Dr. Jake Hawkins: An Orthopedic Surgeon’s Faith Journey

What if your deepest setbacks became the signposts that point you toward your calling? We sit down with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jake Hawkins to trace a life shaped by a teenage femur fracture, a competitive path through medical training, and two seismic shocks early in marriage: his wife’s sudden type 1 diabetes diagnosis and the loss of his brother. Instead of breaking him, those seasons bent his heart toward Scripture, worship, and a quiet confidence that God weaves even unwelcome moments into purpose.

Jake opens up about the pressures of medical school, the uncertainty of the match, and the weight of surgical decisions that don’t allow do-overs. He shares why he prays before every surgery and how humility and God's presence guide his success. We explore how Galatians 2:20 reshapes identity, why 2 Chronicles 20 reframes fear as a call to prayer, and how spiritual warfare shows up in everyday stress. Miracles come up too: the unexplainable reversals that defy statistics and the quieter mercies delivered through skilled hands and sound medicine.

For future physicians and anyone navigating grief, doubt, or decision fatigue, Jake’s guidance is both practical and hopeful: be diligent where you are, let open doors confirm your path, and protect your soul with daily time in the Word and seasons of worship. Community matters—church, small groups, real accountability—because healing isn’t only a medical word. It’s what happens when courage meets truth in the presence of God.

If this conversation gave you hope, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help others find the show.

For more info on Dr. Jake Hawkins see the link below:

 https://www.orthoassociates.net/doctors/jake-hawkins-md

For more information contact us at
rtrdestiny@gmail.com

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introductions

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome. I'm John Martin. Very excited to be back here in the Destiny studio today, where we've got a very special guest and friend, Jake Hawkins. Jake, how are you? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. And of course, Valerie Peterson, our co-host, and a little more than that today, right? That's right.

SPEAKER_03 0:23

That's it. This is my son-in-law here with us today. It's pretty cool, right? Even looking forward to this show today, and it's here.

Jake’s Roots And Early Faith

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Yeah. Yeah, it's exciting. And and Jake, we uh, you know, to be honest, we we we don't get a lot of doctors that come in on the show. And oh it's and probably the reason is most of them can't get in here. That's right. It's hard to get people in. I know y'all in your profession, uh, you know, you have a lot of demands, so we're very thankful and honored to have you as uh you know as a as a doctor to come in and share a little bit about your faith journey and your background, if you don't mind, give us a little bit of background on you.

Young Life, College, And Marriage

Navigating Type 1 Diabetes And Loss

Trusting God Through Training And Match

Calling To Orthopedics After Injury

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Yeah, so um I was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. I moved down here to Dustin, Florida when I was in the eighth grade. Went to high school at South Walton. Uh grew up in a Christian family. We went to church, went to Bible study. Um I met Valerie's daughter, Caroline, uh, my junior year in high school at South Walton. Um, I think uh one of the pivotal times in our relationship um was young life. That's kind of the first, you know, really thing that cemented our faith together, right? We took a young life trip with some friends, um, our senior year in high school, and that was um a really good experience for us. Um, you know, we went off to college, I went to Florida State, uh, we got married after college, right before I started medical school. Uh about six months into our marriage, Caroline was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. You know, so that was a a big wrench thrown, not only in life, but relationship and and everything else that's going on with that. Um, you know, she no symptoms before, you know, a couple days before she got sick. You know, she's healthy and and so that's a a big change. Um, you know, and again, going through these things, you know, you learn that God's there, right? And that that you can lean on your faith through these things. Um, you know, Jesus comforts those who are in dark places, right? Um so we we worked through that. Uh she's been a trooper with that, just excellent across the board. Um and then a year later, my brother passed away. Two years older than me. Um, so our early marriage um really had a lot of difficult times. Yeah. Right. Um, and I think that that has built our marriage to where it is now, right? We've been through these things. We we understand the sorrow, the grief, everything that you can go through emotionally. We we went through our first couple years of marriage, right? And you see during those times, right, there's signs um that God is with you, right? There's signs that my brother's in heaven, right? There those things come to you in the moment, and you really try to hold on to them, right? And and during those times we had different ways of coping, right? Different songs, different verses, you know, and there's different verses for each season, right? And and that's something that we've learned, um, you know, that that God is good. Um, you know, everything's not perfect. This is a fallen world, right? And we just have to lean on our faith and and move forward. Um so moving through that, that was in med school. Um we went through training, you know, and again, you you can see when you look back and you know that God has a hand in everything. You know, it gives you comfort. Right? With with medical school, there's, you know, it's competitive to get in, it's competitive to match in and subspecialties, right? There's a whole match process where, you know, thousands of of applicants that are very well qualified go in and try to go to specific places, right? And they only take three, right, from each spot, right? So it's just this this it helps when you know that God is guiding your path, right? Because it takes some of the stress out of it, you know, wherever we go, and and and we can tell looking back, right? We went to UAB in Birmingham for residency, um, and uh again our faith grew tremendously there, right? We hosted a Bible study, we had people from our residency come over once a week, we read the Bible, you know, those types of things that you you look back and say, well, if we were somewhere else, would that have happened, right? Would you have had those opportunities? Um and then we got blessed with uh having the opportunity to come back here to Dustin to practice um with orthopedic associates, um, which is you know one of the main reasons I got into medicine in the first place. All right, when I was at Dustin Middle School, I had a football injury and broke my femur. Um and and one of the doctors at Orthopedic Associates, Dr. Thackeray, took care of me, and it was just the the way, you know, that he treated us, the way that the practice was run, that was kind of the first, you know, the first sign that that was kind of what I was called to do.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

