59. No Time for Quiet Time? 7 Simple Habits for Busy Physicians to Reconnect With God

Do you ever feel guilty every time someone talks about quiet time because deep down you’re barely surviving the day?

You love God. You want to spend time with Him. You know it matters. But between patient calls, inboxes, charting, family responsibilities, and the nonstop pace of medicine, it can feel almost impossible to make time with God consistent.

If you are feeling a bit discouraged or stuck with your quiet time as a busy Christian physician, this episode is for you. 

 I will share 7 simple, realistic, quiet-time habits that can help you reconnect with God without adding more pressure, guilt, or unrealistic expectations to your life.

This episode is not about creating a perfect two-hour morning routine.

It’s about learning how to meet with God consistently in the middle of real life and busy seasons.

I talk about why Scripture and prayer matter more than ever in an age filled with noise, distraction, and deception, and why small, sustainable habits often lead to the greatest long-term transformation.

If you’ve been feeling spiritually dry, overwhelmed, or disconnected from God, my prayer is that this episode gives you practical encouragement and helps you take one simple next step.

Mentioned in this episode:

•  Heal the Healers Conference — Boston, October 30–31 
•  Madison evangelistic outreach and training in late June 

Learn more about upcoming events:
 ingahofmann.com/events

Join my free Facebook Community 👉 Heal the Healers – A Kingdom Community for Christian Physicians

Are you a Christian physician or healthcare professional longing for a deeper walk with God and a supportive community that truly gets it?

📍 Mark your calendar: October 30–31, Boston, MA
The Heal the Healers Conference is coming.

This is more than a conference—it’s a space to encounter God, be restored, and be equipped to live out your calling in medicine.

This event is for physicians and healthcare professionals!

Early Bird Registration is NOW open until 7/31/26. A limited number of tickets are available. Sign up today.

Join our growing Facebook Community.It's free and fun.

