23. What's Your Breaking Point?

Finding Strength in Breaking Points

What is your personal breaking point? How can God use your breaking points to rebuild and strengthen you? 

As physicians we might have experienced breaking points due to physical exhaustion or intensity of our training or the challenging healthcare environment. 

There are also spiritual breaking points we need to go through to build and strengthen our character. Join me in this episode of the Heal the Healers podcast as I unravel the significance of breaking points in our lives and how God transforms them for His glory. Discover Biblical insights the impact of pride and humility, and practical ways to submit to God's will to experience renewal and restoration. Are you ready to be rebuilt for a stronger foundation? Tune in for an encouraging and transformative discussion.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome
01:23 The Concept of Breaking Point
03:39 Biblical Insights on Breaking Point
07:17 Personal Reflections and Revelations
09:06 Humility and False Humility in Medicine
14:39 Choosing the Path of Rebuilding
22:10 Invitation to Prayer and Support
24:24 Mentorship Program and Conclusion

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Transcript

Restream recording Dec 12, 2024 • 08:34:30 PM: 0:00

Well, hello there and welcome. Today we're going to talk about an interesting topic. We're going to talk about breaking point. And what is your personal breaking point? Now, all of us in life have times when we hit a breaking point, when we hit a wall and we feel like it's hard to move forward. That's in part what I'm talking about, but I also want to touch on and really unravel where, God uses our breaking points to rebuild us up and strengthen us and our faith in an hour faith with him. Stay tuned for after the music and we will 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 hematologist, 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 the Heal the Healers podcast I am Inga Hoffman. I'm so excited to see you and chat with you today about a very interesting topic that I entitled breaking point or what is your breaking point? And this topic really came out of a revelation I had just earlier this week in my quiet time, and I posted it on social media. And it got a lot of positive feedback, meaning really resonated with people also emailed it out to people on my email list that get weekly newsletters for me. And I got a bunch of feedback that people really were blessed by it. So I thought I should do an episode on it because it clearly helped some people. And hopefully this will help some more people. So praise the Lord for that, because I have to say, this is not something that comes out of my own doing now. The funny thing is, I just recorded this whole episode before I came on here. And then realized at the end of all of that, that are shared and some things that just came up that. I did not hit the record button. So I was speaking to nobody in particular. Well, so I decided let's not have it go to waste and just jump back on him. But thank you so much for joining me. If you're joining me for the first time on Heal the Healers, you are so welcome. I'm so glad you're here. And I encourage you that you subscribe to the show and share the show with others. That really helps so that other physicians can discover the Heal the Healers show as well, get encouraged in their faith. And so thank you for doing that. It really helps a lot. The other thing I want to share with you is make sure that if you're watching on YouTube, that you subscribe. If you're listening to this on your favorite podcast channel. Subscribe to there as well so that the show can come to you and that you can just enjoy watching it and not have to go look for it. And you can also follow me on Facebook at Heal the Healers. So thank you so much for doing that. But with that further ado, let's dive right in this episode of Breaking Point. And this, as I mentioned, came really from a time with the Lord in my quiet time earlier this week, probably just a couple of days ago, where I was studying 2 Peter. And as I was preparing to dive into this chapter, I read the quick introduction in my Bible, which right now I'm using a. The John Maxwell Leadership Bible, which is one I got a few years ago, and I've been reading back to back a couple of times now for the last couple of years, but I'm kind of a Bible and a book geek, so we'll see what I use next time, but this time. I have been reading out of this Bible in in the introductory part off the chapter and had a very interesting comment that really caught my attention and then got me praying and thinking about this topic that I want to share here and what it says in in this particular Bible in the intro to second Peter was that God breaks leaders in the area of their strength. And that really caught my attention. I'm like, what? And obviously in this situation, it was referring to Peter his character where he was having probably very interesting characteristics as he met Jesus. We often perceive that he was a very bold person, a person that had great courage, that also spoke what he thought probably I like how the chosen portrays him as sort of this you know, They lead a kind of a person he ultimately became but in Peter's life, we know from the word of God that he was probably pretty courageous in the beginning and had kind of his own opinions and in some point also kind of needed to be reined in a little bit. He was like, I never leave your Lord. But eventually the Lord told him, right? You're gonna forsake me. You're gonna deny me. And that's