Get Equipped to Share Jesus at Work, with Joanna Yi

Calling all Christians! No matter what industry you work in, youare needed to help share the hope of the gospel. In this episode of Grounded, you will be equipped to share your faith in the midst of our increasingly post-Christian culture, and you will be inspired to live out Scripture’s calling to be a light in the darkness.

Episode Notes
“Getting into the Word and Getting the Word into You” season of the Revive Our Hearts podcast.

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Erin Davis: I'm going to say something that might seem a little obvious: we need Christians sharing the hope of the gospel in every industry. I'm Erin Davis. This is Grounded, a production of Revive Our Hearts. And we are here to hand out hope and perspective. 

I'm grateful for the Christian teachers and administrators who serve in public schools. I'm grateful for the Christian leaders who serve in business, and for the Christians involved at every level of our government, aren't you? But sharing your faith at work in our increasingly post-Christian culture comes with some big challenges. We don't want to give up, and we don't want to be loud or obnoxious. 

So, how can you share the hope of the gospel where you work in ways that are winsome, that are gracious, that actually draw people's hearts to Jesus? Our guest today is Joanna Yi. She is a pediatric oncologist working for a large children's hospital. She's here for a practical and encouraging conversation about how she lives out Scripture’s calling to be a light in the darkness. This is an episode you're gonna want to share. 

Are you serving in a secular workplace? Do you know someone who's serving in a secular workplace? Of course you do. That means you know people who need to be equipped by this conversation. So hit that share button. It's that easy. Text it out to somebody that maybe the Lord puts on your heart. We're going to jump into that conversation with Dr. Joanna Yi very soon. 

This is an important conversation. Portia is going to help us get grounded in God's Word. You can go ahead and grab that Bible and open it up to Matthew chapter 5:14–16 This is also the time when we want to share some good news and Portia is just the girl to bring it to us. Portia How you doing today?

7:01 - Good News (with Portia)

Portia Collins: I'm doing great. I am ready to share some good news. I love that this podcast is called Grounded. Why? Because we want to help you stay grounded in God's Word as we begin a new year. We want to take a moment to highlight what will always be true no matter what this year holds. And so, every one of the 366 days of ’24—yes, it is a leap year—every one of these 366 days, God will love you. 

So, we're gonna go rapid fire through a couple of passages. But first, consider Romans 8:35–39. It says:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God loves you. God loves you. For all 366 days, guess what? God is going to be on His throne. Listen to Psalm 29:10. What does it say? “The LORD sits enthroned as king forever.” Forever. Do you hear that? Good news, our good news for all 366 days, the Holy Spirit will be with you. You will not have to face anything alone. 

Consider Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” For all 366 days, God will be a fortress that you can run into and be safe from the flaming darts of the enemy. 

Proverbs 18:10, listen to this: “The name of the LORD is a [what?] strong tower; the righteous man or woman runs into it and is safe.” 

For all 366 days of 2024, you will have an assignment, a mission, a purpose, to show the light of Jesus in this dark world. “For at one time, you were in darkness. But now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of light.” 

2024 will have highs and lows. We already know this. But we will be here for it all. We're gonna keep doing the same thing over and over pointing you to the hope of Christ, as you do the same for others. Jesus is with us. He wants to use our lives to make a difference. And guess what? Y’all know what I'm gonna say. I think that is some good news. 

Erin: Oh, that is best news I've heard in a long time. I'm gonna bust out the trumpets again and celebrate the new year because God is going to be on His throne all year. He's gonna be good all year. And He's gonna have a mission for us all year. Thanks for that good news, P. 

Well, as begin to get grounded with God's people, the doctor is in. Dr. Joanna Yi is a pediatric oncologist. She wants to share the hope of Jesus with her patients and with her coworkers. And I want to hear how she does it. So, welcome to Grounded Joanna.

11:22- Grounded with God's People (Joanna Yi)

Dr. Joanna Yi: Thank you so much for having me, Erin. I'm so excited to be here.

Erin: Okay, take me back several years, what moved you to decide to go into medicine

Dr. Joanna: So all of my family are engineers, except me for my mom, who was probably pre-med until she started having kids. I'm the youngest. My parents are like, “Well, you're good at science, but you don't quite think like an engineer. So maybe since you love working with kids, you can consider medicine.” I enjoyed science. And God gave me some great opportunities to get exposed to medicine and research. That's kind of what drew me in. Yeah.

Erin: I love it. I don't think I've ever had a single engineering thought. I hope your family would like me anyway. But I can relate to that. This might feel like old news. But as we jump into this conversation about how to be lights in our workplaces, I bet this is still fresh for you. And something like the Dobbs case happens where Roe vs. Wade was overturned. And they're strong opinions on every side. How do you discuss that, live that out, in a work context?

