22. Don't Despise Small Beginnings and the Future of Medicine

Do not despise small beginnings"

Have you ever wondered where that phrase comes from? You guessed it it's in the Bible. In this episode, we discuss the origin of this verse and its meaning for the future of medicine. 

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

02:42 The Meaning Behind 'Don't Despise Small Beginnings'

03:17 Personal Reflections and the Physician Retreat

04:22 The Power of Prayer and Spiritual Preparation

11:36 Exploring the Scripture: Zechariah 4

15:46 Applying the Scripture to Medicine

21:08 The Current State of Medicine and Future Vision

23:51 Call to Action and Community Building

29:00 Closing Prayer and Final Thoughts

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Transcript

Restream recording Dec 12, 2024 • 07:27:27 PM: 0:00

Hello there. I'm Inga Hoffman. You have heard so many times, probably before, do not despise small beginnings. And have you ever wondered where that phrase actually came from? It is from the Bible. You guessed it correctly. And I want to dive into today's episode. How this became very meaningful to me for the movement that I believe God is creating in medicine. So stay tuned for after the music and we chat and we'll be right back. Welcome to the Heal the Healers podcast, where we explore the intersection of faith and medicine. Discover your god given potential and experience christ's healing in the midst of medical burnout I'm your host inga hoffman a pediatric hemog dog physician coach and follower of jesus Together we will navigate the challenges of medicine Integrate faith into our personal and professional lives experience spiritual renewal and find restoration in christ Welcome to the heal the healers where christ heals one physician and one patient at a time Well, hello there and welcome back to another episode of Heal the Healers. I am so excited to be with you today. My name is Inga Hoffman. I have been hosting this podcast for a little while, so welcome. Whether you're watching live, whether you listen on a podcast platform or on YouTube, I welcome you. I'm so glad you're here. And before we get started, thank you for subscribing and sharing the show. I would really appreciate it. This hugely helps other physicians to discover heal the healers as well, and just find a community where they feel like people get them, they belong, and they get some guidance on how to integrate faith and medicine. You can also follow this show either on YouTube. on Facebook at Heal the Healers or on your favorite podcast platform. So thank you so much for doing that. And I really appreciate it. But before we go further along, let's dive right into today's episode. And today I want to talk about this phrase, don't despise small beginnings. You know, we all heard this phrase before, but have you ever wondered where that actually is coming from? And you probably guessed it correctly. If we are on a faith based podcast, that means chances are it is somewhere in the Bible. And that is very true. But this actually became really, really relevant to me. And I want to share a little bit why I think this is a critical verse to look into how this became very important. personal to me, especially in light of the retreat that we hosted for physicians in November. So you might remember I hosted the Heal the Healers physician retreat in November this year. It's now just a little over five, six weeks ago. And I did a recap on the amazingness that happened at that retreat. And I want to build up on this a little bit and share a critical verse that came to me. to pass. Really? That meant a lot to me. That has to do with don't despise small beginnings. And overall, I will share what I believe the vision for medicine is what I feel pulled and called to do. But I think it will also help you on a personal level. So wherever you find yourself in your journey of faith and medicine, I think this will serve you as well. But I believe it will also give you the bigger kind of North Star type of picture to say, here's where we're actually headed. And here's why this is important. So when I put the retreat together for November, ahead of that retreat I did a lot of spiritual preparation. Obviously, there were people that prayed for me individuals that prayed for this retreat and for the people that were attending. And I'm so grateful for those that joined me in prayer and intercession. I also went to two different type of prayer meetings. One was at a different church and the other one was just a circle of people. people in my own congregation that prayed over me for this retreat. And I have to say that was incredible, powerful. So one was a prayer meeting that I attended at another church and I really appreciate that that people were able and willing to take time out of their congregational prayer meeting to pray over this retreat that was happening in the city, even I'm not in their church and really intercede for the presence of the Lord and for the people that were coming to the heal the healers position retreat. And it was amazing. And many people prayed over me and had very meaningful words, some of them prophetic words to share for the retreat. And it was really a huge encouragement to me. So as a side note, I want to encourage you that whenever you are embarking on a new journey, Get yourself around people that pray, pray over you, pray with you, pray it through for you and are there by your side. That is so powerful. And again, prayer works. The Lord loves it when we lift up our prayers and praises to him. And. This was no