exactly what happened to Peter. And when we read from who he was early on in his life as he met Jesus to The breaking point where he denied him and then later who he became that is unrevealing in Acts 2, especially when Pentecost came, we got a sense that there is a real character transformation that was needed to build Peter up by strength of the Lord so that he could fulfill his calling and build the church and lead as an apostle in the early days of the church. That's sort of the back story. When I was reading about God breaks leaders in the area of their strength, it's got me really wondering, well, what does that mean? And one obvious thing is that it might mean when we think about leaders and their strength that We sometimes have the tendency to become very maybe prideful in our own strength, and that maybe we need to be reined back in to not be so prideful about what we're doing. And I think that's happened in some ways in Peter's life, and certainly makes a lot of sense, right? But it got me thinking a little bit deeper. What does What does this really mean? Again, this is not a Bible verse. It was just a comment from the person who put up this Bible. John Maxwell was very known for his leadership training, but it really got me thinking, and here's the revelation I got. So one part, it could be that you and I are people that sometimes feel like, okay, we're building too much on our own strength out of our own flesh, and we got the sense that we need a kind of a. A ding on our head and kind of to rein us back in so that we are not so prideful. And that's certainly an aspect of it. But what I realize that it is a time where maybe God breaks leaders in areas of their strength, not so much to just rein them back in, but to break them down and rebuild them for his glory. And in essence, that is, that is, In many ways, what happened with Peter God is not trying to diminish the strength. He's trying to rebuild it. And I think there are sort of two pathways that I come to realize. And one way we feel sometimes that we have a lot of strength, a lot of accomplishments as physicians, right? We have some characteristics that are playing to our strength. We usually had workers were very dedicated. We we can memorize a bunch of stuff. We can work really long hours, although we're not always enjoyed. There's a lot of things that you and I might have that are our strength that the Lord has given us, but it's very easy to become prideful in a sense that we are using that strength out of our own flesh, out of our own strength, and then eventually come to a halt. And that needs correction, but I think there's also this part of where we get false humility and false sense of humility that we are not working, in our own strength. And you see that a lot in medicine where we become maybe sort of having the sense of full humility, maybe even imposter syndrome. We just talked about that at the Heal the Healers mentorship program earlier this week, this topic came up and we were talking about that sometimes we feel like our humility can easily be false. And I think in medicine we have a little bit of a double whammy with that. As Christian physicians, number one, there is the sense of false humility in the church a lot. And I think that still creeps in a lot. And we all struggle with that, where we don't want to be overly prideful and have the sense of humility, but become quickly a false humility that Actually draws attention to yourself when you say, Oh, I'm I'm a nothing. I'm I'm so humble. That is actually pride in its root. But that we also have the false humility that we don't like to. Toot our own horn in medicine that we have been kind of trained as physicians in many ways to be humble and not self promoting in an aggressive way, et cetera. And that's where imposter syndrome sometimes falls into that too, that we feel like we're not good enough. So, I think we struggle with that sense of, false humility a lot. And we had a great conversation about that topic in the mentorship group. And one verse came to my mind that says where in Romans, where Paul says so by the strength given to me, I say to all of you, Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself sober judgment according to the faith God has distributed to each of you. That's Romans 12, verse 3. And I think that is a very interesting verse that we kind of were having a conversation around about. We don't want to be. Overly prideful, think of ourselves more highly than we aren't. That's good. But then it says also have sober judgment. And to me, that really spoke that there was this sense of don't think of yourself too lowly either, which we tend to do in medicine, especially as women physicians. I know a lot of women struggle with that to think of yourself more lowly than we really are because we want to be humble and then that is causing detriment as well. And in this case, the word says, but think of yourself. with sober judgment. So have a good judgment. You know, where are you? Don't think too high, but also maybe don't think too low, according to the faith God has given to you. So have some faith that he put you in this position, that he put you in this role. So that's just a side note, but that was a powerful conversation. Because humility often, Comes into this conversation when we think about where we need a breaking point, we are the Lord might break us in areas of our strength because we have become too prideful. And then out of that fear not being too prideful, we have false humility, neither of which are helpful. So if you find yourself in that situation where you are. Either in 1 or the