Atrophy

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” -Matthew 6:33

When I was going through physical therapy for my knee in 2017 it was a several month process. Before I could even start, I had to rest for about a month just to allow the swelling and fluid to go down. Due to the amount of time I wasn’t using my knee, I could feel my muscles get weaker.

During one of my check-ups, my orthopedic said there was some muscle atrophy beginning. By definition, atrophy is the thinning or loss of muscle tissue. The only way to fix this is to make lifestyle changes with exercises, physical therapy or surgery.

Physical therapy is not for the faint of heart. I was in the middle of not only physical brokenness for my injury but my heart was in a hurricane of a mess too. I remember coming in to work my knee and crying with my therapist. I just wanted to feel better all the way around. She shared with me she was a believer and offered to pray with me right there in the middle of the machines and my brokenness. She offered me hope and shed God’s light on me during one of my darkest times. It was no coincidence He assigned me as her client and I am forever grateful for that.

There were a lot of factors at play during that time. Physical pain, low self-worth, feeling like I wasn’t enough despite being the one who was doing everything, high anxiety and a relationship that was sinking as quick as the Titanic. Not to mention my faith was running on fumes.

I needed to make some lifestyle changes or the atrophy was going to be cause me to lose strength not only physically but emotionally and spiritually too. Month by month I did the exercises to gain mobility and muscle mass in my knee. I also started counseling for a lot of inner work to learn my worthiness and re-gain my spiritual strength.

Had it not been for those seasons of re-growth, the seasons that have followed I may have crumbled. There was no room for atrophied “muscles.”

Sweet reader, God is always for you and He will always provide the tools required to help you and elevate you. He does not want you to stay in a stagnant state deteriorating to the point of complete weakness.

There is always hope because there is always God. I pray that whatever the situation you’re facing you’ll have a renewed strength and a peace that passes all understanding.