different in that. Yes, there were brothers and sisters that were ready to lift me up in prayer. Not only myself, but every physician that was coming to the retreat, every volunteer that was coming and helping and just for the whole event itself and most importantly, to pray for the presence of God to be to be there that people were really impacted. Amen. One person, though, specifically prayed and I think it might have been actually the pastor of the church. I'm pretty sure it was the pastor of that congregation who shared a word with me. And I prayed over me and said, Do not despise small beginnings. And that resonated with me very, very much in that moment. And it was sort of at the superficial kind of level, I would say, and talk a little deeper. So what do I mean by that? When I say this at the time leading up the month to the retreat, I, I always hoped that this would be a bigger event that more people could be reached. And it wasn't so much, I, I want this hundred person event, but it was. out of the desire of my heart that more doctors will be impacted because I know there's lots of you out there that are struggling, that feel alone, that feel like integrating faith and medicine is really hard. I've prayed for lots and lots of people through my physician prayer ministry that are really struggling, whether they have personal struggles, spiritual struggles challenges in their family, real health problems. So our new That there was a big, big need just even on a personal level. And I often felt discouraged along the way that Many have been called and few actually showed up. Having said that the number of people we had at the retreat was just perfect. Yes, it wasn't hundreds. It was a small intimate group of almost a couple dozen. But it was wonderful to see how the Lord impacted each and every person in the room. And that's really what my heart was all along for this. when the pastor prayed over me and said, do not despise small beginnings, it resonated on that level. Yes, there's fewer people here that I was hoping for, that my heart desired to see lives changed. But I trusted and at that moment also had peace that God put the right people, the right number of people in the right individuals in the room. And I might have alluded to this on my last episode. A couple of weeks ago that that's really what happened. I was in our our ministry team, meaning the guest and keynote speaker. We had commented multiple times. What a highly unique group of people. There was something special about that group of people and how they came together over the course of this weekend. So Don't despise small beginnings. And that was definitely true in in the level off. Yes, there is few, but few very critical people that are in the room. The second prayer that I got was a week or two later. My own congregation, people that are on the prayer team with me at my local church people that I trust they prayed over me. And actually it's very interesting, there was another pastor that prayed over me, who has been in ministry for a long time, a really wonderful man of God. And he wasn't at the first prayer meeting, but he said those very same words to me. Don't despise small beginnings. And that really got my attention. I realized there is something deeper that I should explore. So these two incidences that really spoke to me in my spirit, as well as we're spoken over the retreat and the vision for the retreat and the goal to impact physicians and medicine and healthcare by the power of God in a wonderful way. That really impacted me and spoke to me. And that resonated deeply with the whole purpose I was doing this in the first place. So it got me to actually ask, well, where is that scripture written? What is the context? And what can I learn? Because every time we get a word, we get a prayer. We should go back to scripture and actually study it and make sure. Is it aligned? Is it speaking to me here? What is God saying in those scriptures? So I went on a little question. I want to share some learning points with those scriptures and then also cast a larger vision. What I believe is happening in medicine, why it is critical for us to to gather. So let's dive right into the scripture here. So this very familiar scripture is from Zachariah. The verse that we're going to talk about is verse 10. But I thought I'm going to back up a little bit by a few verses. It's to read kind of a short section in context. So Zechariah four, we're basically talking about the rebuilding of the temple and Zechariah four, six says and I'm going to read it here for my screen. So he said to me, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might, nor by power, But by my spirit says the Lord Almighty. So that's already a wonderful word. That the things we are doing, we're not doing on our own strength. We're not doing them by force or by our human effort. But by the Lord's spirit, by his power, and that is really important every time we endeavor on something. And this will be really important for this kind of vision and mission for medicine that we do it by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the power of the Lord. So it carries on to say in verse seven, what are you? Mighty mountains. Before Zerubbabel, you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of God blessed, God blessed. So, another powerful verse. He's saying, who are you, mighty mountains? You know, all the mountains that we get worried about, the obstacles that we get worried about, they might look really big, but who are you, mighty mountains? Before Sir Rubel, you will become level ground. You will be leveled. