“ How will you serve me in retirement ?” This was God ’ s question to my husband , Bob , in 2017 during a two-week mission trip to Mexico . Bob never said anything to me about God ’ s question to him .
In 2019 , I went on a similar short-term trip to Mexico and clearly heard the Lord ask me the same question . When I returned home and shared this with Bob , he said he had been waiting for God ’ s confirmation to me since he didn ’ t want to influence me prematurely . This supernatural confirmation was our first of several “ God-firmations .”
Photo : The Tauschers served with OMS in Spain in the summer of 2023
Fast forward to 2021 . Retirement was just one year away , so we began applying for mission work through Mission Next , which is similar to LinkedIn but for missions . We input our information : age , skills , spiritual gifts , interests , history of service , and more … then we waited .
In the waiting , we sold our home of 31 years , where we raised our four kids . We got rid of a lot of our stuff and downsized considerably — in part , for future availability to serve in missions . This is where living outside our comfort zone became REAL for the first time . Many “ God-firmations ” occurred during this time , and our “ God-fidence ” in his patience , provision , and loving encouragement multiplied tenfold and prepared us to let go of our comforts , familiarities , and routines as we strove to rely fully on him each day .
We received emails from several mission organizations , mainly seeking Bob ’ s skill set in engineering . In January 2022 , just one month from our retirement , OMS reached out with not one but two Embark internship positions open in Spain at Camp Peña de Horeb : one for a maintenance assistant and one for a kitchen assistant . What a total answer to prayer as these roles matched our skills and the areas we love to serve ! I grew up going to church camp every summer and received Christ there at age 12 . It had a powerful , literally life-changing influence on my life , and the idea of serving at a camp and seeing Jesus connect my past to my future simply blew me away !
We arrived in Spain in early June 2023 and served until the end of August . While ministering at the camp , the days were long , hot , and often exhausting , but God ’ s joy filled us anew each morning .
Despite working on our Spanish for a year , our language deficit humbled and sometimes frustrated us , but mostly , we had lots of fun using charades or Google Translate . Again , we were way out of our comfort zone , but God gave us peace . Peña de Horeb is a light in Spain . What a privilege to serve there for a short time .
We clearly do not fit the young adult summer intern demographic of most who participate in OMS ’ Embark program . However , our Father opens doors and allows us to serve him in unimaginable and rewarding ways if we are just willing .
Is God calling you ? We hope so ! Will he stretch you beyond your comfort zone ? Yes , most likely . Will he be with you every step of the way as you rely on him ? Absolutely !
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