49. How Christian Physicians Can Hear God’s Voice Clearly in a Shifting Medical System

Are you sensing that something is shifting in medicine, but you’re not quite sure how to respond? Have you been asking God for clarity, direction, or wisdom—and wondering if you’re truly hearing His voice or just trying to figure things out on your own?

If you’re a Christian physician who feels stretched, discerning your next steps, or longing to hear God more clearly in this season, this episode is for you.

In this episode of Heal the Healers, I share reflections and key takeaways from a recent small, intentionally curated retreat for Christian physicians. We talk about why hearing God’s voice is not optional right now, why discernment matters more than ever, and how learning to listen is deeply relational—not mystical or complicated.

This conversation is an invitation to slow down, build intentional space with God, and lead from a place of intimacy rather than striving. God is moving in medicine, and Christian physicians are being called to listen, discern, and step forward with faith and clarity.

If you’ve been longing for confirmation, peace, and a deeper connection with the Lord in your work and calling, this episode will encourage you.

If this episode stirred something in you and you sense the Lord inviting you to go deeper, I’d love to stay connected.

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Transcript

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What if the most important skill for Christian physicians right now isn't more training, more productivity, more leadership skills, or even more resilience? But a trained ear to hear the voice of God. If that piques your interest and if you desire to hear from God more clearly, then this episode is for you. Stay tuned for after the music and I will be right back. Hey there, and welcome back. My physician friends. It's so good talking to you. It's been a little while. I know. I have, been recovering from the Christian Physician Retreat, the Heal the Healers retreat, and I'm so excited to share a little bit about that today. So if you are a Christian physician who feels like something is shifting in medicine, but you cannot quite put your finger on it, or if you are found yourself asking God for clarity, direction, wisdom. In your career, in aspects of your life and wondering how it's all gonna fit together. Or perhaps you're wondering, am I actually hearing from God clearly, or am I just trying to figure stuff out on my own and ask him to bless my actions? Then this episode is for you. We just wrapped up this beautiful, small, intimate, but very powerful. Heal The Healers Retreat, which was a special retreat for Christian physicians that I hosted here in the Madison, Wisconsin area. And if you were part of that, thank you so much for coming and if you couldn't make it I won't be able to recap the whole retreat, but I wanna give you some nuggets and some learns and some key takeaways from that retreat. And I just encourage you in your walk with the Lord, but also it might pique your interest to come and join us next time. So I'll just share a few reflections from that space to help you. And just invite you in a season of discernment with the Lord and just deeper intimacy with him. So let me just share a little bit, where this Heal The Healers Retreat came together very fast. It's now about two, three weeks since I hosted the retreat. I wanted to record a podcast episode right after it, but honestly I had to. Rest and recover a little bit. And I just took time with the Lord and with my family as well as for my body to just recuperate which is important Maybe I'm gonna talk about another time for all of us to just rest in his presence and take time to rest. But yeah, this retreat was super fun and it was amazing. God really met us there. It was so powerful and I know that many of you wanted to be there, but just couldn't make it work, and honestly, it came together pretty fast, much faster for my taste in regards to preparation time than I like myself, because I am usually trying to be organiz. Not that I don't push things sometimes last minute too. We physicians, we like to check our boxes and get our ducks in a row, right? This was a much faster timeline than I had planned or intended, and there's a whole backstory behind it. But I really wanted to make sure I got the green light from the Lord. This. Journey of waiting on him created a real dependency on him. So that I had to lean in and confirm and work out my end of the things on when and how this will come together. And then also in the end, dependency on the Lord to help me bring this retreat to life. In a very short amount of time an incredible amount of preparation goes into this kind of planning of an event if you ever planned an event, and it's just me doing it. So I don't have teams behind me in a lot of bodies. It's literally just me doing it, being obedient to what God's called me to do. And I'm grateful for some gracious, wonderful, beautiful volunteers, largely for my local church and friends in my community that came along and helped me as well as my