Just as her peers are slowing down, dipping into retirement
funds and preparing to spend more time with the grandchildren, Margaret
Thompson has traveled to Tanzania, to be a missionary and serve Christ through
veterinary medicine.
“It’s a calling” Margaret says. “It’s something that God has put on my
heart. Like for Jeremiah who wrote that there
was a burning in his bones if he didn’t speak for God. When I am in a developing country serving in
veterinary medical missions I feel God smile; like that is what God made for
me.
If you’re fortunate enough to spend any time with Margaret,
you get the overwhelming impression that nothing is going to slow her
down. Determined and driven with a rich
and adventurous spirit, Margaret has selflessly spent the last 37 years of her
life serving her two loves: veterinary medicine and the Lord Jesus.
This devotion has seen her travel the world, both as a child
and as an adult, learning three languages and ministering to unreached people
in Central America, Africa, and the Caribbean.
Raised in an Air Force family, Margaret felt like she was always
traveling. She remembers the family packing and moving almost every few
years –France, Philippines, and multiple posts in the United States. While this would be unsettling for many of
us, Margaret embraced the changes. She
reflects that in hindsight, God was preparing her for this very moment.
“God used these experiences to mold me into the vessel He
needed for Tanzania. In His wisdom, I
believe He wanted me to experience life in all these countries while I was
young. I’m so grateful because today I
feel comfortable away from home and immersed in other cultures. I fee drawn to them.”
Margaret has long felt a strong calling to the mission-field. As a young Christian, and first year veterinary
student, she was active in Christian Veterinary Fellowship and was familiar
with the work of Christian Veterinary Missions (CVM) in developing
countries. In the years that followed,
Margaret pursued long-term opportunities with CVM but the Lord knew that
Margaret\’s mission-field, for now, was a little closer to home. With a young family to care for, the time
just wasn’t right.
“I was confused and dare I say angry at God for repeatedly
closing what had appeared to be an open door.
I had thought that within 5 years after graduation I would be in a
developing country, but looking back, I can see that He was simply a wise
father who knew that I wasn’t quite ready.”
Margaret now set her mind to raising her two children and building
a veterinary practice in Texas. But the flame
once lit by the Holy Spirit, still flickered.
Decades later, that smoldering flame reignited when Margaret
was some opportunities to go on short-term missions with various organizations,
including CVM. Her children were now
grown, so Margaret excitedly followed God’s call to her in Honduras, Uganda,
Mozambique, Benin, before finding Food For His Children in Tanzania.
“Finally I saw God’s plan for my life beginning to
unfold. It all happened in His perfect
time. Yes, the wait had been worth it,
but that was just the beginning!”
Today, after 32 years, Margaret is serving Christ with CVM’s
in-country partner, Food For His Children, a holistic community development
organization that uses hybrid dairy goats to show Christ’s love and provide
sustainable development opportunities to the world’s most vulnerable.
While Paul prayed for abounding love for his brothers and
sisters in Philippians 1:9, he also prayed for knowledge and discernment.
Margaret waited over 35 years for God’s calling in her life
to be realized, but in that time God was building her knowledge so that she
would be well prepared for the journey in front of her.
Reflecting on Margaret’s remarkable testimony, truly we can
see that “…he who began a good work in
you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 1:6)
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