 
Follow me on Facebook
Check out my YouTube Channel

Transcript

0:00

Do you ever feel guilty every time someone talks about quiet time because deep down you're barely surviving the day? You love God, and you wanna spend time with Him, and you understand that it's important, but between patient calls, inboxes, charting, family responsibilities, and sheer exhaustion, the nonstop pace of medicine, it feels just impossible, doesn't it? And maybe you even started believing, "Ugh, I'm just not disciplined enough. I've started so many times, and I keep on failing," and you feel guilty. And what if, though, quiet time doesn't have to start with an hour-long devotional at five o'clock in the morning, but if the goal is just to get started? So in this episode, I'm gonna share seven super practical tips to help you get started with consistency that really everyone can do, no matter what season of life you're in and how busy your practice. So stay tuned for after the music, and we'll be right back. Hi, friends. Welcome back to another episode of The Christian Physician podcast. I am your host, Inga Hofmann, and I love equipping other Christian physicians in their walk with the Lord to walk out their faith more boldly and integrate faith and medicine. But let's face it, our lives are super busy, and it can be so hard to just stay consistent with quiet time habits, with Bible reading and prayer. I've been there. I got the T-shirt of failing about a hundred times and more, and I wanna share some simple tips today to get you actually started. Because many of you that are listening are fully aware that quiet time is important. You've probably tried many times. You just feel like, "Oh, I cannot get in the habit of actually reading." And this is gonna be important to actually read the Word. I know audios are great. Audios are helpful. I want you to listen to the Bible. There's nothing wrong with that. But I do believe, and this is just my personal belief and observation and experience, that we pick up the text quite differently when we actually read it and study it versus just hearing. And I believe that's true no matter what kind of learner you are. So I'm definitely more an audiovisual person, but I do find great strength and deeper understanding in the discipline actually reading the Word with a paper Bible. Maybe call me old school, but that's just me. And I found it really important because there is this part of actively engaging because let's face it, my, my mind wanders. Yours might wander, too. My mind wanders all the time. I was sitting there in quiet time this morning, this happens to me quite frequently, and I was reading through chapters in Mark and three times in one chapter I probably had to reread the whole section, even the whole chapter over again, because somewhere between verse three and seven, my mind went off to La Land, and I was reading and thinking about something completely differently, and I didn't attune myself to the Word. And this happens often much more easily with audio. Especially when you're driving, you have a gazillion ideas in your mind, where you're headed, what you need to do, et cetera. So having said all of that, in this episode, I will be sharing seven super practical habits that help you rebuild consistency with God in the middle of your busy Christian physician life. So just get started. These will be very simple ideas. I don't want you to get overwhelmed. I want you to get started. But before we dive in, I wanna make sure you're aware of a couple really important dates because I don't want you to miss them. So I'm gonna speak about them right here at the beginning, and then we're gonna dive into the seven habits and tips that you can implement. So number one most excitingly, the conference for the Christian physicians and healthcare professionals, the Heal the Healers conference in Boston is coming together. The agenda is set, the venue is secured. Hallelujah. There's still a lot of inner workings I'm working between now and then, most importantly, getting the registration page up. This will take a little time because I'm about to hop on a plane in about an hour. I'm going to the airport. I will have to work on that when I return from my trip. But essentially, what you can do right now, the most important part is mark your calendar October thirty and thirty-first for the Boston Heal the Healers conference. We will be talking about healing and miracles, practically integrating faith and medicine. You don't wanna miss this because the speakers that will be at the conference are literally world-class speakers and ministers that minister with incredible integrity, have a long track record and I'm just so honored and I'm just grateful that the Lord brought this together. Really not of my doing. So I want you to be in the room, and do not wanna miss this because I believe the Lord is moving in medicine, and there's very strategic reasons why we are in Boston and on the grounds basically of the Harvard Medical School campus and affiliated hospitals. It is a venue that will have venue seating restrictions. This is not a stadium but the speakers alone will draw probably people from all over the country. So you want to get on the wait list to be the first to register. You can do that by going ingahofmann.com/events. I will link that in the show note. You have to get on the wait list if you want to be first notified. Also, there will be some early VIP tickets I'm releasing that probably will sell out pretty quickly. So Having said that after the show, please immediately go to the wait list page, put your name and email in there. I'm not gonna spam you, but you have to be on the wait list to actually get an email from me, and you will get other encouragement along the way. So that's really important. Think about already who you're gonna invite, and make sure you block your calendar and not be on call. And if you're already on call, just trade the call. You have six months to do it. You will be able to do it. God can help you. Go pray and be in the room. You actually-- You really don't wanna miss this. As you can tell, I'm super excited. So one more time, dates are October thirty and thirty-first. Yes, it is Halloween, but we are getting in the presence of God, not in presence of the devil. Just throwing that out there. It will be amazing. And then the other thing I want you to be aware I'm doing a lot of other things. I'm getting ready for an evangelistic outreach. Likely this will happen the last weekend of June twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, where we will do a little practicum and learn how to operate, but together in partnership with the Holy Spirit to basically pre-pray for people. So we will have some practical equipping. You will be blessed by that. We have some worship