husband, which was beautiful. Yeah, this whole event came together fast. It wasn't a rinse and repeat from the prior conference or retreat I did about a year earlier. And I think that was very intentional. The characteristic of this flavor of a retreat was very different. We were in a beautiful house, really removed from all the noise and distraction. So last time we were in downtown medicine right on the university campus. This time we were 30 minutes away from downtown medicine. Literally in the middle, of nowhere in this beautiful ranch cottage house. It is marvelous. And we got snowed in. It felt a little bit like being in a Hallmark movie without the drama. It was very beautiful. And one key takeaway from this retreat I think that I wanna encourage you with is that as physicians, we are very good and excellent in doing things, checking off our boxes, doing our to-do list, but we are not always very good in being with God and really spending intentional time to be still and. This was exactly what this retreat was about. To be intentional, to be still, to be with one another, to encourage one another, but also spend time with the Lord and really learning how to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, which was a stretch for many, and it was so fun to watch that and see them come alive and be encouraged to hear from the Holy Spirit. And for me personally, I think the whole parts of leading up to the retreat, the preparation, how it came all together I could probably sum it up in the way that it's just an increased level of trust walking with him. I remember it was Friday afternoon, evening, and then all day Saturday. I was running all the sessions, all the activations, prayer, ministry time, et cetera. So it takes a lot. That's maybe a separate topic. I will go into another time, but I remember. Saturday night before the evening service where we was led by the Lord and felt like, okay, Lord, what are you wanting to do in the room? What do you wanna do individually in these physicians? How can. We connect to the presence of God and I was tired by that and I'm not gonna lie, I was exhausted and I remember just trying to find a quiet spot and I was just sitting in the main room where basically our sanctuary space for us, and I was just sitting there and sitting on a chair and my head was pounding. My body was exhausted. My mind was tired, but my spirit was like, Lord, there's more. Let me tap into another level, and just sitting there quietly praying, closing my eyes, relaxing in a chair for a few moments, reaching my hands to heaven, and just feeling the presence of the Lord that no matter how tired I was, that the Lord just filled me up and lifted me up. And being able to do this, and it really showed me so much the codependency and in a very raw and real and vulnerable moment. That we have on the Lord. And that I had in that moment. I actually remember because I was quite a significant amount of pain for my headache and my neck hurt and everything was achy. Highly unusual for me to have this kind of level of headache anymore. Because I've really not dealt with migrants much anymore over the last couple of years. Thank you, Jesus. But I literally remember sitting there reaching my arms out to the heavens, to the Lord. And tears just flowing. And because I felt so touched and yet so vulnerable in front of him. Anyway, that was a total detour. That was not in my notes. On that moving soft note, let me just share a little bit a couple key takeaways from the retreat. One of the things that becomes very clear to me through organizing this retreat and I said this actually in our intro session, I believe that the Lord is forming a movement in medicine. When I started on this journey in ministry for Christian physicians, that was about. Two years ago, officially, but basically a three year journey maybe even longer that got me there, but two years that I have been officially ministering, meaning I have a mentorship group, I mentor people, I teach, I train, I equip, I pray, et cetera. And back then there was really nothing out there other than I knew of another friend who is a nurse who is very invested in kingdom healthcare as well. But over the last six, 12 months, I really see a whole bunch of things sprouting up in a very grassroots level. And I believe there was a tipping point. I believe that we are at a critical time to really. Catch the wave of the Lord, so to speak, in actually getting captured in his presence and joining that movement in medicine. And I don't mean movement out on the streets or being loud, but the Lord is moving in medicine and it's very apparent if you pay attention you will start to see it. And I wanna say. Praise the Lord, and I sense there is much more coming. We are just at the start of this. I really sense that there is a tidal wave of this coming and I wanna invite you in. Do not stand on the sidelines, do not be defeated, do not be discouraged even though your job might. Pretty difficult right now. You might find yourself in despair or just disenchanted with the whole system. Absolutely many problems. But I'm just saying to you right