feel if if God led me in that direction where we lost you know where we lost kids.

I just thought that would be so hard to walk through and I thought that would feel like a really big letdown from the Lord. So so it was it was it felt very like personal to me because it was something that I had had felt like afraid of or you know so that was really difficult to and I was praying about it for a while and I just wanted God to to show us that he hadn't forgotten about us. I think at that time I was reading about First Samuel where his mother Hannah was praying for a child and and she asked God to remember her. So that's what I started to pray for. And I think yeah it was probably that day where I had been reading the Bible kind of late at night and we lived in a townhouse and sometimes like the lights from like a streetlight or a taillight from a car would come through our window. We had these big windows and it was so strange like I saw this really beautiful white cross. There are these two beams of light coming through my window and it was right next to my bed like on the little wall there. And so I was like oh this is so great like the Lord is trying to show me that he's still with us. And then shortly after that I had a dream I had a dream and I saw our second child our son. So God God showed him to me which was so cool. And I was standing like far away. He didn't know I was there and there was kind of I don't know how to explain it but there was a divider like where I couldn't get to him he couldn't get to me. But I was watching and then next to me with their little faces up

against the glass or whatever were these two little kids and I couldn't see their faces so they look like they were little toddlers with curly hair and I have little twin toddlers with curly hair. So so God showed me my my lost child and then the children that he was going to give us which is really really cool. So you know I'd always wanted twins so that was very personal for me too that God gave me identical twins like that was something that I really. But it's so, it really helped to just start restoring my faith in God, hearing us and caring about us. Okay, so yeah. And then we have. That's so beautiful. So, yeah, because then a while after that dream, then you found out you were pregnant with identical twins. Yeah, yeah. So that was in the springtime when I had that dream. And then in June, no, maybe August, we went, yeah. And they did the scan. They're like, wow, there's two babies. And we're like, okay, wow, there's two. Wow, did you freak out when you heard that? I did. Because twins don't run in the families. And so I was like, there's no way. Are you sure? Are you sure? And then I did some research and I was like, wow.

Oh, sorry, sorry. That's okay, it's okay. Yeah, so I, wow. So I didn't, I was just shocked because I didn't even know that was a thing. I thought that twins always have to run through a family. And apparently there's also a really low chance to just have identical twins with all pregnancies. And so that was absolutely mind blowing paired with Laila's dream. It's like, what just, you know. And just to take a step back from my perspective during this time, when we found out the baby was lost, I was on fire for the Lord. And I was just like, you know what? Let's just pray the house down. Lord, heal the baby right now in Jesus name. And I was just going crazy, praying every night. And they kept rescheduling us for ultrasounds. And well, maybe the ultrasound machine isn't strong enough. So we'll go to another place. We'll go to another place. And it was like weeks of just going to ultrasounds. And every time we go to ultrasound, we can't hear a heartbeat. No, we don't see the kid. And it was, I felt like my faith was just kind of getting like hammered a little bit. Like, oof, oof, oof. But God, you know, I was on fire. You were answering all these prayers.

Everything was great. And now it just felt like I was getting etched away. And then, you know, it's like, God, do you even hear me? And I felt bad because I'm, you know, I'm reading the Bible. You gotta be a good husband. You gotta lead your family. You gotta pray on behalf of your family. And so I'm making all these bold prayers to Laila. And then it feels like my, like I'm supposed to be defending my family. And then the prayers are just not happening. And it's almost like I'm doing more harm than good, praying for the baby to come. And so that was like a, also kind of my side was like a God, where are you to? But I wasn't telling that to Laila because I was trying to muster up whatever energy I had to pray because I was losing faith too. And so, yeah, I mean, so that whole twin thing was just like, wow. You know, like God sees us, you know? Yes. Yeah, then you have your miracle twin baby boys. Yeah. So good, so good. I think like there's so many things that we could take out of the last couple stories that you've shared, but like something that I hear that's like a common denominator,

like to not forsake the power of God speaking through other people, which should also remind us like, if you feel the Holy Spirit is revealing to you something, you don't have to jump out and say, thus sayeth the Lord, but you can like come out and say like, man, I don't even know what this dream means, but I feel like it might be from God. Like, and I'm just supposed to tell you, like that brought you to Jesus. That was one of your defining miracles. And then you have a dream and you see not one, but three little boys, and then not only the baby that you had lost, but then you find out you're pregnant with twin baby boys. It's like, it's so from Jesus. And so like to not forsake the supernatural, to not forsake like Yahweh speaking to us in our dreams, to not forsake like just a small inkling or nudging of the Holy Spirit. And then to not lose faith. Like we don't know the effect, like of your fervent prayers and your fervent faith, like over your wife and with your wife and for your household. Like who knows there might be ultrasound texts that are saved today, cause you wouldn't give up going in there. And I think there's something like so beautiful about that. We're, you know, we love your baby boys that are here.

