In this powerful episode of To All The Dreamers, host Dr. Chrysandra Brunson welcomes back international lawyer and author Jeanette Gabay for a deeply moving conversation on faith, purpose, and survival. Jeanette shares her incredible journey from the Netherlands to the heart of Israel—a move sparked by a “fairytale” love story with a man named Moses—and how they have navigated the “wilderness” of building a tourism ministry during global upheavals. From the lockdowns of COVID-19 to the harrowing events of October 7th, Jeanette provides a firsthand account of what it is like to live under the threat of rocket
00:26:51 Conclusion and How to Connect with Jeanette
CHRYSANDRA :
Welcome, everyone, to The Calling’s radio show to all the dreamers. I’m your radio host, Dr. Chrysandra Brunson, founder and CEO of The Calling, and it is such an honor to be with all of you today. You know, at The Calling, we have realized that so many people are afraid to go after the dreams that God has put inside each one of our hearts because they are afraid to fail. And that is just plain wrong because if God has given us a dream and we’re not living it out, we are wasting it and we do not want to die with regret. That’s why at The Calling, we love to inspire, empower, and equip people to, after Jesus’ calling on their lives, treat the best kind of eternal legacy possible to have immediate impact on ourselves and our families. And we love to do this through so many different avenues, through custom tools, programs, workshops, global conferences. but mostly through this radio show where we bring on world-renowned guests to share how they’re going after their God-given dreams and how you can do the same. Today, you guys asked for it, and we were able to have the one and only Jeanette Goodbye on with us again. And Jeanette, we’re so honored to have you back. And welcome to the show. Shalom, shalom.
JEANETTE GABAY :
Thank you for having me.
CHRYSANDRA :
Shalom, shalom. We have to note that, is it? So if you just say one shalom, you have to say it twice. Is that correct? Listen, it’s just more goodness.
JEANETTE GABAY :
Like, I like the word shalom is so special. I mean, it’s not just, it means, it literally means peace. But shalom in its Hebrew root means wholeness. It means completeness. It goes way beyond just, you know, peace is not superficial, but there’s a lot more to this world.
CHRYSANDRA :
Right. And I love that that is a normal greeting that you will hear. All throughout Israel and just in so many warm hearts, being able to have that Old Testament legacy as well is just very powerful. And for those that weren’t able to tune in to you being on with us before, can you just share real quick your background and some of the leadership positions that you have held?
JEANETTE GABAY :
Yeah, so my name is Jeanette. I live in Israel, northern Israel. I’m a mom to three boys, married to Moshe, which is Moses in Hebrew. Yeah, that’s a pretty good name. He’s leading me through the wilderness. I was born and raised in the Netherlands. My parents are Christians, love the Lord, love the words, incredible fundaments. Well, I started spreading my wings, decided at some point in life that I want to study law and international law. And this was mainly caused by a tour that I did to Israel, which I understood that Israel is kind of treated unfairly in many different ways in the international realm. So I wanted to dive in and understand more about it. Well, the Lord… kind of chose this only as a preparation for different things. So eventually my husband, he said, it’s a package deal. It’s either, you know, we’re together in Israel or we cannot be together. So I said, okay, I’m in. And basically, you know, throughout the last few years, I’ve come to realize that it is my calling to make ambassadors for Israel, but in a very different way than I initially thought. So I’m not quite as active anymore as an international lawyer, but we bring people from all over to Israel to connect them to the roots of their faith, to the context in which Jesus was, you know, working. healing, doing miracles and just really meanwhile and on the go connecting them to current day Israel too, which has been an incredible privilege with some ups and downs. I mean, doing tourism in Israel with, you know, COVID and war and all of that. Definitely some giants on the way, but the Lord has always gently brought us back on track whenever we tried to do anything else or were in doubt. And so that’s where I’m at today.
CHRYSANDRA :
Oh, we love it so much. And Jeanette, we didn’t get to the love story on our first show in our first time together. We need to jump into that right away because we love those stories. And that’s a huge part of our callings being lived out. We want to know, how did you meet the Moses of your life? Yeah.