Dr. Joanna: That's a great question that was really hard on me. One, I was so excited that the Dobbs decision came down as it did. But all of my medical friends were walking around as though it was the world's greatest tragedy. I felt like it was hard for me to be able to say something. And actually, something that did help was I was at a Revive Our Heart Women's Conference, maybe like a 2019. Jackie Hill Perry and Mary Kassian were giving a workshop. I was like, “How do you reach out to people when they seem so opposed to you?” Jackie had said, “Ask questions. Help them to see what they're thinking.” I felt like I was able to do that. 

And one particular instance, I had just posted something on Facebook, from Tony Evans. One of my friends was like, “Wait, you're in agreement with this decision? We need to talk.” And so, I was able to have an email conversation with her and just kind of shared some of my facts and some of my faith. I felt like because we had been colleagues for a long time, and we were friends, she was able to hear me and not think I'm some crazy wackadoodle person. But I'm a real person who tries to serve the Lord and also serve my patients.

Erin: I love that. I love that you were willing to share the reality about what you felt based on that relationship. I'm in ministry, and I had some of that fallout with people that I'm connected to related to that case. Just your willingness to engage, I think, is really precious. I'd love to hear some of the other challenges of being a Christian doctor in 2024.

Dr. Joanna: I don't know if it's a challenge, but something I am very thankful to the Lord for is that I can pray with my patients. And you know, a lot of times I'll just tell them I'm praying, but sometimes I feel led of the Lord to pray with my patients too. I love being able to share that light with my patients as I'm walking them through often challenging times where I have to give them bad news that their cancer has come back and it's not what we were hoping for. 

And so, I feel like the Lord gives me a lot of strength in that. I've been trying to do more that when my colleagues have patients where their cancer has come back, to point them to our Great Physician who is the ultimate healer, both of the cancer of sin, but one day that we can live with Him in eternity with perfect bodies with Him as our great Savior and Lord. 

I think the other challenge that I think about is, obviously, I feel like I have two populations that I get to work with: my patients, and then my colleagues. I feel like I sometimes struggle with the challenge of like, how do I share my faith? And everybody knows that I go to church, and that I teach Sunday school and all those sorts of things. But how do I step it up to the next level of showing them that it's not just something I do for fun, but it's something that I am passionate about, because God came to die for everybody. 

And so, trying to seek out those opportunities, and then have courage to step up and actually say, you know, point to Christ or come to me with church, or here's some Scripture that has really encouraged me in hard times.

Erin: Yeah, I love that you're being intentional there. I think some Christians have thought, This is my work life, this is my faith life. I'm gonna do my best to keep them separate. You're proactively leaning into looking for those opportunities. Your job title has two words in it that should never be together pediatric oncologist, and we're talking about kids with cancer. So, I just love to hear how the hard things . . . You mentioned this a little bit, or any stories of the hard things, of kids with cancer, give you opportunities to share real hope.

Dr. Joanna: Yeah, I think for me, I definitely feel like as an oncologist, knowing that the cancer of sin will take people's life for all of eternity and separation from God, that is such a real analogy for me as an oncologist with the treatment for my children with cancer, my patients with cancer, I should say. It's not easy. They need to be courageous about that, and I need to share with them this is what the treatment is going to be, and walk with them through that journey. I feel like that is something that bolsters me when I feel down.

I think the other thing is just remembering that my God is a God who delights to heal. Even if I feel like medicine has failed me, and has failed this patient God has not. And I, in those times when I'm praying with patients, I feel like I hope they see that I'm putting all my faith in the Great Physician. I want Him if it's His will to heal them. Otherwise, I pray that they will come to know the Lord. Sometimes that can be an opportunity for me to share my faith too, if it's the right situation.

Erin: So beautiful and sobering. Several of our kids have medical challenges. There have been many moments where I knew the doctor or the nurse in the room was praying for us. Sometimes they told us, and sometimes they didn't. I cannot tell you what a profound difference it has made. And so just that thought of are you praying with people at work, and if you don't feel ready to tell them you're praying, you can certainly still be praying I think is so precious. And what a great example.

You're part of a Christian Medical and Dental Association. Are there some industry guidelines you follow as you share your faith or talk shop a little bit? What are some of the guidelines? 

Dr. Joanna: Yeah, so the CMDA are Christian Medical and Dental Association is a fantastic organization. And one of the things that they have done is they have a whole curriculum for doctors, nurses, dentists, whomever about how to share your faith in a way that is not pushy, or like using your position of authority to beat it over somebody's head. 

They give just a lot of really practical examples of like when I feel like anxious, I think of a verse in Scripture that says, do everything with prayer and petition, present your requests to God, and that He will grant us His peace that passes all understanding of peace that the world cannot give, and in those moments when I'm stressed or when I'm anxious. That's something that gives me courage. Those are things that they talk about in there to train us and give us actual examples of, “Oh, I can insert in my faith here, besides praying for my colleagues, and then looking for those opportunities there as well.”

