Not Always Planned, but Always Perfect

By Benjamin Behnke

I graduated from a small East Texas school in 2005 and came to ETBU immediately.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.  For the first couple of years I tried a little bit of everything, but I never felt that I was in an area that I could make a career out of, much less a lifestyle.  I ended up completing a University Studies degree in December of 2008.  I thought I would be able to find a job with this degree, but nothing opened up.  This is where God showed me his plan for my life and began to put amazing things into motion.

"It was here that God revealed the world of nursing to me, and he started merging my thoughts and desires with his will for my life."

When I was at ETBU my first time around, I met the woman that would become my future wife.  Once we started dating and got engaged, I needed to find a job.  A friend of mine offered me one working at a local pharmacy.  I took the job and was instantly hooked.  I had never considered the medical field in any capacity, but my experiences there showed me a new world.  I realized I enjoyed helping and serving people, especially those that needed it most.  It was here that God revealed the world of nursing to me, and he started merging my thoughts and desired with His will for my life.

Six months after graduation I started working toward getting into a nursing school.  I was originally looking to go to school at the University of Texas at Houston, but God had different ideas.  Prerequisites never matched up, timing was always off, and finances never fell into place.  No matter how hard I tried to force the issue, something always made everything fall apart.  Out of the blue, someone from ETBU called me.  They said they knew I was looking into nursing school, and encouraged me to come back.  It was not hard for me to say yes.  I had wanted to go to ETBU, but the only drawback was that it wasn't around the area of Texas I wanted to be in.  My wife and I prayed over it, and after some time, we knew this was where God was leading us.  I applied to get into the program, and things just took off from there.  Almost instantly, everything lined up, and the next thing I knew I was starting my first semester of nursing school in one of the best programs in the State of Texas.  I was amazed to see what God was able to do and how His plan was way better than anything I could have ever imagined.

I am now starting my third semester, and I could not wish for a better place to be.  The faculty are amazing and show a genuine interest in me.  They want nothing more than for me to be a successful person and nurse.  They push me to be the best that I can be, and they encourage my classmates and I to care for each person we come into contact with in a manner that focuses on body, mind and spirit.  I have now found something that will be my lifestyle, but also happen to be my career, and none of it happened in my timing.  Everything is happening exactly when God wants it to, and I am just enjoying letting him lead me and take me places I never dreamed of.  I hope to continue on this path and become a nurse in either an ER or trauma unit, and eventually I want to move into flight nursing.