~By Sharon Czerwien
I was recently at my physical therapy appointment. Though I have seen a PT for my POTS Syndrome for close to nine months, I had to recently shift gears with the same set of therapists due to some nervous system issues after vein ablations.
Not to bore you with details, but my recent PT appointments have been geared toward helping me regain a healthier footing (sorry for the pun!) in my left foot/ankle/toes.
A Pair of Shoes…
You can check out my sense of “shoe fashion” in the below sandal picture. After my two end-of-February vein ablations, I only wore these black sandals for weeeeks on end. Since my nervous system went all wonky after the vein work, my body shut down major functioning in my lower left extremities, and these black sandals were the only shoes I could wear due to swelling, etc.
Some people eat comfort food or have comfort animals. Youngers even have comfort blankets. ME??? It was *all about* the comfort shoes! =]
Fast forward TENish weeks from those procedures…
I finally wore low-ankled rain boots because we were going on a rainy-day field trip. I took those shoes off as soon as possible.
I then wore tennis shoes a couple of times for short stretches of time.
As a result, I thought to myself one Sunday morning before church…hmmm, maybe I am ready to wear my dressier black boots to church??? Let’s try it!
The shoes I finally re-wore on Mother’s Day are shown below. Because it was Mother’s Day, we went out to eat after church. I was in these thick-heeled shoes for a few too many hours.
My foot *was not* happy with me. My toes had been anchored upwards much too long, and my toes were sick of feeling squeezed. I had swelling and foot soreness even at bedtime.
Physical Therapy
Thankfully, I had a physical therapy appointment that next day. I told the PT assistant how I had finally worn this certain pair of shoes and how I would not be wearing those again!
She looked and me and said something like, “Weeellll…”
I seriously LAUGHED OUT LOUD when she told me I had to wear them again. It was certainly not a laugh of disregard or disrespect! It was one of those awkward laughs where I dreaded where her (right) words were going to lead me.
This PT assistant proceeded to tell me that wearing these shoes again could count towards my physical therapy work.
It was important that I wear them again. What she said next was one of the most profound things I’ve ever heard at a medical appointment.
She said that I need to go through some pain to fully heal. Plus, if I was not willing to push myself through some discomfort, then I would take longer to heal.
Woooooaaaah…
She wants me to wear those shoes again, even if just for one-hour increments with several days in between. Either way, the proper discomfort would serve a purpose, she said.
Spiritual Application
Golly is all I could think to myself! Honestly, I think I accidentally tuned her out for a few moments because I was trying to solidify in my mind what to remember for a blog post! What she said was a huge reminder about how I should remember to view life’s bumps.
Since that PT appointment, I thought back to my dad’s great church sermons on trials and 1 Peter 1:6-7.
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ…”
Aaaaah, so trials are like proper discomfort that serve a purpose??!!
“If need be…”
If God sees fit to lead us through some temporary trial, the purpose is to increase the genuineness of our faith, which is waaaaay more precious than gold according to 1 Peter!
Discomfort (though dreadful at times!) actually serves a purpose. Thanks, to my PT for the insight and to Peter for penning these words in the New Testament.
~Let’s walk on (with our eyes looking UP!),
Sharon
You know I love anything that refers to 1 Peter! What a simple and clear cut example.