So we're thankful for that as well. That's amazing. Okay, so parents of four, soon to be five, currently all boys, we are all boys in my household. Do you have any like parenting nuggets or tips or, oh man, this is something that I have learned that you want to share. Or if you're just like, dude, we're tired. No, that's fine too. But anything you want to share about parenting? So with me, I try to think of the way that God looked at me and how, you know, the idea that he would let me make a mistake, but then also like correct me. And, you know, like you see scripture with like the father. with Israel and how they're in the wilderness, and God will let them get away, but at a certain point he's like, no, that's it, boom, and like lay down the law and teach them what's right, and then also like it's this push and pull, and so with my boys I try to think of, you know, how the father treats his children, you know, as in, you know, it's not to just lay down the hammer at every given moment because God, you know, God was giving them wiggle room to explore, you know, but at certain points it's like lay down the hammer, boom, and you will learn a lesson now, and so it's that push and pull where you don't want to, at least the way I see it, you know, you don't want to just like, just completely lay down the hammer constantly on the kids if they can't do anything, but you also don't want them to just run free, they have to learn the law before they learn the heart, so that's good, yeah, well like the word says, do not exasperate, fathers don't exasperate your children, okay, thank you, Lael, do you have any nuggets that you've been wanting to drop? I'll just do something simple, I haven't been a mother super long, so, but something that I learned when we lost the first baby, I've lost three, so every time I've lost one, what God would remind me of is that children are his first, and it was very, oh, it was a very big

deal when he said it the first time, the first time I heard him say it was like that summer I found out I was having twins, and like gone through the first miscarriage and everything, and God just said like, you know that the children are mine first, like I entrust them to you, but they're actually his first, and that did change the way that I related to my kids a little bit, just because, just knowing that, knowing that they belong to him, and so you want to, of course you want to, you want to do a good job with those children, because you want to, you want to give them back to the Lord, and say like, well look, we made more, more servants for the kingdom, but I think it helps in loss too, because a lot of times you just feel like, well that was my, that was my kid, you know, and you feel that ownership right away, but, but knowing that they were God's first is like, like if God had something different for them, then you know that it's not because God didn't care about that child, like he does, and he has, you know, things for them to do in heaven too, so, so that, yeah. Yeah, that's beautiful. One more thing that really, I really reflect on is, growing up, not thinking there was a God, slash thinking that I have to bow down and, and submit to this God, and just, just, you know, just, or else you're in so much trouble, and all this stuff, and so growing up that way, I really, it was just anxiety through the roof, and I, I really thought like I could die any day, you know, like no one's there protecting me, you know, it's just on your own, and, and then looking back, you know, I think about all the craziness that was happening in my house, but everyone's okay, and even the whole, my father getting schizophrenia, and then everyone just suddenly leaves the mosque area, and goes to this other area, and then my dad getting breast cancer, and all that whole thing happening, it was like, looking back, like God was moving that whole time, and I had no idea, and, and so when I say that to my kids, is one of the biggest things that I wish I had, which makes me want to cry, but I wish I knew Jesus when I was younger, because I wouldn't knew everything would be okay. I didn't have that at all, and so I didn't know everything would be okay, and I didn't know that I had someone, I had a shield defending me, and so anxiety through the roof every day, not knowing what's going to happen, you know, thinking if I just become an engineer, everything will be great. I, I was, I was fighting for myself, and I had no idea someone was there, and so one of the biggest things I could do for my kids is, I want them to know Jesus, and know that they're not alone, because I wish, I wish, I wish that my mom brought me to church, you know, my, I wish that one of my friends preached the gospel to me. I wish something happened, yeah, and that drives me to want to spread the gospel, because I, I don't, you know, it was just,

