I began my journey in ministry long before entering the process to ordination. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a nurse. As a child, I got a Nurse's Kit for a Birthday or Christmas present; you know the kind: the little plastic nurse's bag with the plastic stethescope, thermometer, medicine bottle, and clip board! Even before I could read, I would look through my mom's nursing books and dream of the day when I would be a nurse.
That goal was accomplished in 1979 when I graduated from TWU and the subsequently passed my State Boards. I was an "RN"...Real Nurse! I had started, just shortly before my graduation, at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. I then spent the next 24 years there as a nurse.
Throughout my career as a nurse, I began to see nursing as ministry! Of course, I would often pray for my patients, and occassionally would pray with my patients. But as time went on and my position changed, I found it more and more difficult to pray with my patients. I just could not take that luxury of time. I was required to be present with physicians for exams, I needed to do my charting, I was needed to be an assistant for procedures. These and many other duties kept me from spending any length of extra time with my patients. Many knew I was a Christian and would ask me to pray for them, I just could not stop and pray with them. Fortunately, they understood!
I had always thought I would go back to school and get my Masters in nursing, becoming a Nurse Practioner or a Clinical Nurse Specialist. There were many who encouraged me to pursue furthering my education and I wanted to. Yet, it seemed each time I seriously considered it something just did not seem right. It didn't fit... little did I realize that God had other plans!
After a change of positions I found myself realizing that I was being led in a different direction; a direction I could have never imagined. The journey was just beginning!
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