So in your mind, even back then, did you kind of think maybe you might be back working with him one day? That was the goal.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

That was the goal, and you see how God just puts things together, you know. Wow.

Sustaining Faith Under Stress

SPEAKER_03 5:56

Pretty amazing, pretty amazing. I'm looking at, you know, that verse in Romans 8 28, it doesn't say all things are good, but all things weave together for good for those that love the Lord. And and look at how, you know, going through a a football injury, and here it helped you to realize am I right here, the possible call on your life. That's right. Was a stir was there a stirring before that that you maybe want to be a doctor?

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Not that I remember. Yeah. I mean, that was the first thing I remember, you know, in eighth grade being like, huh, that's pretty cool. You know? Kind of like what kind of like what he's doing, and Dr. Thackeray is an amazing guy, you know, and and so just seeing the whole package of, you know, orthopedics, what he's doing, how he's helping people, and then his personality, he was a cr he's a Christian as well, you know, those types of things. Um just really pushed me in that direction.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

What keeps your faith strong? Like when you are we all have situational stressors, when you have a ton of situational stressors going on, what keeps you stable and strong?

God’s Presence In The Operating Room

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Yeah, that's a good question. So um I mean a lot of it I think is what we've already been through as a family. Right? And you know, yeah, another thing that I left out is is Jeff passing, right? That's another thing, a huge, huge impact on our family that came later in life, right? Um but you know, when you go through those tough times, you just learn to lean on the Lord, right? You learn that He's there, you learn that His presence is felt, right? Um, you know, every day I try to read the Word, right? Try to read the Bible some sort, right? There's a lot of different opportunities out there to go through it, right? You can pick up a Bible like you got there, John, or you can, you know, get on an I uh an app. There's all sorts of podcasts that go through things. So I I do that on my commute to work, right? And and you know, depending on the situation, what we're going through, sometimes I'll go to worship, right? And and really lean heavily and worship through through a period of time if it's a tough if it's a tough patch. But I mean I think those are the two the two big ones, right? Reading the word and you know, worshiping.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

Have you ever felt in your career like, okay, God, this is way bigger than me.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Yeah, I mean many times. Right? Especially getting getting through training, right? And you know the competitiveness of it, and you just can see his his hand guiding their steps, right? Each surgery I do, right? I mean his hand is guiding my steps, right? These are complex things that we're doing. And we do a lot of them, but it's still, you know, there's still big surgeries. Yeah. Right. And and I just, you know, I I surrender to him, right, and let him guide me through this process because he put me here, right? I didn't do anything to get to this position, right? He has blessed me with where I am, with the practice I have. Um and he's there all the time, right? He's with us. He's in the offer operating room, you know, there watching over.

SPEAKER_03 9:23

You know, John and I were talking about how cool it is that you bring your faith into the workplace. Can you talk about that for our listeners?

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Yeah. Um, so I I do pray with every patient preoperatively, so in the in the pre-op area. And you know, that's for many reasons, right? Just like I talked about. You know, number one, God is with us, right? He's gonna be the one that's guiding my hands. Number two, that's who I am, right? I'm praying for myself at the same time that I'm praying for the patient, right? And then, you know, number three, um, which I I think is very cool, you know, I've been in practice for a little over two and a half years now, um, and I've never had anybody tell me no. Right, which is which is very, very cool, right? And and you know, you can just say, Hey, do you mind if I pray with you today? You know, and and there's patient, you know, you get to know patients over years of conservative treatment, and there's some that I know aren't believers. Right? But the but they they say, Yeah, sure, you know, and you pray with them, and maybe that's a touch point, right? Maybe that's something that can, you know, trigger their mind, right? They're gonna be recovering for a few weeks after this, you know, maybe they'll they'll think about things like that and and you know, get interested and pick up a Bible or you know, turn on a podcast.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

So I'm thinking I'm thinking, you know, here you are stepping out in the workplace, taking a risk and asking people, yay, you know, can we pray? Was there a mentor for you? Was there somebody that because I always look at we're passing on. We need to pass on to others to encourage others to reach out and share Christ. Is there anyone for you that was a mentor?

