25. Applying the Balm of Gilead: How Physicians Bring Healing and Hope to Medicine

Healing Through Faith: The Balm of Gilead and Physician Identity

Join Inga Hoffman in this episode of Heal the Healers as she shares insights from her recent class on the Balm of Gilead, exploring how physicians can integrate faith and medicine. Learn about the critical dual role of treatment and spiritual care in healing, and get a preview of the Heal the Healers Mentorship Program. This episode promises to uplift and equip Christian physicians to walk boldly in their faith while navigating the medical field. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and get on the mentorship waitlist!

00:00 Introduction to Heal the Healers
01:07 Technical Difficulties and Class Overview
01:30 What is the Balm of Gilead
02:49 The Role of Physicians in Physical, Mental and Spiritual Healing
09:15 Integrating Faith and Medicine
15:46 Mentorship Program Details
19:15 Conclusion 

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Transcript

Restream recording Jan 17, 2025 • 06:52:15 PM: 0:00

Well, hello there in today's episode, I want to talk about a little preview of what we do in the Heal the Healers mentorship program and talk about physician identity. It's a class I just taught earlier this week, and I think it will really benefit you and bless you. So I decided to Share some thoughts with you now. 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 Heal the Healers. My name is Inga Hoffman. And I'm a host of the show and really happy to see you here today. I'm having some issues with my camera. So if my zoom goes in and out, even I'm sitting here pretty still. I'm not sure why that is. It didn't happen earlier. So bear with me. Hopefully it comes down and we can have a great conversation about something that I thought I share from a recent class I taught on heal the healers. And that is applying the balm of Gilead, which we learned from in the Bible, how physicians bring healing and hope to medicine. So we're gonna unpack that scripture today, and I think it will really help you and kind of give you a sense off. The type of things we might be covering in the Healers Mentorship Program. I think this is just such a beautiful scripture that we can read in Jeremiah, that I want to share that with you. So before we get started, though make sure you subscribe and follow this link. Show wherever you're listening to it, whether it's on YouTube, on the podcast platform, or maybe even streaming live on Facebook right now. Just click subscribe for us on our various platforms, which are either YouTube, or you can follow me on Facebook at Heal the Healers or on your favorite podcast platform. Thank you so much for doing that. Also. If you could leave a review for the show and it would be super helpful. It helps other physicians find it as well and be encouraged in their faith. And that's really the heart behind this. So for today's episode, let's dive right in. There's a wonderful scripture in the passage of Jeremiah that I really spoke to me and can give us some great insight. And our role as physicians and really our identity as physicians. So turn, if you have a Bible, pop it up open and turn to Jeremiah 8, 21 and 22. And it says in the word there, since my people are crushed. I am crushed. I mourn and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? So this is a powerful scripture from Jeremiah and you probably might have read that in the time and wondered what it means and there is a lot of different direction probably we want to go here. Okay. could go. I really want to stay focused on when I read the scripture, what I felt the Holy Spirit is teaching and instructing me as this being a beautiful symbol for us as Christian physicians. the scripture up there for a little bit. But when we think about our physician identity, there was many things we reflect upon our role as physicians our accomplishments and our purpose as physicians. And a lot of our identity comes from that role of what we're doing in the world to help other people to help patients specifically. But what came to me when I was reading the scripture is really this dual purpose that is highlighted here and that is addressing at the time Judah and Israel, the prophet Jeremiah gets this word and speaks it out loud at the back end off. You know, lots off disobedience and gone astray of the nation of Israel and of Judah and prophesize about about what will happen if they don't turn to the Lord. And basically, people are not listening. And that's a There's a Bible study you can do on your own. It's a fascinating piece of scripture. I'm just studying it again and trying to get some more historical context. But what I want to point out in this scripture here are two key components that really spoke to me as Christian physician, and I think that will speak to you. So the first part is this question that Jeremiah is speaking by the way of the Lord, is there no bomb in Gilead? Now, Gilead was a real region in biblical times, and it was famous for its healing balm. So it created an ointment that was used for healing, and You can think about any topical applications that you might get from, from your dermatologist or pharmacist, but basically it's a bomb with healing properties and power. So we apply a healing bomb and medicine. Of some sort, whether it's a bomb or prescription or love or care or listening to our