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts, meaning to praises, to proclamations, God bless it, God bless it. The capstone was typically the, also known as the cornerstone. And then it goes on to say, God Then the word of the Lord came to me. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple. His hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent you. Really powerful verse. So, what it's saying is, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid that foundation of this temple and this temple building will also be completed. And that will be a witness to that. The Lord has sent you. So whenever we start a project, and we are ordained by the Lord to do it, when he sent you. Instructed us to start doing a project moving into a direction he's building the foundation and he's building on top of it. And it is his work that is getting completed through his people through you and me. But we can never do it out of our own strength or by our own, like, I want to do it this way. We have to wait on the Lord how he wants it done. And then the last verse here, and this is the verse that is, of course, well known. Who dares despise the day of small things? For a small beginning, it says in other scriptures, Since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel. Again, so who dares despise the day of small things? Since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth Well, rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Sir Rupert Bell. Now we can go a lot of directions here. And of course, there's a prophetic implication to the building of the temple and what the chosen capstone is, the cornerstone ultimately pointing to Jesus. But I don't want to actually go that direction. I want to really apply it. What I felt in that moment I want to share with you is how do we apply this? How does this apply to the retreat? How this is applied to you? And for me, this was very profound when I really meditated over those scriptures, something became very clear to me that number one, it is the Lord's work. When I started with this whole heal the healers thing, it was really something that the Lord guided me to do that I was. feeling poiled and passionate to do because my heart really broke for physicians, for colleagues, for you out there, how much there is a struggle, how broken the medical system is and that there needs to be a better way and that we need to bring the love of the Lord Jesus into that environment. And that our colleagues you and me, as well as our colleagues that that don't know Jesus, that the. They find healing and restoration and acceptance not by some human way, but that they really feel the love of God. So my heart was always really to serve people and serve physicians, foremost Christian physicians that are struggling in their faith, that are struggling to integrate faith and medicine that feel called to the medical field, but. Yet feel so exhausted by the brokenness of that field and we can certainly these days at the time of this recording, even more has happened than when I probably last put out an episode. It seems like something is going on in a broken medical system pretty much every, every single week. And so that is really. Challenging for us to look at that. So why is this all important? When I started to embark on this journey? Yes, I had a big heart and a big vision, and I feel like the Lord really gave me this burden to serve you know, you and me, my colleagues, my brothers and sisters. But I think I didn't have quite the grasp of the understanding on the weightiness of it all. And then we did the retreat and, I sometimes wondered, my, I wish there would be more people here. There are so many people that need help, that need to feel the love of God, that need healing and restoration and their relationships and their health and the trauma, exhaustion, the experience from medicine, all these things. And I was sad to see that many were just too busy. Well, they were maybe like cautious, make sure I'm for real or whatever it was. It saddened me to see that there were people that needed help and weren't ready to take the step. Let's put it this way. But yet we plowed forward and the Lord did a wonderful, amazing thing at that retreat. I shared a little bit of that last time in the last episode. And what it really shows me reading through these verses is To not despise small beginnings, because the small beginnings is not just small beginnings, but those beginnings lay the cornerstone and the foundation for what is happening. And that's very clear in the scriptures here, where it says they are, is chosen a cornerstone, a capstone. In other translations, it's a plumb line, which is sort of a, okay, here is the level ground and here is the foundation we're going to put in for something bigger that we are building. And I think this is exactly true. I think we are at a moment in medicine. where we are putting a plumb line down, where we're putting a cornerstone down. And I think and I believe that this event, the heal the healers retreat was part of that puzzle that put down a cornerstone on the ground to say medicine has to change. We have to Change. And we cannot do it by might or by power or own amazing ideas because we're gonna end up in another mess. But we have to do it by the spirit of the Lord. Just like that first verse I was reading, you says in first six. Not by my not by power, but by the spirits, there's the Lord Almighty. That's how we are to operate. And I believe we are in a season where This plumb line, this cornerstone is very