JEANETTE GABAY :
Oh, my. Yeah, so I quickly touched on it that I went to Israel this one time. So when I was here, I met a guy who was born in the Netherlands, too. So we connected. And he told me that he was active in the tour business. And that he would want to give lectures in the Netherlands, speak about Israel and basically sell tours, you know, convince people to come to see the country. So he asked for my help if I could, you know, help set up lectures and all of that. So I thought, you know, that’s a great way of actually getting, you know, Israel on the map and, um, speak to the people that I love about, about this country. So I read and I, uh, for a week long, I organized different lectures in schools and churches and, um, the Dutch guy calls me up and he says, you know, I’m not, I’m not coming by myself. I’m bringing my colleague and, um, colleague’s name was Moses, which, uh, So we basically hang out for a whole week in which he was teaching about Israel. He was an incredible Bible teacher. And I’m standing next to him translating him. And during one of those lectures, my mom was in the audience and she came up to me later on. She said, I don’t know if you guys realize, but I see something is going on between the two of you. Which was, yeah, moms know. They do know.
CHRYSANDRA :
They do know, don’t they?
JEANETTE GABAY :
They do know. Yes, totally. So we stayed in touch. We talked a lot. And listen, it was a big thing. I was pretty young. I didn’t know Israel very well. And besides that one time that I’d been there, I didn’t know much about the country. That specific tool had more political focus and not so much biblical. So it was a big thing, but I’m so thankful that I had the courage to step into it. Yeah. I remember he, um, she was just very insecure if I would actually come to Israel. Now he, he, for him, there is no other home. So, uh, it was pretty clear, but, um, I, you know, I, I wanted to show that I was serious about it. So I remember that he was doing another such lecture tour in Germany, which isn’t too far out from the Netherlands. And I decided to just, you know, go see him, surprise him and tell him that I’m fully. So he was surprised. preaching in another church, halfway, I walk in, he starts to stutter. We have this beautiful balance. And the rest is history.
CHRYSANDRA :
Oh my gosh! This is out of a storybook, a fairy tale. And God’s fairy tale story for humanity right now in our generation. What would you say, Jeanette, for people that are waiting on love and waiting… Not just for any love, but for God’s love. What would be your encouragement? Because it kind of this happened when you least expected it. And that’s what a lot of people do say.
JEANETTE GABAY :
Yeah, I think in the prior talk that we had, I was speaking about stewardship of what God has given you. I think a lot of that, there’s a lot of diamonds that can be harvested when you’re actually doing that. So I believe that if the right one hasn’t appeared yet, and you’re looking for someone, it’s probably when you’re forcing it too much that might not actually help it. But when you’re asserting what God has given you and, you know, you’re creating connection by connection and building skills and ripening and maturing as a woman or, you know, and in faith as well. Probably all of that is, you know, leading you to the right one.
CHRYSANDRA :
Oh, that is that it’s very powerful. Thank you so much for that encouragement. And I know that that speaks to so many souls and that you that you and your husband were able to unite and that you were able to join him on this adventure to move from your homeland to to Israel, which is another homeland for all of us, but is very brave and courageous. On this journey of going after God’s calling, we love hearing of circumstances that seemed completely impossible, that there was just no way that it was going to happen unless God did provide a miracle. Can you just share one of those miracle stories with us and what really happened and needed to happen in order to get to the other side of the cliff, per se?
