I started to cry in PT today. Emotions hit me like a tidal wave. Not because of any of the usual things, either.
To make it make sense, I have to give you a bit of backstory for context.
I started PT before my first surgery. September of 2020 was my first time having to do physical therapy, ever. We knew there was a problem in my knee. It was a pretty simple meniscus tear. Matter of fact, the knee injury wasn’t even the most serious work injury I had. I had slipped a few discs in my back around the same time I hurt my knee.
After my 1st surgery is kinda when the 💩 hit the fan for me. I knew that it didn’t feel the way everyone said it would but I had never had a surgery before, either, so I wasn’t really SURE that there was something else going on in my knee until about a month later. I was in post op physical therapy when they got a new office manager. Let’s just call him Joe. For the story.
Anyone that knows me, knows that it takes a LOT for me to actually pull AWAY from a person. A lot. And let’s just say that after a couple months, I was at that point with Joe. I had to have several sessions with him. Even though I didn’t have the best grasp of what exactly I SHOULD expect from a physical therapist,
I knew that he liked to listen to himself more than he listened to me. It felt more like condescension than it felt like care. I remember him telling me that it’s not possible that I felt something, one time, because “that’s physically impossible and not the direction that pain travels in that part of the leg.” (Which, since my diagnosis of the pain syndrome, it’s been proven that pain can and will do exactly what I said it was doing)
I had plenty other conversations like that with Joe. So, I asked to start working with someone else. I didn’t care that he was the boss. I didn’t care that it might be awkward… I only wanted to heal and work with someone who’d listen and help me.
The last straw was when I noticed a car in the parking lot that was always the closest spot to the door. I started to think, “either this person has PT mid-day on Monday Wednesday Friday like I do… or this is an employee car. When I found out that it was Joe’s car… I was genuinely pissed. This is a physical therapy clinic and people can’t walk… and the manager of the clinic takes the best spot to park in with the shortest walk??
I remember having to think and ask God why this made me so damn mad. I actually did a little bit of work with a therapist about it. Turns out, entitled, narcissistic and inconsiderate people trigger me. Go figure! All those traits remind me of my father. I forgave Joe… same way I did with my dad. Never had to utter a word. I just forgave him and tried to be a good human to him.
Come to find out, we have a lot of stuff in common. He loves hip hop. We’ve got similar interests in movies and art and a slew of other things. He’s a wanna be sneaker head… I’m a wanna be sneaker head. Lots of little things came to the surface in the last 3 years of PT. I still have some other physical therapists that I schedule with first… lol. But that’s just business! I’m in the business of healing and getting stronger, I still didn’t know if Joe was my guy. We’ve kinda gotten cool… but I still ask for my Turkish PT who will absolutely push me TO and THROUGH my limit. There’s just something about the tough love of an Eastern European person that’s perfect for physical therapy. Lol
But me and Joe have definitely become PT friends.
Then today… as I’m walking in, he lights up and he says, “Hey Joel!! Guess what? I started reading the New Testament. I like it! It’s pretty freakin good!”
Y’all. I had to stand there looking like the meme of the black kid looking around confused. No joking. I was like.. is he talking to me? Yeah. I mean.. he said my name. New Testament… is that a sci-fi novel? Oh wait… I think he’s talking about the Bible. But… why is he telling ME this. I’ve never shared anything with him specifically… I mean. I kinda know that people know I love God because… ooohhhh yeah!! My Cross tattoo… oh yeah and my scripture tattoo. Oh wait!! I definitely wear my “Jesus is bigger than Sunday” shirt at LEAST twice a month, to PT.
You guys… he was SO excited to talk to me about it. It was like he wanted to share it with me so I could almost ‘be proud’ of him. (I’m getting emotional again) He wanted to talk about the Bible with me. Right there… while he was doing acupuncture on another patient. He said “I read Matthew and (he whispered) it’s pretty goood.” I was so blown away…
He went on to say that he was reading Luke (the third book of the New Testament) and he was really enjoying reading it. I said… “what happened to Mark (2nd book of the New Testament) though buddy? You skip it?” He was a little confused and we laughed about it. He didn’t realize he skipped it but will go back and check it out. We went on to talk about the TV series The Chosen because he mentioned how much he loved imagining what it all must have been like to walk with Jesus. Yeah… that’s the gospel for you. Right there..
If you are reading this story, at some point, you didn’t like Joe either. Lol. It’s ok to admit it. But sometimes, y’all, we just gotta forgive people for being all they know how to be…themselves. You have NO idea what they have going on or what they came from.
And you have NO idea how God wants to use YOU in THEIR life.
This is the part that makes me cry because I am just so so so honored… that God wants to still use ME… when I’m in the worst pain in my life… when my life was falling apart.. when, some days, I hated PT… and then almost 3 years later, the only person that still works there this WHOLE time… is the one I get to talk about Jesus with.
The least likely person… is sometimes the most fertile person to receive the goodness of God.
Can’t wait to see Joe on Monday and see how his reading is going.