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Dr. Logan Brooks, and he is a retina surgeon in Tallahassee. And that was when I was in um when I was in medical school, he led a Bible study for a lot of the residents. He wasn't associated with with FSU, um, but he had been doing it for a long time, and and so a lot of the medical students uh once a week would go over there, we'd go through uh different books, um, you know, Galatians, Romans, those types of things, and pray, and then he'd share, you know, just stuff about his life, right? And that was that was very influential, right? Because you're a you're a medical student. There's a you know, a surgeon there that is well established that is being open and honest and and going through that. So that that was my mentor um for sure when it came to Didn't he feed you all? I mean he opened it to medical students for dinner. Him and his wife opened everything up, and yeah, it was yeah, they were a huge blessing. Uh what a ministry.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah. Well, I love what you said too, just like because you're you're yes, you're praying for the patient, but you're praying for yourself. That's right. Like as much because you know, I know y'all doctors have you've got a lot of stress and a lot of things on you, and you know, you you need the prayers to be able to be refreshed and be able to focus and tune out the problems of the world. So it's awesome. It's wow, this is so great, Jay. Keep going.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

Is there a scripture that you would say is your favorite that you stand on through seasons?

SPEAKER_00 12:48

I think that changes based on the season.

unknown 12:51

Yeah.

Life Verses And Calling Over Career

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Right. When we were doing our pre-show prayer, you said Galatians 2.20, right? And that's one that I have gone back to many times. That would if you made me pick one, that would be it, right? I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, right? But Christ who lives through me, right? If you really break that down, right? And that's that's that's how I approach life, right? It's not it's not me, right? It's not us. It's it's God living through us and and you know, getting him involved in every aspect of our life is the way that we do that.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

You know, you you're saying this, I'm thinking when I was a new believer, when I got that verse, and I said, it's not uh my name was Val Anderson. Valerie Anderson, I it's not about Valerie Anderson anymore, it's about the Christ who lives in my and then I the revelation, I can do anything because it's not about me. I can really do anything he calls me to do. And really, do you look at what you do for a living as a call?

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I I can, you know, I'm confident that he he guided my path to put me in this position. Right? It's not a job, it's a it's a calling to to try to help people and try to turn people to to Christ.

Fear, Battle Belongs To The Lord

SPEAKER_01 14:07

I think it's a calling too, just for other physicians that you're gonna touch, you know, to just help them to step out, you know, in their faith and grow in Christ and in their you know, in their life and in their practice. Because in in typically most doctors just aren't. They feel like their job is just to come in and get focused and do their job and not really say much. Um but I have encountered a few that actually do. It was actually uh an ER doctor that was at a retreat I went to that's up in Birmingham that he was sharing, and he shared his testimony that he actually the Holy Spirit called him on a few occasions, like to go say something to a patient that was in there in like a dire situation and say something, you know, and he was like, Oh, really? You know, but he did it, he was obedient, you know. So it's it's it is happening. You know, and by Jake, by doctors like you just sharing this, I think it'll encourage others, you know. So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

To to to really step out. You know, we recently were talking about in 2 Chronicles 20th chapter, and I look at you sometimes when you have all these cases going, you know, you have three young kids busy there, you know, um just situational stress that we all go through. And you know, we talked about 2 Chronicles 20th chapter where King Jehoshaphat had three vast armies coming against him. And what did the prophet speak was the battle's not yours, but it's mine. How is that concept that the battle's not mine?

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Right.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

It's his how does that affect you?

SPEAKER_00 15:55

And in that story, right, he went to prayer, right? And we've talked about this before, right? But he didn't go and gather his armies and come up with a battle plan, right? He went to the Lord in prayer, right? And that's that's what you have to do.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

And I if you notice in the beginning it says alarmed when he was told that the vast armies were coming against him, alarmed, meaning in fear. So we have to just do things afraid sometimes, right? When it's uncomfortable. We have to just say, Father, take these situations and you have to weave it together for good. And then he shows up. Right. Do you notice trust and faith, right? Trust and faith. I love it.

Advice For Future Medical Students

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Yeah. And Jake, a a lot of our mission with this show is really to give people hope and increase one's faith. Um and I was just thinking a second ago, like I feel like there's some younger people out there that are, you know, thinking about going into medical school, but they just feel a lot of stress and a lot of their ability, can I do this? What what what advice do you have for anybody listening now that is in that position?

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, that's a great question. Because it is a s I mean, it's a stressful period to get to where you you're you finally made it, quote unquote, right? And then it continues to remain stressful, right? Because you're you want patients to do well, right? You're caring for them, they become, you know, friends, you're praying for them. Um what I would say is is be still, and if that's what you're called to do, that he'll make a way, right? Do the best you can, right? Where the wherever you are in your training, right? If you're in high school, right, do the best you can there, right? Get to college, do the best you can there, right? Try to try to make the best grades that you can, right? Put all the effort into it. And if the door is open, then the door will be open, and if that's what God wants for you, then then He'll lead you that way.