it's just, yeah, it was, yeah, come on, Omar, if you're trying to hold back there for something, let it rip. That's so good and let that be like a wake-up call for us Like maybe there's that co-worker and you might just think like well for sure They know who Jesus is they've seen they've seen a show on TV or you know Maybe someone showed him the chosen or it's like it's America 2026 everyone knows who Jesus is the reality is no one knows the gospel until someone tells it to them Most people don't just Google. What is the gospel of Jesus? That's a Christian ease word that you learn in church So that's so good Omar and may awaken us right to be alert to that to like well Let's just not hope that you know, our neighbor our co-worker our friend our college You know classmate knows the gospel or let's like not be afraid that they're gonna persecute us cuz he's like, oh shoot You know this guy grew up Muslim like he's gonna allow walk bar if I you know Show him the gospel here at the school. He's gonna blow up crew, you know, he's scared of that, right? But it's like let's not let fear be the motivator. Let's let love be the motivator and like I Love people who are dying and I don't want them to die and go to hell And so I should always try and offer them the cure which of course we know is Jesus and the gospel Oh, that's so good. Yeah, and your kids have that because I see you every Sunday morning at 7 a.m With your boys in tow at men's prayer. So that's one of my favorite things about Omar. Yeah That's what did you have anything? Oh, no. Okay. Have you got another soapbox? I'm gonna give it to you. So that's good Well, I wanted to find out so something that's always so interesting some people here at the altar Lived here in Johnson City before the altar fellowship was a church Some people moved here. You guys were not in Johnson City before the altar fellowship was a church So, can you guys tell us the story like how did you hear about the altar? How did you get here? Give us the give us the rundown with that yeah, so Basically, I was at my previous church where I was saved and I was Yeah, so I was volunteering and just kind of going all in at this church and they hired this guy pastor John Beck So they they hired him. That's our youth pastor. Yeah, so they hired a youth pastor at this old church in the Baltimore area And I was helping out and I was like doing some tribes they call small groups I was doing some small groups and what happened was that they also hired a new executive pastor and

he Messed up my application. And so I I didn't have it. I didn't have a small group and I was upset I was upset. I was like what no, you know, I I love you know, leading a small group And so I was upset and I was like, oh man and I was praying about it and I the Lord It was like in my mind like you're going to go under pastor John Beck and I Honestly, I didn't really care to teach kids, you know, I was like, I don't want to be there you know, like I'm gonna sit there and like sing silly songs, you know, Jesus loves you and You know just like, you know, so I was this is early on like you mean like a youth group. Is that what you mean? Like, okay Yeah, so youth group. So I didn't want to you know, I just saw it as just so trivial and small and I was pretty early on in my Christian journey. And so but the Lord said submit under him and So I went under pastor John Beck and I was reading the Bible and studying it was like this is what I want to do And I was reading the Bible and studying it was like, did you realize this that it uh, and then pastor John Beck looks at me It was like, yeah Wow, and then he like almost starts crying talking about the verse and I'm like what in the world like this is intense and Then I saw him preaching and he was like so emotional and really into it And I was like, I was learning so much cuz I was like, this is so great You know, look at Jesus and then it was like God was using him to like just show me the Lord's heart and It was like opening up more and more like it was it was a whole discovery process. So I was really into it and then One day showed me the altar podcast. He's like, yeah, my friend Seth is down there. He's a youth pastor and You should check out the sermon So I listen to sermon and I wasn't expecting much and then I heard it and I was like, whoa you know, I don't know who this guy is, but that's amazing sermon and So that was really exciting And I would listen to it once a month or every once in a while kind of listen to the podcast and then he said the you know, the Lord basically told him to go to John's City and It was kind of jarring because I Told him I sat down with him during lunch and I was like Pastor John back