other category, you know, go and pray to the Lord and just pray and say, you know, I think there was something not right here. Please, please correct me. But what I really wanted to talk about is sort of this other revelation I got. So God is. Not just breaking us to kind of put us down to basically, I don't think God is saying when he's breaking us an area of strength to say, you know what we need to reign this in a little bit. This is a bit too much. That seems almost kind of schizophrenic because God has given us these gifts and these talents and areas of strength. Now what happens that we become often, as I mentioned, prideful and we use them out of our own flesh in disconnectedness, like not connected to God. We're doing it on our own kind of strength and walking our path without him. So that's a but he isn't always saying just don't have too much of that, he is saying, let me break this part and then rebuild it for my glory. God is not trying to diminish your strength, but he is trying to rebuild it and setting it with that on a better foundation that is his versus your own flesh or pride. That's really what this is getting at. God is not saying this is too much, but he's saying. I need to break this so I can build it. In my foundation to my glory and make it even stronger in that way. And that is so important that we get that because I think there is a danger when we feel like maybe that sense of correction or. God doesn't want me to be too much in this area. That's what humans say. No, we just need to connect it to him and realize that all strength comes from him. Every talent comes from him, and that we use it for his glory versus our own. This leaves us with essentially a key question. And the question is, do you want to Be rebuilt now or do you want to be rebuilt later in areas where there's correction needed? Now, let me explain what I mean by that The lord can rebuild us now by us recognizing you know What there is something in my life in my character especially in areas of strength That are not quite right where you get the sense like Am I? Maybe you'll get the sense. Am I too prideful? Maybe you have got the sense of false humility, but that you get the sense there is Maybe some correction needed or perhaps everything is going well, but you might just say Lord I want to yield to you more and in that process of Rebuilding now. It's a process of yielding to the Lord Submitting yourself to his word to the work of the Holy Spirit and say Lord here I am Take away what isn't honoring you, correct, what isn't giving you glory, but what would put glory on me, take that away and rebuild. That is what Jesus is talking about in In Matthew, we're talking about in John 15, the vine and the branches, right? It's John 15, where he says, you know, you, those who bide in you will, you know, will bear good fruit. We have to abide in Jesus, then we will bear good fruit, and that he is taking away the branches that are not bearing good fruit, that are basically. useless branches where we need to yield more. He's clipping those away. That is a type of yielding and abiding in Jesus in order to strengthen us even more. And that's what happens with a plant, right? If you prune it in the right way, it will get stronger and will bear more fruit. That is a voluntary process. A yielding and submission to the Lord. On the other hand, we have another path that says we focus on, I'm going to keep on running off this until I hit a ball. Now we don't say that intentionally, but we're just busy and we keep on running out of our own strength. Doing things with our own gifts and talents. And as physicians, we're very good for that because we're very self sufficient. We're very hard workers. We know how to get stuff done, and we have a tendency often to rely on our own strength because we are it gets us pretty far and has gotten you and me pretty far in life. And when we do that, ultimately there is a risk of that our pride and our flesh will take over and it will ultimately be to our detriment. And there will then come a time where the Lord out of his gracious love will see, I think you need some correction here. And that might be a much more painful process. So there's two roads ahead of us. The one where we say, Lord, I'm going to yield to you. There's an area on my life that I know needs some work, or perhaps you're not even sure what is needed, but you said, Lord, I'm going to yield. I'm going to yield to your will, to the work of the Holy spirit, to prune away everything that is not needed any way that is distracting from you, anything that puts the glory away from you and puts the spotlight on me, take that away. And that can be a painful process, but it tends to be the less painful process than the other route, which is I'm going to keep on running. I'm going to run on my own strength, and I'm not going to do anything about it. Maybe you're not even aware of it, and that comes to a halt when our pride and our flesh takes over. And the Lord says now. I need to really give you some correction because I don't want your pride and your flesh run you to the ground because he knows that when we rely on our own strength, when we rely on our own areas of strength, our qualities, our qualifications, that ultimately that can lead to our detriment. So he. And his loving kindness might correct you even when you didn't voluntarily submit to it. And oftentimes that is just by our own choices and circumstances, getting the consequences of our actions to then have to learn that was the wrong direction. And that is often the more painful process. But both of those Forks in the road kind