40 years ago Auntie Margaret started working at Nazarene Hospital. She started as a CHW (Community Health Worker) and over time was trained to work in the operation room, assisting and scrubbing and for many years now being the Operating Room Supervisor.
On Friday, she threw a celebration to honor her 40th year of working here. We sang, ate, laughed and praised God for Margaret's life and ministry to the Lord, the patients and to each of us in many ways. I don't think it is possible to quantify the lives Margaret has touched in her 40 years of service here. As she mentioned, she seeks to help others know Jesus each day, and doesn't want anyone to have surgery, or a start to start without Prayer. She is definitely a prayer warrior - and has stopped me many times as we cross paths in our working days, letting me know that she is praying for me, or what God has told her to pray about. When I care for her as a patient, we always end praying for each other, and I am thankful for that relationship. 
She has trained numerous OR staff over the years in scrubbing, circulating, being in central supply. She has helped many a doctors, as they have been doing Csections or other cases giving advice as to what they might do in a certain situation, because she has more time in those ORs than anyone else. She has seen more cases and complications, has seen how Dr. Jim and others have gotten out of complications and she shares that knowledge with new doctors - who might need it - and we are thankful for her.
In 2008, God intertwined Margaret and I's lives, in how He uses and calls us. She got to go to Ethiopia for a prayer conference and she came back to share at our NMI night at Emmanuel Church. I had been here for less than a year, was still thinking and praying about long term mission vs just 2 years of service, and at that service, as she was sharing - God spoke to me that He was calling me to long term missions. When I see Margaret, I thank God that He used her and her faithfulness in my life to keep me here.
Margaret's obedience and faithfulness to God's call continues to be an example and inspiration to many of us here. I am thankful to have gotten a chance to work with her, to see her serve the Lord and to watch as she continues to pour out her life into the lives of new staff, helping them to see and understand God's call on their lives. Margaret - thank you for serving, we are blessed because God has crossed our paths together. 