It's kind of weird because I thought the Lord told me to submit unto you and now you're just not gonna be a pastor you're just gonna go to Johnson City. And I was confused, and I'm like, was that a waste of time? So, so then he ends up going down to Johnson City, Tennessee, and, and so he goes down there, and during this time at NASA, things was getting cut because they were just cutting missions, and then the, the Israel and, um, Palestine, thank you. So, yep, so Israel, the Israel-Palestine war just happened, like Palestine went after Israel, and when that happened, they cut tons of funding at the NASA base. And I was there for a five-year contract, and my five-year was about to run out, and they had me go to another project, but because they cut the funding, they froze everything. And so, they froze everything, they're like, we don't know what's gonna happen, and I told Lyle, I was like, well, maybe this is a time for us to find somewhere to go. And so, Lyle was telling me about going down south, we could have land, we don't have to, you know, there's so much better stuff down south. And I was like, sure, I'll do that, you know, it's a lot more family-friendly. And, um, so, I, I went ahead, and, um, one, I applied for a position that was in, I think, Knoxville, Knoxville, and it was good pay, and I was like, oh, Lyle, we got a place we could go to, and then, uh, you know, plus the deadline for the five-year is coming up, where I'm gonna be jobless. So, I was like, oh, the place, you know, I interviewed, everything is great, they want me to come down, and then went to sleep, and then Lyle woke up in the morning, and she's like, the Lord told me not to take the job. And I was like, Lyle, this is what you wanted? Yeah, oh my, the Lord told me not, for you not to take the job. And I was just like, what? So then, so then, I decided, you know what, there's other NASA bases, so I applied to a bunch of, uh, contractors that worked for NASA down in Huntsville, Alabama. And so, I went through a bunch of interviews, and they did in-person interviews, and they, so they want me to come down. I lined up, like, three different jobs to line up three different interviews in person, and I scheduled it out. I had three weeks PTO, so I went all in three weeks, you know, so the idea was that we'll go down to visit the BACs in Tennessee for a week, then go to Huntsville, Alabama for my positions, and then visit Lyle's friend, right, Claire. So, that was the plan. Everything was set in stone, and I told Lyle, I was like,

Lyle, here's the deal, I don't want to just up and go somewhere we've never seen the place, so if I can't make it to Huntsville, Alabama, then we're not, I'm not picking those jobs. Yeah, well, so we went down to Tennessee, we came to the altar, amazing, like, mind-blown, and then that was the day that Pastor Maddie preached on Baby Wise, right, which was, because I was all about, like, oh, you know, like, I was kind of in the parent, we were kind of fresher parents, and we're all about the fresher parents, and, you know, he wanted to go to a church that would kind of step on the heavy issues, and I'm like, oh, parenting, that's a great one, and so I went to there, he, Pastor Maddie preached on Baby Wise, almost no verses, and then at the end, Pastor, yeah, we use, we use Baby Wise, all right, so like, oh, it lines, Pastor John Beck, after a sermon, he's like, oh, I'm not gonna lie, like, Pastor Maddie is always, this is the one day, you know, so, you know, I was like, that was great, you know, I'm so happy, that's the book we use, you know, family-friendly, so what happened was, it was like December-ish, we left to go to Huntsville, Alabama, and it was a massive snowstorm, we got eight inches in Knoxville, we got stopped, Knoxville, eight inches, like two years ago, and I ended up just going to a random hotel, because we couldn't see the roads anymore, and it was just piling up, and I was like, where's all the plows, you know, I was shocked, I was like, what? The Baltimore and New Yorker, and you were like, why aren't they fixing this? I was like, what? So then, we get in the hotel, and I go in the room, and we turn on the TV, and it's a weather channel in Alabama, Huntsville, where I'm supposed to interview, and they go digging in the ground, like, yeah, wow, it's so deep in here, you're not gonna be able to come down here for weeks, and I was like, there's no way this is happening. Wow. So then, so then, you know, I get in contact with them, and they're like, yeah, so we could reschedule, I'm like, well, I did all my PTO, and I'm not gonna take it, and they're like, why? And I'm like, well, I said, if I can't make it now, I'm never gonna take it. They're confused. They're like, what? Just reschedule. I'm like, no, not taking it.