much late for medicine. And my heart was always that people will be reached through this, that physicians will be reached, that physicians will be equipped that are already questioned for the decisions that they can move forward boldly. And that we also are the instruments of the Lord to bring change into the medical system. And God knows we need it. But hopefully also that others can see there is a different way of doing things, and we can do them in a godly, honorable, loving and kind way, and that will be also a witness to others. And there's so much more I could say about this, but here is what I want to share with you as we wrap this up. I believe that God is. really shifting things in medicine. And if you're paying attention in the natural, you can see that lots of things are getting shaken up and I will probably do another episode on this specifically because I want to keep this not too long, but medicine is shaken to the ground. We have seen this over the years. It started. Before COVID, you're already like, man, the system is just not like what it used to be. Things have gotten harder, insurance problems, EMR problems, taking care of patients. What we went into this profession as physicians in the first place has gotten more and more cumbersome. There's already a mass exodus that is only picking up speed in medicine that I've observed for years, but it's really picking up steam right now. And then we hit covert and all hell broke loose, so to speak. And it uncovered a lot of problems. And since then we thought one, the sort of the crisis while I was, while over some people were kind of taking a breather, whether you believe or not, you thought, Oh, this is all behind me. And I always felt like, no, this is, this is just the beginning. That I'm not for shattering more crisis. The Lord only knows. But what I do see is there is a rapid acceleration of downfall coming to Madison. You can look at it in academia. You can see it in the pharmaceuticals. You can see it in the insurance. And I believe we haven't seen the end of it. So everything is getting shaken up because The system is broken, and you don't have to be a genius or a prophet at this point to see this. You see this in the natural. Our colleagues that don't believe in God, they're getting upset, of course, because it is wrong. Everybody in the core of their being can see this is all wrong. We gotta go and figure this out and clean up this bloody mess because physicians are unhappy. Patients are not getting served, and this is a horrible, way of doing medicine. And a lot of people are leaving rightfully. So I totally understand why people are leaving another topic. I could talk about because it makes me sad to see that happen. And in general, as a, as a physician coach on the academic side, I want to keep people in medicine and give them tools to overcome all the nonsense. And by that helps a lot. I have to say when I started on this journey, the system was broken. Now the system is like, it's a sinking Titanic. So I went on a tangent here. What I want to tell you, things are shifting. Medicine has been shaken and will be shaken some more. Things are rapidly changing and we have to take heat and say, Lord, what do you want me to do here? And so I want you to pray and ask the Lord, what is my position here? What do you want me to do? How can I be equipped to deal with all of this in a spiritual way? Because it's one way to rely on our medical knowledge and our skillset and our very, very strong work ethic and our compassion for patients. That's all good. But again, it's not by might or by power. We all need at this hour. We always needed it. But if you don't have it now, that's a problem. You need spiritual equipping. We all need to be connected with the Lord. We need to listen to what he says and what he says to you and me on a daily basis how we show up in medicine. Because I believe he will bring instructions. He will bring guidance of how you as a person. Individual person are going to maneuver these very choppy borders, but also might provide you with solutions not only for you personally, but her perhaps for your division for your department or on a larger scale, and I believe he is. gathering physicians and putting them together. And I start to see this happening. I mean, part of why we did the retreat is I wanted to gather people and we want to gather some more so that we can be strengthened, encouraged in each other's faith and move forward, encouraged with boldness, not by our own strength, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, by reading the scriptures, by Talking to each other, being encouraged in each other's faith. So that's what I really want for you. So we will not be able to just go through these challenges. In a regular way to just again, rely on own our own strength, power and medical knowledge, you need the Lord more than ever before. I know I preach this all the time, but get in the word, get in prayer, get into community and that helps you to integrate faith. That means you need to be connected to a local church. That is so powerful and important. And I love my local church. My local church is not perfect. But every time I'm stepping back, I'm like, but there are some people that are really helping me. There are some people where I really get encouraged and sharpened in my faith. And that is so critical. So you have to be in a church. Find one, find a good biblical church, get into your scriptures and then pray a daily. If you're not doing that right now, then start. I had some early episodes how to help you get started on that