and prayer, then we're gonna go on the streets here in Madison on the farmers market. We're gonna mis-minister to people, and then we're gonna come back together that evening for house worship. And so if you're interested in that, get on the events wait list again so that I can notify you when that is gonna happen. So about way too long for the announcements, but these are really important so make sure you take note of that. But let's dive in into the seven habits to get started on your quiet time. Now, the first one I wanted to remind you of the importance of quiet time. It is so important that we are sitting in the Word and we are sitting in prayer and conversation with the Lord. And I talk about this on this episode in this podcast a lot, so you have heard me speak about it probably on every episode. And the reason why is I'm very passionate about that. And I also see the downfall, the challenges, the difficulties. If we are not in the Word and conversation with the Lord you're gonna be struggling. You're not gonna know the truth from a lie. And discernment in this season doesn't come from some woo-woo thing, but from being in the Word and in prayer and knowing how to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. And that is more important than ever before because This is such an age of deception, of lies, of difficulties telling the truth from a lie or from a deception, and you must be equipped. And that's true for the entire body of Christ. But I think as physicians, we sometimes we serve so much, we give so much that we put that on the back burner. So you know it is important, but here's the reality. Chances are you are struggling not because you don't want to go deeper with the Lord, not because you don't desire or understand the importance, but you're just honestly struggling because you don't even know where to get started because you're feeling like you're drowning. And how do I know that? I have been there. Anything I'm sharing on this podcast here, anything and everything, I've been there. I have lived it. Maybe I'm still walking through it. Maybe I'm struggling with it. I will always be very transparent, but I'm also gonna share the hope of Christ and the hope in Jesus that there is a better way and that you can actually make it through, and that you can have a wonderful, fulfilled, quiet time with the Lord. I have no doubt about that, no matter how busy you are and how crazy your schedule is. The key part here is just to start with very small steps. If you have followed me for any length of time, if you're one of my coaching clients, you hear this all the time. Yes, I coach academic physicians, but also I've mentored Christian physicians now for over two years. And if you're interested, by the way, getting coached or mentored by me, either professionally or spiritually or both please reach out. Easiest, just send me an email, Inga, I-N-G-A, @ingahofmann.com. I put that in the email below in the show notes as well. Or just send me a fan message on through the podcast app. You can do that too. I will read those. Anyway, I digress. So you can start with very small baby steps. I always say, Baby step your way to success." That's how it works. It's not these grand leaps. It's small little steps that gain momentum and that compound over time, and that's something we continue to forget in our personal, professional, and spiritual lives. But everything works the same way. Just put one foot in front of the other, and that's what I'm going to tell you about simple habits today So build a habit. It can be super simple, so simple that you think it is actually ridiculous and it's not worth anything, and that's a trick and a lie from the enemy to already get you not started. No. Start with a very simple, small habit, and you can always extend from there. But once a foundation is laid, it's not that easy to be disrupted. But if you have no foundation and you're like, "I'm gonna do my quiet time yet again. I'm gonna do that for at least 30 minutes," and it seems so doable because honestly, we should all have 30 minutes in a day. We probably spend that amount of time doom scrolling or doing something else. But it is, in the end, in reality, very overwhelming, and nobody can stick to it because it's too big of a step in the beginning. Now, as a reminder, reading the Bible in a year takes you about 15 minutes a day, and that's where I want you to end up being. But it can feel too overwhelming for many of you, so here are my practical ideas how you can get started in seven simple steps but before you do any of these, I just suggest pray. Sit there with the Lord for a few minutes, whether you're driving in the car right now or whatever you're doing, doesn't matter. Be honest with the Lord and just say, "Lord, I want to read your Word. I want to know you more. I want to hear your voice. I want all these things, but honestly, I just feel so defeated." That might be a prayer I've prayed in the past. And be open. Ask Him for strategies. Number one, the Lord already knows your situation. He's totally not surprised or fazed by it, but He also has solutions for you. So the first step I would do, and that's not in the official seven steps, but go pray. Ask the Lord for a strategy, and then actually be committed to whatever solution He will bring you. An idea might pop in your head. You might be not even sure, is it God or is it me? Doesn't matter. Just run with it. You will find out. Just try. And then one thing you do have to do, though, you have to commit and actually make an effort because here's what my mentor, John Maxwell, always taught me he always said to us, Everything worthwhile is uphill." That is true. It will take effort. There is no cruising to your quiet time. That's just the truth. So it will take effort. It will take sacrifice, but He is so Worth it. And wouldn't the most important relationship in your life require some sacrifice? So I think it is time for us to stop sacrificing for everybody else and start sacrificing for the Lord by spending time with Him, not by doing stuff for Him, but sitting with Him. That's a huge difference. Probably a podcast episode within itself. And so I've shared a lot that is not on my notes. Again, thank you, Holy Spirit. So here are the seven tips. And I know what you're gonna think about some of them. The first one is get up earlier, and you're like, "Ugh, I couldn't believe she's mentioning this." And I would be exactly the same way. Here's the truth. I'm not a morning person. I like my sleep. I'm the person, the closer it gets to wake-up time, the better I sleep. So getting up earlier sounds like cringe to me, and it never really worked in a way that I'm getting up half an hour earlier. I just never could get it to work. However, what I am saying is not getting half an hour. Maybe