now, God, give your brother and sister on the other end of this podcast right now. Give them strength, give them. Give them your power. Give them a new revelation of you. Give them more hunger for your, to step up and do not stand down. Stand on the line. Read that Ephesians six paragraph in scripture of, the armor of God, but really stand and say, Lord, what do you want me to do? And I would say the heal the healers of physician movement is very unique in that what I've seen, there's different things happening. Obviously CMDA has been around for generations but I think there is a very much. Groundswell grassroots movement that is spirit led and not lacked by intellect. There's a Holy Spirit movement happening and Heal the healers very much is probably the only one that I have seen a movement that is for Christian physicians. This might not be where we end up. I think there's more coming, but I certainly wanna say to you my heart is, as a physician myself, having been in academia all my careers for over, two decades, that my heart is for the physicians. I care about all of healthcare. And I think there will be other things we will be doing in the future. But I do wanna provide a sacred space. A space that is, safe, sacred, and encouraging for physicians only, at least in part. And that's how I started because I think there are some things that we need to address within ourselves, and these are good. But I do love to collaborate, partner with all sorts of colleagues across the healthcare spectrum. But let me just say, heal the healers is the only movement. The only part that actually is. By Christian physician for Christian physicians. And I'm very honored to serve you in that way. So the Lord is creating the movement. So that is key part now. We talked a lot at the retreat about hearing from God. We talked about why that is important, how God speaks. We practiced we had prophetic words released. I was really quite powerful hearing. The voice of God is foundational and it has to be anchored in good theology. So we have to have the word of God, and we have to really know the word of God. Reading your Bible, studying scriptures, memorizing scriptures, all very important. But then. We also have to have this Holy Spirit strengthened arm, right where we connect with God through the Holy Spirit. And hearing from God. So a couple points to just remember hearing from God is very much relational and not a mystical experience, and that's really important to remember because people shy away making it something mystical when we have to remember why does God communicate? He wants to have relationship. Why is he sometimes elusive and we feel like we are chasing him? It's like a relationship, right? It's like when you first dated your spouse, perhaps. It's this song and dance. This beautiful relationship to court each other. And in many ways it's like this with the Lord and it's beautiful. I also wanna encourage you if you feel like, oh, I don't know if I can hear from God. I wanna say to you, we are wired to know our father's voice, right? What does John 10 27 says? I. It says, my sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. Another scripture, Jeremiah, one of my favorites, in Jeremiah 33, 3, it says the following. Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. The Lord is inviting us to actually call onto him to enter a conversation and he will show us things. And then another one that illustrates how we are really pursuing God. And this whole thing is about relationship is Proverbs 25. Two. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, to search out. A matter is the glory of kings. And I think these verses are so beautiful. So I encourage you. Go back and study them. Read them over yourself. Memorize. Them. But here is what I realize. Relationship building takes time. We do live very busy lives and sometimes it just takes intentionality to make time with the Lord. I speak about this on this podcast a lot and I encourage you, make time Start small, build up, but be. Intentional with it. The second thing, I know that sometimes when we are trying to learn how to hear from God, we are a bit afraid that we are getting it wrong. Especially as physicians, we all have a bit of a perfectionist problem. Probably I would venture to say more than the general population and we don't wanna get it wrong. And that probably has a lot more to say about us than God. I encourage you to just trust the Lord. If he encourages us to reach out and seek him out and enter conversation, then he will honor that and not lead us astray. And the other thing, of course, as physicians, we struggle with, we have a very much reliance on our logic alone and let's just face it speaking into spiritual things, having conversations with God, understanding, am I hearing the Holy Spirit correctly? Isn't always just based on logic alone. Now I have to say it's important that whatever you're hearing or what you feel like a sense you get from God, of course it needs to line up with scripture. That's why you need to know your Bible inside out. But sometimes our over reliance on logic can get in the way, and that's