JEANETTE GABAY :
Yeah, I think the miracle is really in the provision and in direction, I would say. So as I laid out, you know, we thought we’re called to bring people to the land. And then literally, you know, the gates were shut during COVID. There was no in, no out. And we tried running from it. We tried, you know, going different directions, but the Lord very gently brought us back. So we’re actually at the point of, you know, laying out a different career. And then God sent a guy like sitting next to us in a restaurant that was just, you know, it just pulled us back in, which is very interesting to see looking back how the Lord is just not, you know, giving up on it. But also he’s like widening the scope of things. So making a message to Israel, very well, what do you do during COVID? So this is actually the moment where we’re like, okay, how can we do what we feel that we’re called to, but when everything that we’re used to, we can’t actually do. So this was the birthplace of our online academy that we built up, which was just a whole other set of skills that were needed there, a whole different network and all of that. But it has been an incredible blessing. So basically when people couldn’t come to Israel, we brought Israel to them. We filled the country. We gave a lot of like on-site teachings and just pretty much what we would do when you would be here. We get it all in an online tool. And then war hits and the same thing happens. So you have to reconfigure. During the war, we realized that our focus should be as well more outward. You know, the connections that we have abroad are actually a testimony to the Israelis. So it’s really by thoughtful prayer, taking minor steps and just, you know, always as well, not be distracted by too many different things. Like there’s a lot of noise. There’s a lot of opportunities. There’s a lot of things you could do. But I think when the Lord has put something on your heart, it’s a great way of just checking, double checking, does this work? you know, add up to the major thing that God has put on our hearts. And sometimes things can be very different. So when we thought it’s only regular touring, it can actually be an online course. It can actually be testifying towards local Israelis. But yeah, it’s like very often it feels like you’re drawn by the… Yes, it’s like…
CHRYSANDRA :
It’s like when God gives us like these what we think are dead ends. He’s like, actually, there’s a trail right here. You’re going to go walk on and explore and meet the most incredible people and gain the greatest tools to be able to. see what the next chapter of our calling looks like and that was such a that’s an incredible example um with how he did stretch humanity during that time and especially for you and your family to be living through that in a tourism company and knowing that that’s what he had called you to Jeanette, we do need to take a short break, but everyone, we have so much more to learn from Jeanette. We’re going to dive into October 7th and just even just with this recent happenings of this year, what it was like to live in Israel during this time. Stay tuned. Twist and shout with Lee & Co. They are the premier oldies band delivering the rock and roll vibes you’ve been missing. Great songs, great memories. Book them at LeeAndCo.com. Hi guys, this is Chrysandra Brunson, host of To All The Dreamers. I am so happy to introduce personal training, nutritional guidance, and behavioral change coaching. Healthy, happy, and heavenly for your wellness, spirit, soul, and body. Contact Mimi Kroger at healthyhappyandheavenly.com. Continue to grow in the calling God has for you through ORU Online.
JEANETTE GABAY :
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CHRYSANDRA :
At Ignite Brilliance Coaching, you will get 34 years of science teaching, a decade of university-level instruction, and over 10 years of instructional coaching to empower educators with the tools, mindset, and confidence to thrive. Contact Ignite Brilliance Coaching on Facebook. We are back. Thank you for listening to all the Dreamers radio show. We are so honored and humbled to have our dearest new friend and world shaker, international lawyer and author and speaker. There’s a lot to this list and wife and mom so much. Jeanette, goodbye. Jeanette, you were just sharing how you were able to see all these miracles come to be when you least expected it. Walking by faith, starting, you know, just having this company with your husband and just seeing the Lord provide everything. You know, through these journeys and this calling, you personally have been able to witness historic events, prophetic events that have really touched the ends of the world. And we would just want to know from your heart and your lens, this agonizing event that happened on October 7th, what that was like to be able to be in Israel and what happened from your lens and where are we at today?