you just need to get up five minutes earlier, or maybe you just have to stop the snooze button one less time. Preaching to myself here. So that could be a simple thing. But here is the thing, and this gets me to tip number two. Five minutes won't be a magic solution. I don't wanna use the word magic. It won't be the wonderful solution if you're actually wasting it, and it's very easy to waste it by having your phone close by and reading your email for five extra minutes. That's probably tip number two. Have your phone away. I'm preaching to myself here because I have to do that again too. Remove your phone from your nightstand and have it somewhere else so that when you get up, you're not immediately looking there. It buys you a ton of time. In fact, You can probably read through the Bible twice in a year if you just get rid of the phone you have 30 min- extra minutes maybe right there. Preaching to the choir here. So number one, get up earlier. Even just five minutes will do. Number two, put away a distraction, which usually means the phone. Number three, read with your kids. So here's the thing. One thing that was really hard for me when my kids were younger when there were babies and toddlers, et cetera, it seems like sometimes I had the intent to get up before them. But literally that never worked because somehow they knew, and they got up before me. So my good plans totally fell by the wayside because reality is when you have young kids, they're probably your alarm clock. And then that's when you have to get up, and so you're immediately in the trenches with the kids. But one thing you could do is you could read with the kids. And in fact, that is a powerful demonstration of you're living out your faith. And actually, it doesn't matter how old they are or how young they are. If you just had a baby and you're breastfeeding and you're exhausted, guess what? You could actually read your Bible while you're breastfeeding. Totally works, right? Not a big deal at all. In fact that's a wonderful thing. So you can read your Bible while you're breastfeeding. If the kids are older, you can actually read it out loud with them. Maybe it's not your typical bedtime routine, but if they see you sitting there, Mama sitting on the couch and reading her Bible, whether that's in the evening or whenever time of the day you can squeeze that in, they actually are a witness to your prioritizing the Word of the Lord. That's powerful. I honestly never did that as much, and that's one of the things I'm like, if I had to do it all over again, that would be something I really would pay attention to. Because we often have this idea that our quiet time needs to be, like, quiet. And for me, honestly, that's very true. I'm a very noise-sensitive person. I easily get distracted, so I need to have mouse quiet for a lot of these activities, whether it's Bible reading, writing, sleeping. You ask my family, I'm a little cuckoo that way. But it could be very meaningful to sit there and your kids see you reading the Word. So read it with them. That doesn't mean you have to make a Bible study out of that. That's not what I'm saying. All I'm saying is you doing your thing with God, and they are witness. Yeah, they will come in and interrupt, and they're like, "Mommy, I need this." And you're like, "Oh, that's wonderful. Hey, I'm just talking to Jesus right now. Do you wanna sit next to me and join me as I read His Word?" Number four Do it as part of your nighttime routine. Tag it on there somewhere. So whatever you do at night before you go to bed, perhaps you brush your teeth, you take your makeup off, or for the guys, maybe you are, I don't know what you guys are doing before bedtime usually. Just, brush your teeth and head to bed, or maybe you take a shower. Tag it onto an activity at night you're already doing. So perhaps you brush your teeth, take a shower, whatever, and you go to bed, versus scrolling on the phone, maybe pick up your Bible. for five minutes. The other things is you could do it, number five do it at work. Depending on your job, this might work. So my job before, unless I was on call or on service, and even then, actually, it would have worked. I could have read the Bible. When I head to my office, usually had a startup routine, meaning what are the first things I'm gonna do as I get into work. And I might open my stuff. I usually check out my planner. I look at what is my schedule today. I could have tagged on a five-minute Bible reading right there easily. I had an office with a door after many years at Harvard, where I didn't have that, so that would have worked well. But maybe you don't have an office with a door, and maybe that's a little awkward. So maybe you could do it on your way to work as you get your coffee. You could do it before rounds. I was usually sitting at my desk and kind of reviewing the patients. I could have carved out an extra five minutes. That might work for some people in some seasons, so I'm gonna throw it out there. Number six, Do it in the car, either before you walk into work or as you leave. That would be number seven. So do it in the car before you walk into your office, into your clinic, into the hospital because you're alone, there's no distractions. So perfect time to actually grab your Bible and read. Just keep a Bible in your car. No big deal. Or number seven, do it in your car before you head home, so either in the parking lot or In the garage or whenever you get home before you get out of the car. Sit there for five minutes. And that is actually a wonderful way to reset, refocus, also de-stress, to get yourself in a different mindset and get yourself shifted away from work to the attention towards the Lord and His Word before you walk in and be with your family or whatever it might be. So seven tips. Get up earlier. Make sure you store your phone away to not get distracted. Number three, read it with kids whenever that might be or with the kids present. Number four, do it as part of your nighttime routine. Number five, do it at work before you get started in your office. Number six, do it in the car before you head into work. Or number seven, do it in the car before you head home. So these are my seven tips for today. All I want you to do is pick one to try. Pray. Maybe the Lord's highlighting one. If you don't hear anything, fine. Just pick one of those seven and get started. All I want you to do is five minutes. Either read sequentially if you have fallen off the map, start in Genesis, or pick a Bible in a year reading plan. And if it takes you three years, fine, but at least you're doing it every day. So with that I wanna thank you. Make sure you sign up for the waitlist. Again, that's ingahofmann.com/events. Look at the show notes, and I see you next time. God bless and have a great day.