journey. And if you need help with that, just reach out and then find community. So you know that I host a community for physicians that is called the heal the healers mentorship program, and I'm going to put the QR code up here. You can get on a wait list. When I officially sort of we open the doors so that you can join. That, you know, when the next opportunity is to join, we're currently doing a series called Physician Identity, and we're really looking at, in part, our identity crisis. It's been a very profound series to look at some examples in the Bible. For example, we looked at Daniel, how it is and works to live in a Babylonian culture. And pretty much you can think about the medical environment, whether you're in private practice or an academia or anywhere in between, you are in a Babylonian culture and how do you live? And stay honorable and true to the Lord's word in a Babylonian culture when you're indoctrinated from every side with a worldly belief system, how do you stay strong? How do you build your faith? But how do you also stay honorable? To the people that are your leaders that are not people of faith, Daniel was a great study for that. So that's just one of the things we looked at Moses. We looked at David. We're going to look at some frameworks. How identity is often broken. So you're very welcome to join us. This will equip you and find community. And that's that we have just conversations together, what we are facing and then praying over each other. So you get a weekly teaching, you get a monthly coaching call where I sort of do a more free flow, answer your questions, help you, coach you through difficulties. But the weekly teaching call is true mentorship. We're going heavy on the Bible. You're going to get it. Deep dive for sure. We pray for each other. So this is a wonderful community. I encourage you to join that. So scan the QR code to get on the wait list and be notified when I open those doors again so that you can join us. Now, with that I will wrap it up for today. I just want to pray over you and then we continue on the next episode next week. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for those brothers and sisters and anybody watching out there. Thank you for the word that goes forth and will be performed no matter what. Thank you that your word has power and that those scriptures from Zechariah 4 important to us today and that we take heed to those words that we are not relying on our own strength and power, but rather on the spirit of the Lord to do the work in us and through us for the medical community. I also thank you for laying down a plumb line and. bringing forth a new wave of revival in medicine for something new to bring forth in medicine so we can serve the patients and our colleagues in need with all our heart and all our mind by your Holy Spirit's power. Thank you. If anybody watching out there says, You know what? I don't really know the Lord or I kind of am a Christian, but I have stopped following him. I don't really read my Bible or go pray or even go to church. I want to encourage you to accept Jesus as your saver or recommit and recommit your faith to the Lord quickly. So what I want to pray for you is actually a quick prayer and say, dear Lord Jesus, if you want to, Accept Jesus or just renew and reaffirm your faith inside. Dear Lord Jesus, come into my life, come into my heart, forgive me of my sins, wash me and cleanse me. Set me free. Jesus, thank you that you died for me. I believe that you're risen from the dead and that you're coming back for me again. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Give me a passion for the lost, a hunger for the things of God, and a holy boldness to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm saved. I'm born again. I'm forgiven. I'm on my way to heaven because I have Jesus in my heart. Thank you. So I encourage you, repeat those words. I should have said that in beginning. I'm praying them with you, but I want you to go back and read those words, pray those words out loud. And if you did, and you're like, wow. That was really quite profound. I want you to actually reach out to me. And I should have prepared for this. This was not what I was preparing for it all. So here's what I'm going to do. Hold on one second and I'm going to put my email up here. And what I want you to do is reach out to me and I'm also going to put my website up here. There are two things. If you prayed this prayer, please reach out to me via this email that I just put up there. It's Inga at Inga Hoffman dot com. One F two Ns. Or go to my website. There is a section on my website at Inga Hoffman dot com. That says hear the healers or prayer ministry or something on top. Click on that and you can reach out to me. to either get on my prayer list or schedule a prayer upon. And I would love to pray for you and just stand in prayer with you. So with that, we're gonna wrap it up. Thank you so much for tuning in. Don't forget to subscribe to the show. And thank you for sharing it with others. It is really helpful. And I will see you next time on Heal the Healers. My prayer is that you were encouraged, strengthened, and perhaps even convicted with this episode today. If this podcast has blessed you, would you help share it with your friends and colleagues and even share it on social media? Also leave us a review on the podcast platform where you are listening to this content. It would help us a lot. Together, We can share the good news of Jesus and transform medicine, one physician and one patient at the time. Have a great day. God bless.