Pushing Through the Pain

 

Have you ever had to go through physical therapy? I know several people who have as well as having to go through it myself. PT is a funny thing. Your goal is to heal, yet the experience is often times painful.

I was recently talking to a friend who had shoulder surgery. I asked how physical therapy was going and he said “Hard and painful at times!” He went on to explain that he thought that he was just about done with his physical therapy. He had thought that his last visit was going to be just that….his LAST visit.

After his therapy session he met with his doctor who explained that therapy was going to have to keep going. My friend, feeling discouraged protested. “Doc, I think I’m done…I don’t want to go through PT anymore…it’s too painful.”  My friend added to his rebuttal that he would continue his stretches and exercises on his own at home….he promised.

He paused and I curiously waited to hear how the doctor had responded to him.

At that my friend let out a sigh and said “Well, the doc patiently said that he can’t make me continue PT but if I don’t I will lose my “range of motion”. My friend then showed me the limited range of movement he was dealing with. He couldn’t lift his arm past his shoulder. When he tried his face winced with pain.

He then began to share with me what this would mean for his life. The doctor had also shared with him that realistically, without the encouragement and guidance from the therapist, people tended to not continue their strengthening exercises at home. My friend said he started to think of all the things he would no longer be able to do because of this limitation. He wouldn’t be able to live his life as fully as he wanted to; and when he was truly honest with himself he realized he knew he wouldn’t actually be able to continue to build his strength alone. He shared that one of the things that always helped him through his PT appointments was seeing all the other people around him working through theirs.

He continued in telling me that although the PT was painful and challenging he needed to continue so that he could have full range of motion again.

As I listened to my friends plight with physical therapy and all of its challenges, my mind paused a moment on those three words “range of motion.”

After our conversation I couldn’t get those words out of my mind.  “Range of motion”. Isn’t our faith walk sometimes riddled with painful or difficult times of growth? Don’t we sometimes find ourselves going back to God with the same plea? “I don’t want to go through this anymore.” “This is too painful Lord..”

We step back from God when we feel Him working something in us. We put down our bibles, we stop taking part in worship, we disconnect from our church family.

We, many times consider settling on a life less lived, because it would be too painful to address the things that God wants to help us find strength in.

God’s response is much like the doctors. Patiently God tells us that He won’t make us....but that our lives will have “limited range of motion” if we don’t push through the challenges we hold sometimes inside of us and sometimes see in front of us.

We can choose a life less lived, but that’s not what God wants for us. God wants us to live a life with full “range of motion”; a range of motion that we can’t achieve on our own and a level of strength that we need the great healer to get to.

There is sometimes pain in the healing work that God has for us, but just like physical therapy, spiritual therapy makes us stronger. Healing takes time and sometimes we have to push through. We do this because living a life with full range of motion is a life well lived.

Anyone I have ever spoken to who has gone through physical therapy says the same thing. “It was hard going through it, but I’m so glad I did..because it really did make me stronger and improved my quality of life.”

Have you missed your spiritual PT appointment? Have you promised God you would do your stretches at home…only to let days pass without moving a spiritual muscle?

Don’t lose your range of motion. Whatever it is your pushing through, know that God is truly the great physician, whose greatest desire is to see healing in your life. In order to have that healing take place we have to show up. We have to be present. We can’t build the kind of strength God wants for us on our own or by ourselves. 

Show up for worship….dive into scripture….connect with other brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember how one of the things that got my friend through his PT appointment was seeing all the people around him working through their pain and struggle as well?

That’s what we’re all doing as a body of believers. We’re all working together under the care of our Heavenly Father, to build our strength and range of motion.

Be encouraged by those around you. We’re all working through this thing called life together. As a body of believers we all go to the same physician….The Great Physician.

-Pastor Patti