patients. The other part is the question of, is there no physician there? And if you have a bomb and a physician present, then why is there no healing for the wound of my people? And it got me to reflect on different aspects of this scripture. So the first part, the balm of Gilead, as I mentioned, it was a real remedy, and it was a symbol for the remedy and cure of spiritual healing for the cure of Judah. But in our time, we can also think about what is the healing balm needed as in our churches, in our lives and the lives of our patients. We all need and our patients need a healing application of something in broader terms, the treatment. What is the treatment? What is the balm, the treatment we're applying to their well being or even to our own well being? That's the poorest part. So we have to have a, a treatment. We as physicians like to talk about the treatment plan. What is that thing that the person needs? The second part is the physician. That is the person, you and me, who can help heal and restore. a person by being the prescriber of the balm, the treatment plan is also the physician that diagnosis and then gives the treatment, the balm, to heal and restore. So we are the ones that are the physicians that provide that healing balm or that treatment. And what struck me when I read this passage and these questions. That you need two things, you need a physician that has understanding, that can diagnose, and that's you, and in the medical world, you are very well trained to do that, and then prescribe a treatment plan, and taking your medical knowledge, you have been equipped, you have trained for years and decades, some of you, and probably practiced. For a long time some of you for decades some of you you're just starting out. It's okay so in the natural You know, you're a physician, you're trained, you're equipped, and you have an arsenal of treatments, treatment bombs available. Whether that's non interventional, non pharmacological intervention whether that's a, a drug or treatment or treatment plan or just a watch and wait strategy. You have all these things put in your toolbox to apply to a patient. And that's how we operate in medicine, right? That's your job description. You're here to diagnose and you're here to provide treatment. And some of you are in preventative care. You're making sure people stay healthy. And that's important too. And there's a lot of work to be done with that one but I want to take this to a spiritual level. And I want you to ask yourself, you know, where is my role here as physician? To see beyond my medical knowledge, to see beyond what I know as a diagnostician, from getting labs and imaging what is there beyond what my eyes can see? And that's where you need the Holy Spirit. We talked about this over and over again, and it's, that is where God placed you to keep your spiritual eyes open, to get a deeper sense, what is going on with this patient? Where does this patient need healing and restoration? And this is needed individually for an individual patient in front of you, but you should also think about this, or we should address this in a larger way. The medical system, as I talked in the last episode of how broken medicine is, needs a physician too. It needs. And it's Jesus, but we are his hands and feet. So we are the ones that can diagnose, that can get spiritual insight, what is needed to come up with a treatment plan. And then of course, you as physicians can have the treatment plan. Again, there's a natural treatment plan, the natural balm you could prescribe, but as you're getting spiritual insight about your patient. The Lord might give you a different kind of a balm of healing. Ultimately, he is the greatest healer. He is the great healer who can heal and restore all. And there might be times where that is what you want to offer. You want to actually offer prayer to a person. And you would be surprised how much they appreciate that. Other times. The Lord might point out things to you about a patient that helps you dig deeper and get some wisdom and discernment about a patient that leads you on a different route, whether it's a personal situation, whether it's a trauma. a hidden wound, something that needs to be addressed and that you can provide them holistic care to. I want to encourage you that as physicians, we are not just functioning as a physician, by our medical training, but as Christian physicians, You have a deeper level of tools available to you, and there's always two things needed for healing and restoration. In this case of Judah, in our case of whether it's a patient in front of us, the medical system as a whole, or even in your congregation, where you are a church member. To say there is a physician needed and the physician has to have both there's a physician needed and the bomb is needed. Both of them have to work together and how they can work together is only by the knowledge and the power of the Holy Spirit. So that is something just meditate on practically how might this look like. You might walk in a patient room and say, okay, here's my medical knowledge and then pray before you go in and say, Lord, what else do you want me to know about this patient besides what I'm hearing or getting from the medical history and my exam and maybe my labs today? Lord, what do you want me to do here? That is what we can do for the patient and get specific guidance from the Lord. And then he. will