So I denied all of them. And then I went on to look, well, what's available in Johnson City? You know, is there anything that could possibly spacecraft? And a position randomly kind of opened up. And it was for fighter jets. And great. It just opened up and it like fit all the criteria. And I'm like, well, I guess I'll apply to this job. I apply to the job and then I'm like, well, at least next week we could visit Lail's friend and Lail's friend calls Lail and was like, oh, so we have to cancel because her, the Lail's friend's husband was working on a deck and it broke and he broke both his arms. So, so she's like, you probably can't visit. So me and Lail's like, well, I guess we're just going to go home. Right. So as soon as I get back home, the, as soon as I get back home, the, the, the recruiter, thank you. So the recruiter contacts me and says, Hey, you know, we can do the interview right now. It's a spot right now. Do you have a suit available? And I'm like, well, I just got home and I can put on a suit. So I put on a suit and then I went through the whole process and they're like, well, you know, do you want to, uh, when can you come down? I'm like, I can't come down. You know, I took all my PTO. I don't know. And so, uh, they said, okay, no, we'll just, well, you're good. And so they hired me. And I was like, what?

And then I told Lail, like, I guess we're moving to Johnson city. It was a whole, I just, yeah. And so then I, you know, yeah, two weeks later we're back. And then I found out that Pastor John Beck. He got the position as youth pastor and I'm like, well, here we go. So, yeah. So now I'm under a past, uh, Pastor John Beck. Yeah. So good. Yeah. So it's, it's as if the Holy spirit had a little bit of a sneaky plan, just like your crew friend had a sneaky plan, inviting you to lunch and then just calling you at the last second and say, you should just come to church and then lunch. Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean, if no one has told you before, I'll tell you, it's very clear the Lord has a divine purpose for you guys here. None of this happened like by casualty or just happenstance. And I think that that's the way the Holy spirit works. So we're so glad you guys are here. I'm so glad you got the job. You didn't go to Huntsville, the snow storm, our lack of snow plows, all of it, the Holy spirit is using. So praise the Lord. Well, amazing. So you've been here, is it just two years? It seems, it seems like it's been like four. So in a good way, it just seems like you've just been a part of us. So we're thankful for that. I know pastor John is over across the hall preaching the paint off the walls

right now, calling down fire. Now I, I was going to ask if you have any favorite Bible verses, but actually I want to ask what you and pastor John do. I say Wednesday mornings, your early morning Thursday mornings. Yeah. So, um, if you feel comfortable sharing, that's fine. I mean, uh, yeah, it's wherever the Lord takes us. So, um, we meet up Thursday mornings. It started going to Friday mornings, but mainly Thursday mornings at 5 30 AM. We meet up every Thursday at 5 30 AM. And, uh, originally the plan was to just go through the, uh, go through the whole Bible slowly and pick apart verse by verse through the whole Bible. And so we were doing, uh, we spent a year in Genesis last year and, uh, went through all, all of Genesis and we were taking notes and the idea was, oh, maybe we could do a book or we could do something with this. I don't know. And, um, I mean, there was so much fruit though that came out of it, you know? So it was so much fruit that came out of it. And so, uh, now we entered Matthew and we're going verse by verse through Matthew and, uh, we, we was in like, we were at Matthew five and we've been doing this for like seven months. So like it's, oh, golly, we just, just diving in. So, uh, I mean, we're just getting all these notes and we're just praying about what to do with it, you know, um, whether to make a book or do like, I don't know. So we're just praying about it and, you know, just chasing after the Lord and seeing where, where it takes us. And, uh, I realized that a lot of it was, I can't really plan it out, you know, like I say, oh, let's do a book. And then, you know, like things just happen and things move around. And next, you know, I, I kind of gave up with the idea of.

like doing Too much planning because the Lord just moves and so like, you know, it's yeah Awesome. So good. Yeah, I just remember one one day talking to Pastor John and he was like I gotta get up early tomorrow and I was like why and he said cuz Omar and I studied the Bible for three hours every Thursday morning and I was like, wow, so well, we just honor that I think it's so beautiful like your guys's Relationship like how you've been like submitting to his leadership and just following wherever the Lord leads him for years now It's so beautiful. We're so thankful that that led you here. It's so good So, I mean I think as we're about to close Would you would you guys just pray for our people? Like I feel like faith is such like a common denominator like in your marriage like the Abdali's like in your kids And you know You guys are instilling on them as the next generation like what you Omar said like you didn't get to have Growing up and you wish you would have but now they get to like jump off your shoulders You know like straight to the deep end and all the good ways, right? and so like would you just would you pray for our house pray for our people that God would like bestow a Gift of faith and just whatever else the Holy Spirit puts on your heart Well, can I just read one verse? Yes So the basically this has been on my heart for a bit. Well, but I think it kind of Really comes together in his Deuteronomy 8 verse 4 right and so this is God talking. I mean, this is a Moses talking about you know what the Lord did for them and so I'll read verse 2 to 4 and you'll see where it goes. So Deuteronomy 8 verses 2 to 4 So it says and you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness To humble you and test you to know what was in your heart whether you would keep his commandments or not So we humbled you allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna Which did not which you did not know nor did your father's know that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone But man lives by every word that proceeds out the mouth of the Lord