JEANETTE GABAY :
Well, let’s start at the very end, because we were just speaking about miracles. And I think, you know, we were speaking on a personal level. But if I can take it a little bigger, I think I’ve seen a lot of major miracles on national level. Like about the 7th of October, we were at the point where there was an existential threat for Israel, like Israel. what was going on, the level, the intensity, just the mere threat from, you know, seven different fronts eventually turned out to be, that could have easily been Israel’s end, by all means. And it wasn’t. And not only that, we’re seeing that we have Gen Z, the generation that is actually fighting the current war, has built so much resilience and they are just… ready to to to rock the boat and take over and um uh and not only that like like just recently um they were sharing some figures here in the news about new um gas deals and economic growth and and that israel is supplying like air defense to germany who would have thought that like we’re 80 years after the Holocaust and after such a major tragedy, here we are. And, you know, not only have we survived it, Israel is actually thriving. So I have a lot of good hope. I think the fact that the developments are good. Yes, there is a lot of trauma. You started speaking about October 7th, the events that took place, they have impacted each and every one in this country is we are a very small country we have about 10 million people it means you’re always either you know first line or second line related to somebody that is involved with something so there’s always like one you’re either directly impacted or you have one person in between which is uh um which is sadly makes that you know you’re you’re we have witnessed a lot of And losses and a lot of stress and a lot of, yeah, just, you know, impact. So imagine October 7th, everybody’s called up. My husband was called up. My brother-in-law was called up to go straight down to the kibbutzes that are, you know, on bordering the Gaza border at sea. You know, one day you’re just a regular father, you know, playing with your kids and the other day you’re supposed to do things that nobody is supposed to do or see.
CHRYSANDRA :
Where were you at personally on October 7th?
JEANETTE GABAY :
I was here in my village, so it was a scary place to be at that point because we were so close to the Syrian border. And while things started to unfold in the south, the main fear was that the same thing would happen in the north. Now, the border to Gaza isn’t that big, so there’s not too many communities even. If anything would have happened on the northern border, this would have been… something that I don’t think, I don’t know if Israel would have ever been able to cope if we would have been called in surprise. So I think, you know, we have this whole area bordering Lebanon and then the area where we live in Syria. If everybody would have joined forces, this could have been, you know, major trauma. And then you’re kind of stuck. Like the guys were being pulled up immediately. They had to leave us behind, which was very scary for them because Again, we had no idea what would be going on on the borders here. But you’re called for duty, so that’s what you do. Wow. And just the first few weeks were so messy. All the guys gone. The women, children stayed behind. young soldiers coming in order to protect us. And until everything sort of started to settle, we realized this invasion type something, the northern borders, is actually not going to happen. That is when we started to breathe again. And, you know, meanwhile, we had rocket attacks. So the fact that we live so close to the border basically means that you have hardly any time to breathe. uh, find shelter. So, uh, there is a, there is an amazing system that measures, you know, when a project crosses into Israel and it gives you an alert. But if you live close to the border, it means it, it basically means that we usually have between five to 10 seconds in order to find some place of shelter, which is very, it’s nothing.
CHRYSANDRA :
So again, so it’s five and just so everyone’s understanding, these are missiles coming in and you have five to 10 seconds to be able to find shelter. And for those that aren’t familiar as well, Jeanette, just with the bomb shelters, what does that even look like and what does that mean? And do children have them at the playgrounds?
JEANETTE GABAY :
Yeah, so Israel has a great network of all different types of shelters. So basically, we have a shelter next to the soccer field. We have a shelter next to the basketball field. We have a shelter in kindergarten. We have in our village, which is, again, we have about 110 or so families. We have… 20 community shelters. So basically any house that doesn’t have a special safe room, whenever you don’t have a safe room, you need to get to the community shelter. And basically Israel’s authorities, they said, I think any house built after 2000 and something, you won’t get any permits in order when you do not build a safe room. So I’m currently sitting in a newly built house, which is a miracle again. But we had to build this specially secure room with different layers of concrete and iron framing and special doors and special filters and special windows. So basically, if you have one of those in your house, you’re usually, when things are tense, we’ll all sleep there. But yeah, again, there’s lots of people in Israel that don’t have one. And they either go to the staircase, they lay flat on their… On the floor or they go run to a community shelter.
CHRYSANDRA :
You know, Israel has an astounding way of rising up just national leaders and for every citizen to be able to serve the country. Can you just share a little bit about that as well within the culture and that your husband that he wanted to, but also it’s, you know, it’s a duty for quite a while as a Israeli. Yeah.