Erin: That's like a new line of thinking for me, because I've been blessed to be in vocational ministry most of my professional life, but I imagine there's probably Christian teacher associations and Christian other field associations. There might be a tool that you can reach out to that will equip you like the one Joanna just mentioned. So, there you go. There's your Google search of the day. 

The medical field feels a bit like a war zone right now, from an outside looking in. I don't know if it feels that way to you, but with gender affirming care becoming normalized and all kinds of those conversations about kids and parents, how do you hold on to hope when it feels like things are swinging the wrong way? Or maybe that the darkness is getting darker? 

Dr. Joanna: I was talking to a colleague here. She was sharing a story of her working with some trainees. They had a retreat day for them. And then one of the moms of our patients came in and spoke. She was just saying, “I see this as my child's developing cancer as a blessing from the Lord because I get to reach out to so many people at the hospital.” 

And what my colleague was sharing with me was, “I had to remember that God just reminded me in that moment, that it's not like He's only working at church, and He's only working through Christians. He is working everywhere, even when it seems really dark.” It is really hard, and it's very discouraging, sometimes, with all the gender affirming care. I think I just have to remember that people are deceived by Satan, and they're not the enemy.

I need to pray for them, and pray for the opportunities that I can help them see the error of their thinking, and more importantly, that they need Jesus just as much as I need Jesus every day. I feel like that's what God constantly keeps reminding me so I don't get angry and just upset and mad at the people. But instead, try to pray for them. I feel like soul winning, it's one on one. I'm going to be a Billy Graham and evangelize the whole transgender affirming medical community. It's going to be one on one through my friendships that I can be able to touch their hearts through God's power.

Erin: So beautiful. When Jesus looks at us, He sees us as harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. That's what Scripture says. And to keep that empathy for others I think is so so important. I so glad you said that. I know the medical field, like lots of fields, can feel lonely as a believer. I can think of several of my friends who are in business and will say I'm the only Christian at my workplace. I'm the only Christian who doesn't want to go to the bar after work every day, or whatever it is. What advice would you offer to a woman who's listening to this and she feels lonely, or she feels like she's the only Christian? What wisdom would you give her? 

Dr. Joanna: Before when I was living up north, it definitely felt like there were fewer believers at my workplace there. One of my colleagues was maybe like five years ahead of me. I found out that she was a believer. And then we suddenly discovered there's all these believers in our program. She organized a prayer meeting once a week, just like for 25 minutes at her apartment, which was like right there on campus. And that was just super encouraging that there are other believers here. 

I feel like as I'm more vocal about my faith then other people are gonna be like, “What's your cue go to that just happened to me over the weekend?” One of our trainees I thought maybe was a Christian. He was like, “What's your view?” We were able to have that whole conversation. 

I think the other thing is obviously, being involved at church and having those people who have your back. They're praying for you. They know it's really hard. You can share those circumstances. They can be praying that God will bring a Christian into your workplace that you guys can really be encouraged with. 

I also want to give a shout out to the Christian Working Woman which is based in Chicago. They do a lot of different things to encourage Christian women who are working. They have a prayer meeting like every other Monday that's on Zoom. So then you can pray specifically over workplace issues. 

Erin: That's awesome. Great tips, great tools that you handed out. I don't want my children to end up in an oncology hospital. But I sure would love it if you were our physician. Your heart just oozes out. Thanks for being on Grounded, Joanna.

Dr. Joanna: Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.

Erin: All right. Portia, you guys time for you to get grounded in God's Word.

23:41 - Grounded in God's Word (with Portia)

Portia: I'm ready.

Erin: I heard you in the background.. You were tracking.

Portia: I was tracking.

Erin: Good. 

Portia: I was tracking because much of that resonates with me. I remember working in secular environments where I often found myself as one of few or sometimes the only Christian. I realized that it was not always about standing in front of others with Bible in hand delivering a fiery fire and brimstone sermon, but rather, it was about engaging others evangelistically and sparking meaningful conversations about my faith and about my hope in Jesus Christ. And I think this kind of experience echoes the essence of what we see or what Jesus is telling us how we should live in Matthew 5:14–16. And so, if you have your Bibles, let's read. I want to pick up at verse 14. It says, 

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father in heaven. Amen. 

Okay, so let's take a minute to dig into God's Word. You know, I'm a Bible teacher at heart. I just want us to kind of unpack this a little bit. Jesus starts off in verse 14, where He's saying that you are the light of the world. I think it's so important for us to remember that as we work in secular workspaces. We should embody Christ care. What does that look like? Integrity, kindness, excellence, God does all things with excellence. And so, we should aim to embody, to live out those things. It's crucial, because ultimately, it is a silent testimony that can speak much louder than our actual words.