why we are often more comfortable reading the word versus asking. God direct questions. And there is, nothing wrong with reading the word and looking for answers. In fact, that should be one of your, if not the primary way, but it does not negate that actually God is speaking. And I would say the issue is not that God isn't speaking. A lot of people say God's quiet. He doesn't really talk to me. I read my Bible, but I don't think I ever heard back from him. No. God is speaking. The problem is are we listening and are we tuned into his voice? Are we slowing down enough? Are we really pausing to hear from him? And that, takes time and intentionality. So another key takeaway from the rich read was this, why is this important, especially now that we really lean into hearing God's voice more clearly as question physician? I believe that in a world that is. With increasing confusion, deception, pressure, and just so hard to know anymore what is real and not real. And so much agitation out there that we need to be grounded. We need to be grounded in the word of God, and we need to be grounded and settled through the Holy Spirit and have him guide us. So discernment is. I believe matters more than anything else right now. And a lot of times the church has lost discernment. We as individuals can lose discernment very quickly. It doesn't magically just appear. It is a muscle, it is a practice. You have to. Operate and practice in otherwise you never get better. It's actually same like reading the word right, and the beginning's hard to understand. But the more you read, the more the word of God reveals to you. The same is true. Conversing with God. If you enter conversations with the Lord in the beginning, you will not be sure. Is it my voice? Is it his voice? Is it the enemy? Putting doubts in my head over time and in constant reference. With scripture, you will be able to discern this more clearly. So the sermon is not just some magic thing that hits your head against your will, it builds over time. And again, we need to be intentional with that. But it is very important and I see way too many getting sidetracked. Having totally lost their discernment. And we are all at risk for that. So we should posture ourselves to say, Lord, I need more discernment. I really need to hear from you in this situation. Teach me how I can listen better. And the other part is we are living in a pretty scary, tumultuous world right now. Hearing. God speak to us through scripture, as well as the Holy Spirit is actually giving us peace. It helps us to get centered and focused on him and not tossed around with every news flesh out there and constantly being tossed around and agitated about this. So discernment, in this day and age especially, it was always important. That's why Apostle Paul writes about it. That's why there is the gift of discernment of spirits. It is not an optional thing. It always was needed for the body of Christ. That's why the Bible speaks about wisdom and discernment. By the way, wisdom and knowledge comes from the fear of God, right? Read it. And Proverbs. So discernment is not optional. It is essential. So these are just some key points about why this topic, hearing the voice of God for physicians right now is so critical why I have this retreat. I wanna share just a couple minutes about the overall experience. It was a beautiful experience. I think what I love most about it is how God moved and touched. People and that it was a very small, intimate experience where physician colleagues really could spend time together, get to know each other, relax a little bit, but where we built community and connections and that was a beautiful thing. And the venue was just. Lending itself so well to that kind of community building because it wasn't a venue that holds, a hundred people. It is a small space, and that was done intentionally. So that was beautiful. I loved how the Lord spoke individual words to individual people. And I was just blown away how he spoke into people's lives and how even everything came together. We had meals together. The food was amazing. The fellowship was amazing, but even little things like, how volunteers came together. Some things happened last minute and by the grace of God really everything pulled together. And then we had a worship night, Friday and Saturday with basically a sort of ministry time and a service, and the worship leader just shared a word She didn't know the people, the group, she knows the general idea of the retreat, but what she spoke so clearly into this group of physicians was just so on point and aligned with the message that I shared, which is basically, I believe there is a movement of the Lord to equip Christian physicians to step up being kingdom physicians and actually be equipped in the Lord. Let me find the scripture for you because it is. Cried, remarkable. Let me read this for you and I pray this will encourage you. Isaiah 58 10. And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the need of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noon day. The Lord will guide you always. He will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land. And. We'll strengthen your frame. You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring. Those who it does never fail. And then verse 12. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age old foundations. You will be called repairer of broken walls, restorer of streets with dwellings. Another translation sets. Basically your, the repairer of the breaches in the wall, and actually that was so aligned and fitting number one with E. Prophetic word that just bubbled forth in a teaching in my mentorship class in March of 2025, so almost a year ago, where I spoke about the physicians will be safety nets. And I believe this is a starting movement of equipping Christian physicians in there local community to do the work of the Lord and actually start to be the repairers. Off the broken walls to restore the broken walls so that there are no more breaches in those walls where the enemy can come through. But there's literally Christian physicians saying, now I'm gonna hold the line and I'm here and I'm gonna pour out and I'm gonna surf and I'm gonna heal. And I'm gonna serve the broken hearted and I will be with those that are oppressed. And yet, in those times of challenges, the Lord also will equip me and he will strengthen me and he will be with me. So I really pray that over you. Let me just do that right now. Totally not in my notes. Lord, for every physician that is listening right now, I pray over them that you awaken in them their spirit and wake them up to say, I'm gonna stand Lord. Who when you asked Isaiah. Who is gonna go, who can I send and Isaiah answer that call in that moment that we will be the kind of people that answer the call and say, I am going to be the one that is gonna stand in the gap that is gonna be repairing the walls. That all the breaches that have come. In and the walls that are knocked down are no longer let me be a repairer of those walls and stand in the firmness of Christ and his salvation and his sacrifice. And Lord, I ask that you equip those Christian physicians in the word. They will be hungry for the word of God, but also filled with the Holy Spirit to do the work that is needed and be equipped. Thank you so much, Jesus. In your name we pray none of that was in my notes, but praise the Lord. So I wanna encourage you today is that you really attune your heart to the Lord. Now you might be wondering, this sounds amazing. The retreat was wonderful. It totally was. And let me just say. You missed out. People came up to me and said later, people missed out. Wow. The people that weren't here they missed out. And I believe that is true. And while God willing, yes. There, there was a lot of steering. Immediately, already while I was going through this, I I already knew the Lord has given me an assignment, but I really felt steward we will do this again. Some of it in this very format, very small, very intimate, for you to be refreshed, restored. Remember the motto is. You're gonna be healed. You're gonna be restored and then equipped and sent out to do the work of the Lord. So that will be what we will do again, probably in is very similar of not the same format. A small equipping retreat for you to be refreshed but also really be equipped. This is not just, let me just relax a little bit it's not a self-care only there will be some self-care and there will be time alone, but I want you to have an enounter, the Lord, and that is my main prayer. Each time that you will encounter. God that you will have an encounter with the Lord that will be forever transformative to you in that point of time. So that's my prayer. So will we do this again? Yes, we'll see if I do this once a year, there might be, based on the feedback I've gotten probably ways that we maybe do this twice a year, like a summer and a winter retreat. To check in halftime, check-in, right? Like in sports you have a halftime check-in and see how is it going? Am I running my race with the Lord? And then the beginning of the year, set your intention for that next year. I think very powerful. The Lord is speaking to me about other conferences that will have a different format. So you will see probably emerging different type of equipping and events. And of course if you cannot come, you always can join my mentorship group. The link is in the show notes so please check it out there. Every week, you get equipped, mentored, and coached by me in spiritual things as a Christian physician. Don't miss out on that, but if you say, I want more information about events specifically. Go to inga hofman.com retreat waitlist, so inga hofman.com/retreat waitlist. I will put the link in the show notes so that you can join us at the next retreat. I really don't want to miss out. I will secure dates as soon as I can with a venue but get on my email list. Don't rely on social media. I'm actually sometimes, like maybe I need to be totally off there another conversation for another time. But stay in touch and get on my email list if you're not ready on it. And that way you get retreat information as well as prayer and encouragement. God bless you. I'll talk to you next week bye-bye.