of situation. Do I yield or do I just keep going and let the Lord reign me back in at some point, both of them, the ultimate goal is that we get closer to God and that we bring him glory. And that's ultimately what happened with Peter. Now, I hope that makes sense. My question to you is really, What is your breaking point? Where do you feel? Maybe you have been at a breaking point in the past. We all experienced that as a broken medical system. I'm sure you have had experiences of a breaking point. Even it's just by sheer physical exhaustion. Well, maybe there are broken relationships that led you to a breaking point, either personally or at work. I invite you to come to the Lord. and pray with him, sit at his presence and ask him, Lord, what do you have me do in this situation? And then I encourage you to really ponder over this and say, Lord, What are the areas that you already made me strong, but I don't wanna succumb to my own pride. Can you show me how to walk in these areas and slowly yield to a molding process so that he gets more glory and ultimately you become stronger in an area and you have a stronger foundation in him? And that is much more lasting than anything we can do on our own strengthened way. So I hope this helps you today. It's funny because now that I'm saying that a second time, I'm sure there's things that I said the first time when I forgot to hit the recording button that I missed. Perhaps there are some new things in there for you too. And I really pray that this encouraged you. I want you to be encouraged and I want you to see that God loves us so much. That he is ready to work with us any time, and the more you yield to him and just let him do the work, the less painful it often is. That's why Jesus says, All who are weary and burdened, come to me, I give you rest. Take my yoke upon me and learn from me, because I'm gentle and humble on heart, and you'll find rest for your souls. Again, it's Come to me, pick up my yoke, which is like, pick up my teaching, come under my apprenticeship, and I will teach you, and I'm very gentle, and I will mold you in the direction that I want you to go. So, God bless you. Now, if you are in need of prayer and you feel like, you know, you have some areas where you either feel like you're at a breaking point just because of what's going on in your life, feel free to email me on this email here or go to my website, Inga Hoffman dot com, and it is on the top banner, a section called, I think, heal the healers or prayer ministry or something along the lines. I shouldn't know this. Click on that link. It has all the details about how I pray for people. You can either pray with me on a zoom appointment, or you can just get on my prayer list. Just know that I love praying for people. I pray for physicians on a regular basis, and I know there's a lot of need out there. That's why I'm doing this, and I trained as a prayer minister with Christian healing. Ministries because I have a big passion for prayer. So please know that I'm here for you to support you in prayer. So make use of that. If you say, Hey, what's that newsletter we were talking about in the beginning, you can just email me at Inga, Inga Hoffman dot com, or I will also put the link to the weekly dose newsletter. Down in the show notes or description below this video so that you can access that that gives you basically access to a weekly newsletter that I put out now. Newsletter is kind of the wrong word, but what it is really, it's either personal words of encouragement. Sometimes there's a revelation or something new that I'm learning that I want to share with you as Christian physician to integrate faith and medicine. Sometimes that might be a prayer or just what essence the Lord is saying to us as physicians in this season. In fact, there is a prayer that I put out a few weeks ago and it resonated with so many people that I now send that automatically when you subscribe to the weekly dose newsletter. And what it does is basically that is a prayer that I pray over you and that you can pray over yourself specifically written for Christian physicians. So I think I will really bless you. So join that and join me in the weekly dose and be encouraged for your week ahead. If you're curious what I was talking about for the mentorship that I mentioned where we had this conversation about humility and false humility, that is the Heal the Healers mentorship program. That is a mentorship program for Christian physicians. I started almost a year ago, and it's a wonderful group of physicians getting together. And what I will do is usually will receive a weekly teaching. We are on a Zoom call. And we talk about things of faith. We study the word. So I prepare a lesson and then we usually have a discussion and prayer around that. Currently, we're talking about physician identity, a huge topic that I think will really bless you. And then once a month on every Thursday, 3rd thursday at 7 p. m. Central. I am also offering a free coaching call for people who just need help and assistance and support to move forward in their life and their faith, whatever it might be. And as a trained coach and mentor, I'm blessed and excited to do that. And sometimes we just have conversations about topics that came up in pray with each other. So you will really enjoy this. If you want to join, just scan the QR code that is here to get on the wait list, to get more information, how to join in in the QR code. And the details about that. So with that, I leave you, God bless you very much. And I will see you next week. 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.