 In verse 15, Jesus says that we're like a city situated on a hill that cannot be hidden. While our faith is personal, deeply personal, it's not meant to be private. So, you don't have to hide the fact that you are believer, that you have put the full measure of your faith in Christ Jesus. So, in the workplace, this means living out your values, living those things out transparently through ethical actions and compassionate dealings. 

So, Jesus continues to keep going, and He says, “Let your light so shine before men.” And here's the thing, how we perform our job, how we handle challenges, how we interact with others, should mirror our faith. This consistency, it leads others to look at us. They're like, “What is it that this person is otherworldly?” This creates opportunities, openings, to have respectful gospel conversations. Let your light shine. 

Alright, let's get practical here. How do we take this home once again and make it personal? Show your faith through your dedication to quality of work. This will help people will notice that, your coworkers will notice how you work your excellence in your work, how you carry yourself as a light bearer for Christ Jesus. They may not even like it, they may even look at you crazy sometimes, but they all respect it. Sometimes they'll come and they'll ask questions, and that will open a door for you to evangelize, to witness to them. Be mindful of your conduct. 

Okay, how you carry out your work matters. The world is watching. Believers should be the first to maintain honesty, integrity, in challenging situations. These traits are really what can distinguish you as a follower of Christ. They're watching. Remember to be compassionate, and supportive, small acts of kindness and empathy can have a significant impact. Be a source of support for your colleagues. 

There are so many colleagues that I've had who have come and have talked to me just because they felt like I had compassion. Even though I may not have agreed with everything, they wanted to speak with someone who was just simply . . . Kindness should be a mark of the believer’s life. And also remember this respectful dialogue when faith discussions arise. Engage them with respect and openness. This approach can lead to a deeper conversation about what it is that you believe, in the hope that you have in Christ. Then this last point that I think is most important, is prayer. You want to seek divine guidance on how and when, and what you say, how you say, when you say, how to share your faith. 

Ultimately, it is God who is working in the hearts of people. And so, you need His wisdom, you need His divine guidance, in every encounter in which you engage with your coworkers. Remember, Jesus's call to believers to be evangelists is in essence, a call to become, or for us to be beacons of light, beacons of His love and truth through our actions and our interactions in the workplace, in church, outside of church, in our social settings, everywhere we go.

Saying that makes me think of a song that I would sing as a child and have sung it with me at times. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. And one look sometimes we would say, Everywhere I go, I'm going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Erin: Let it shine, amen. You’re talking about being lights and it’s giving us a show behind you. But that's real life.

Portia: It’s real life.

Erin: You know people, we’ve got to be lights to our in our own home. So Emmy you know, and Aunt Erin loves it when you come to Grounded. But your might be stressed. So let me take over and do tools for a minute. We'll wrap this episode. 

You know, we love to give you the good stuff. We'd like to give you the scoop before anyone else because we are sisters here on Grounded. I’ve got some tea to spill today. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, the founder of Revive Our Hearts, has a brand-new book releasing this month. You ready for it? The drumroll wherever you are. Here's the title Incomparable: 50 Days with Jesus. There's the cover. It doesn't release for a couple more weeks, so don't get mad at me. But we want you to be watching for it and anticipating it. We will be sure to let you know when it is available for you to get through Revive Our Hearts. 

We also wanted to let you know about a series that is on the Revive Our Hearts daily podcast right now. It's called “Getting into the Word and Getting the Word into You.” There is not a more important habit for the new year than for you to resolve to get into God's Word. And certainly, if you are going to be light in dark places, whether that's at work, or at home, or in your community, you're going to need the sword of truth. You're going to need to be anchored to it; you're going to need to be fueled by it. And so, we want you to get into God's Word. You can listen at ReviveOurHearts.com today or on the Revive Our Hearts app. 

All right, that was a great episode Portia. I don’t know if you and Emmy want to join me back in as we say goodbye, but we love Portia. 

Portia: I’m here. 

Erin: You're here. You're doing it. You know the Grounded sisters; they love Emmy. 

Portia: And I'm sure that there's a lot of moms out there. You're probably good at listening or watching this podcast. 

Erin: We get it. We've done all the things over Christmas break. We've wrapped all the cookies. We've watched all the movies, and now we get it we totally get it. So it's great. 

Portia: Absolutely. Alright, it's only the eighth of January, and it's crazy already. But let me ask you this: did you break your New Year's resolution?

Erin: Oh, come on. That's a low blow.

Portia: Well, listen. Amy DeMark Angelo will be with us here. She is going to give us a biblical perspective on when our hope for a fresh start falls short. So, if you feel like you keep starting over and over and over and just cannot get it right, then you want to join us next week on Grounded. She is going to be a delight. In the meantime, let's wake up with hope together next week.

Erin: Grounded audio is powered by Skype. Grounded is a production of Revive Our Hearts Ministries, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. 

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