Grief, Worship, And Spiritual Warfare

SPEAKER_03 18:00

What would you say to someone maybe listening? You know, I think of both of you being men, you are you're gonna grieve differently than females to somebody that you know you've walked through loss. Even Caroline's health issue was a loss what of what was supposed to be. She wasn't supposed to have type one diabetes. What helped you to get through the losses in your life with your brother and and your father-in-law?

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Um a lot of it worship. Right, worship through the darkness, right? And and finding, you know, a handful of of worship songs that that you can just surrender and thank God for the blessings you have, you know, and look towards the heaven, right? It's you know, we fight, you know, hardships every day, right? Like we were talking about before the show. Everybody's got hardships, right? Some of them health, some of them emotional, some of them financial. Um, but they they affect everybody. Um and you know, worship and reading reading the word, right? We don't fight flesh and blood sometimes. It's it's the spiritual forces that that we're fighting. And the way to prevent that is to one, worship God and two, read the read the Bible or switch the order. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

That's good. Yeah, that's good.

Miracles: Divine And Medical

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Well, I wanted to ask about miracles. Um miracles are something that a lot of people are believing for. And I've been I've been listening to pastors, um, a lot of pastors are saying that we're about to enter just a season of uh revival and just God's gonna bring a lot of miracles uh in this next season. I've been hearing that a lot, and but I I know a lot of a lot of people they go to doctors and stuff and they get all this all these percentages and just this and this, and and it can kind of be hard for people, you know, to deal with. Well, how do you see that as a doctor, you know, in terms of believing for miracles, but also, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

I I I mean I believe in miracles for sure. Um you know, I think they can come in two ways, right? They can be miraculous from God, right? Where everybody, where the numbers you're talking about point to the wrong direction, right? And then he comes in and heals you. Yeah, right. And they can also be through physicians and through medicine, right? Through the hands of a physician, through the assistance of medication, right, that can that can heal people. Um, so I hope you're right. I'd love to see a revival of of miracles coming along.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

And I I know probably just you being a physician, you've seen some. I I know most have, like that where doctor friends that I have, they're like, I I just can't that's there's no explaining that from a medical perspective. So it's always cool when you hear that.

SPEAKER_03 20:55

Definitely, definitely. You know, if someone wanted to find out more about you and your credentials, where what's a website at Orthopedic Associates, just so they could check into who you are more?

How To Find Jake And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Yeah, orthopedicassociates.net. Uh we've got offices here in in Destin uh for Walm Beach in Crestview. Um and I've got a bio on the website. You can make an appointment on the website. Uh you can call, make an appointment. Um, but that would be the the the place to go, orthopedicassociates.net. Awesome. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Yeah, Jake, as as we come to the end, is there anything else or anything on your heart that you would want to say to somebody listening out there today that's looking for for for hope?

Hope, Scripture, Church, And Small Groups

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Yeah, um, thanks for having me on the show. This has been great. Um, you know, when when you go through tough times, right, whether it's if you're coming in to see someone like me because you've got chronic pain or knee problems or hip problems, or if you're dealing with loss or you know, depression and emotional. emotional things you know I would I would urge you to get into the word right and start there right find something whether it's a podcast the Bible app or pick up the Bible and get into the Word if if that leads you to worship then go to worship as well right but but that's you know that's the most important thing that is the word of God that is what he has given us to be closer to him and and to live our lives by.

Closing Thanks And Invitation

SPEAKER_01 22:32

That's awesome you you were kind of saying our our pillars of road to redemption I was like we don't have to say yeah we we we try to say that every show is just encourage people to to read the Bible you know it's on your phone or you get get a heart because that God will speak to you through that he will heal you and just just really give you give you hope through that word and then uh to also get into to a church go go to a Christ centered church and here in Northwest Florida Destiny Worship Center just amazing church campuses all over uh Northwest Florida so just go to the website and just wherever you are go find a Christ-centered Bible believing church and just go uh and then get into a small group uh group of uh you know married couples or singles what whatever stage of life you're in and just get into that group and it's you know somewhere you can make yourself vulnerable and accountable and really receive great therapy Val right small group that's right you're right yeah yeah so good accountability we talk about all the time having people that we're accountable to even if it's one person that you can be honest with and transparent um is just so important and that small group concept sure can help with that right yeah yeah yeah it's been such a great show and I I would just say any other doctors out there we'd love to have have you on I think you're the second one we had Dr. Stickler and that was so great. So I hope this will encourage some more of your doctor friends to come share with us their faith journey. That's it that's it it's been great thanks Jane thank a lot appreciate it