JEANETTE GABAY :
We are a people’s army, so it really means that pretty much there are some exceptions here and there, but everybody’s serving, including the girls. So it is incredibly formative and it plays a major role as well in the social structure of the country. So everybody’s going through a similar sort of experience for three years. Where there is no, you know, there are no differences. There are no, you know, everybody goes through the same hardship and has to go through the same training and all of that. It creates an incredible sense of belonging. Interestingly, you know, the World Health Organization, they’re doing like a happiness report every year.
JEANETTE GABAY :
And Israel is always scoring very, very high.
CHRYSANDRA :
Well, it’s almost like resilience and that… The women and the men are looking forward to their time to serving, which I think that we can all attest is it seems appalling almost to maybe to a stranger to the culture. But it’s true. And I love that you brought up that statistic that it does rise up almost a superhero within each of us.
JEANETTE GABAY :
It is very interesting. So they say that happiness is actually measured by your sense of belonging, your sense of giving. Imagine that you as an 18-year-old, you are an unmissable part of a bigger mechanism that is here to protect you and your family. So it gives you a sense of, you know, you’re adding something. You are worth it. It’s very important as well that there’s no measuring different roles within the army. That would be more important or less important. If you want to be in an elite unit and you think the cook is doing less of a job, you’re not going to be in the elite unit. So this is very much the culture that is being brought on. And then, you know, this forms relationships and friendships in such a profound way. So most Israelis, their major, like their best friends are those that they serve together with. And then it brings, you know, we need to build up a network within the country of people that, you know, go to different places, really different things. They bring the guys and the girls, by the way, to bed for reserve duty very regularly. And then it doesn’t matter if you’re making a million dollar a year or you’re a taxi driver or whatever, you’re all sleeping on the same stretchers again and you’re getting your noses aligned yet again. So it’s a major pillar in Israeli society.
CHRYSANDRA :
Yes. And I don’t know where time went by way too fast. Again, this show, it goes by way too fast. But I love that you just touched on the culture of Israel. And it is literally there’s nothing like it. What I’ve experienced personally and what you’ve also described, just be able to, you know, the sense of belonging, the sense of belonging. And we know, Jeanette, that there’s someone tuning in and they are afraid to really embrace their God-given calling. Is there a quote or scripture that comes to mind that you heard that changed your life to be able to pursue God’s calling on your life?
JEANETTE GABAY :
Well, you know, we have family scripture in our family. So there’s two verses, one from my side of the family, one from Michelle’s side of the family. They were sort of adopted. And we keep reminding ourselves and, you know, each the other about these. And I think they’re both very, very, very good. So the first one is Jeremiah 29. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give hope and a future. And actually in Hebrew, it’s plants of shalom. So we spoke about shalom being peace, being wholeness, being completeness. So this verse accompanies us and with me, the earlier generations. It’s something that runs in Moshe’s family. We decided to write it on a little note. When we were building the house, we put these little notes everywhere in the concrete. And I think it’s so good. The Lord has good plants. And he wants you to prosper and he wants you to be whole. He has plans of Shalom for you.
CHRYSANDRA :
Amen. Well, we love and admire you, Jeanette, so much. And we know that everyone wants to be able to get in touch with you if they haven’t done so already. How can they find you, get in touch, get one of your books, be able to hire you for speaking engagements, as well as come visit you in Israel and you and your family?
JEANETTE GABAY :
I think the best way to connect with me is through Instagram. So you can find me on Jeanette Gabay, J-E-A-N-N-E-T-T-E-G-A-B-A-Y. And when you look at my bio there, there’s the different things that I do are all in there. So the online course that I spoke about, it just literally transports you to Israel. Our tour company is mentioned there and the different, you know, news agencies that I write for also. So yeah, please let’s be friends.
CHRYSANDRA :
Yes. Well, everyone, please go connect with Jeanette right now. Be able to go follow her. Get one of her books. Be part of this movement. Remember what Paul said in Ephesians 4.1. As a prisoner of the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Till next time, dreamer. Keep dreaming big.