give you the additional balm that is needed. He will direct you to the right treatment plan, the right intervention, and That is what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus. So I encourage you today be really on the lookout for those opportunities, whether it's praying for your patients, certainly asking the Lord before you encounter a patient, even praying in the morning before you go to work, whether it's clinic or the hospital setting, or even if you're a researcher, your research lab but meditate on the scripture. And I asked the Lord, how does this look like for me to be a physician with a balm at hand? To really merge the two and apply the balm of Gilead to our patients that so badly need it. And also to our medical establishment, to the medical system, because again, you're placed there as a physician for a purpose. For the purposes of God in a very strategic spot. Sometimes the Lord might move you. Some of you the Lord put you right where you are right now. For a very specific strategic reason and for his greater plan. We're going to talk about that more in the future. But why don't we wrap it up here. So, I want to read this over to you again and say, Is there no bomb in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? And you can translate that for yourself and say, why is there no balm, no treatment plan? Why is there no physician? Who is the physician that's going to step in? Who is the physician that is really taking charge here and looks at every situation with the heart of the Lord? And why then is there no healing for wounds of my people, for the people that are wounded in the medical system, your colleagues in your church the patient in front of you. I hope this encouraged you today that you remember that you are equipped not by your medical training alone, but by the great physician who has given you many, you and me, many resources and tools to carry out this work, to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to not to despair, but to be encouraged to walk out his purposes for you in your life. So I bless you in the name of Jesus to be really walking in wisdom, in holiness, in righteousness in great discernment when you are Operating in the medical field on a day to day basis over every patient, over every patient encounter. So I hope this blessed you today. Last I want to leave you with a quick opportunity to get on the mentorship wait list. I mentioned that I run a mentorship group for Christian physicians. It's called the Heal the Healers Mentorship Group. It is basically equipping discipleship, prayer, accountability, community coaching, whatever you might think of all together in a group of Christian physicians that desire to work with Jesus, but they feel like I can't do it. I just need some help. I need some community. This is a lonely walk and we come together and usually do a lesson every Monday night do some teaching and instruction, and then we have a wonderful conversation and people share how it applies to their life. And I've learned so much from people. It's been amazing. And then we pray together. I pray over you. And then once a month on Thursday, we. Third Thursday, typically we come together for just an informal discussion and conversation for people get a chance to ask pretty much any question. And I do my best to answer them, or even if people are struggling to just encourage you to pray over you to to even provide some coaching. I'm a trained coach. I'm also a trained prayer minister and to really strengthen your walk in Jesus. As a busy physician and help you integrate faith and medicine. So that you don't feel so lonely and that you can walk boldly in your faith. So scan the QR code right there. That's been on the bottom of the screen here to get on the wait list. The mentorship program opens on a second week of February, February. 10th will be open for a few days. And at the time we will then start with this new cohort and new series that I'm really excited about. And that is finding your assignment as a question physician, finding your assignment and purpose. What does God want you to specifically do? Many of you probably have that question in your mind and you're like, Am I still doing what the Lord wants me to do? Or am I just kind of cruising along because it's how our training works, right? We stay in a position and we we kind of move up the career ladder, whatever it might be, but to really ask, Lord, what is my purpose beyond my job title or job description? But what do you have me do on this earth? For some of you, that might mean stepping into different roles in medicine. For some of you. He is just affirming your call by adding layers to it. For some of you, it might mean something different in addition to medicine, because he's positioning all of us for a very special purpose, and he is adding layers. Having us placed here on this earth for a special purpose. So, and a lot of times people struggle to figure out, I used to struggle to figure out, well, God, what do you want me to do? I know this life is precious. Every day matters. We have not been guaranteed another day. And I want to live every day unto the Lord and do what he has me do and learning to walk in this on a daily basis. So. Join us at Heal the Healers and I would be delighted to have you. And with that, I'm going to bless you. And I wish you a wonderful 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.