There's what Jesus that's what you said verse 4 the very next verse Your garments did not wear out on you nor did your feet swell these 40 years So Moses tells them that you guys go through the whole wilderness and you guys are complaining. I need food I need you guys didn't even realize that your garments never wore out and your feet never swelled and you guys walked for 40 years and What's so what is so powerful about that is the idea that? You know my my whole life You know, I'm going through all these things and I could I could keep an eye like why isn't the Lord doing this to me? Why isn't the Lord doing this for me and never realize that my garments never wore out and my feet never swell and So that was really powerful that was sitting in my heart for a while So, um, yeah, so let me I guess so good pray pray that over us. Thank you for sharing. Yeah Yahweh, I just I pray for the altar fellowship. I pray for This whole community our way. I pray that That we just seek after you Holy Spirit that you will reveal yourself to every single person in this room Yahweh Jesus that you will appear to people in dreams and visions that loved ones will get to know who you are That we won't just be working just to work and we won't be just be going through the motion But we know who you are. We know you face to face Yahweh I pray that as we go through struggles and we think that you're far away that you remind us that our feast not swelling That remind us that you're there with us that you're you're growing us that that you're testing us that we could draw closer to you Yahweh, I Pray that that you bring other people into the altar fellowship that could help raise each other up Yahweh because you are so good. You are such a good father You know You give us bread when we need it and you just listen to all our prayers And I just pray that that we could get rest in that Yahweh that we can rest in your presence and rest Knowing that you are such a good father You never forsake us that when we're in the darkest of pits when we're drowning in water that you're there reaching out your arm Yahweh that you were calm in the storms and you're seeking after us and I

Just pray that that could get in our hearts that you're not just a God that's just sitting there You're not a God that's saying just prostrate. You're not a God who's saying, you know, just keep working keep working But you're a God who sees us for who we are who knitted us in the wound You're the God who who sees our hearts and knows, you know What we need and you're just such a great God Yahweh I just pray that that could sink it to our hearts and and that our outflow of Seeking after you and our outflow of helping the community is off of our love of you how you loved us first That you loved us before we loved you And I just pray for for everyone in the altar fellowship who is going through a bad time anyone who is suffering from depression anyone who's suffering from mental illness for anyone who is struggling with knowing who God is, that this will be a great moment to just run into you, Yahweh, that you'll appear in their dreams and visions, and they will get that fire in their hearts that when they read the Bible, it won't just be words, but it'll be you talking to them, Yahweh, that you'll be holding their shoulders and leading them through all the scripture. Yahweh, I just pray for your presence to just mightily be on here, and that the altar could become a throne room, and that you could set up shop right here, and we could just feel your presence, Yahweh. I pray for all of the communities around this area that they will flock to the altar and just get to know who you are, Yahweh. I pray that we could be a light to all, a light not to show off,

a light not to flash our lights, but a light to reflect everyone, to show who you are, Yahweh. I pray that everyone's faces will be glowing from being in your presence, and we no longer have to say, who is our God, because we will know exactly who our God is, the one who never gave up on us, the one who loves us and searches after us. And I just pray that we'll get the faith, our faith will be built up, and then we'll have a fire to share the gospel and share the good news with others, that they don't have to live in the darkness, they don't have to live wondering who their father is, but that you will show them exactly who they are, Yahweh. I just pray that you'll just build everyone up and we could just become a powerful, powerful arms and legs for you, Holy Spirit. Praise to Jesus' name, amen. Woo, that's good, praise the Lord, thank you. Well, hey, can we give it up for Omar and Lael, thank you guys so much, amazing. Thank you guys, so good. They're just incredible. Well, and that is it, so you are dismissed. Go love on somebody tonight. Bless you guys, we'll see you here Sunday.