Hope in the PT office

Hope is huge.  To the person without it, there’s an empty feeling.  To the person with it, there’s a sparkle in their eyes.  I relived hope recently as I talked with a physical therapist.  Explaining to him how I guarded my lower back for years, I guessed that a doctor would tell me I needed an MRI, which would lead to surgery.  Rather than submit to the unknowns of going under the knife, I chose to endure the pain I already knew.  Then my friend went to physical therapy, and I saw her health improve and her pain lessen dramatically.  She told me, “This PT office offers a free assessment, and I keep thinking of you when I’m there.  Why not go?”  So I went.  And the therapist told me I didn’t have a herniated disc.  He smiled, “I think in a couple of weeks we can have you feeling a lot better.”  And at first I was stunned.  Yet as reality set in, I felt hope disperse through my body, lending me almost tearful, sort of joyfully bewildered to imagine life with freedom of movement.  No more shifting my feet to keep standing.  No more bracing to a chair.  No more expectation of pain when I tried to lean forward.  I had hope now, and it lifted my whole outlook.  All the more does our hope in Christ lift us out of all sorts of weariness.  A heart rescued by Christ can experience a whole realm of living that flourishes.  Isaiah 40:30-31 tells us, “ . . . those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”  Will you invite Jesus to bring hope to you today?  Will you offer the same to someone else?