Beyond The Court

7. Jesus, Etc

Jesus, don't cry

You can rely on me, honey

You can combine anything you want

I'll be around

You were right about the stars,

Each one is a setting sun

Tall buildings shake

Voices escape, singing sad, sad songs

Tuned to chords

Strung down your cheeks

Bitter melodies turning your orbit around

***
I seriously recommend playing this song, especially if you hadn't been playing the other ones, but i love this one, it's great.
***

The steady beeping of machines slowly pulled Paige from the thick fog of anesthesia. Her eyelids fluttered, and the glaring hospital lights made her wince as her vision adjusted. The room felt distant, almost surreal, but the dull ache in her leg and the weight of the brace strapped to it grounded her in the reality of what had just happened. The surgery was over.

She blinked a few times, the heaviness in her body making her feel sluggish. Her mind, still hazy, started to clear, and the familiar fear crept in. The surgery might have gone well, but the road ahead loomed large and uncertain. Months of recovery, physical therapy, and the gnawing fear that she might never be the same player again—all of it crashed down on her like a wave.

She hadn't spoken to God in days. Not since the injury. Not since the pain and confusion of it all had settled in. She hadn't prayed before the surgery, hadn't sought comfort in the quiet moments leading up to it. Paige hadn't even really thought about her faith as the whirlwind of the injury and surgery preparations consumed her. And now, lying in this sterile room, with her leg immobilized and her future hanging in the balance, God was the farthest thing from her mind.

But as she lay there, eyes drifting from the ceiling to the bandaged knee beneath the blanket, a small, quiet thought came to her: This isn't the end.

She let the thought settle, its simplicity calming the storm inside her. Maybe it wasn't just the end of her season, her momentum—maybe this was something more. The faint memory of her faith, of God's presence in her life, came back to her in that moment. She hadn't prayed recently, hadn't asked for strength or guidance, but now, lying here in the quiet aftermath of the surgery, it was like God had returned to her mind, unbidden but welcome.

Was this part of His plan?

She wasn't sure why she hadn't thought about it sooner. Maybe it was the shock, the pain, the overwhelming fear of losing basketball, but now, the feeling of His presence began to gently nudge its way into her thoughts. She hadn't asked for this injury, and she still didn't fully understand why it had happened. But lying there, she started to believe there was something bigger at play.

It wasn't a prayer, not in the traditional sense. Paige wasn't asking for anything or pleading for comfort. She was just... letting herself remember. Remembering that God had always been with her, even when she had drifted away, lost in the chaos of her own thoughts and fears. Maybe she didn't have to understand everything right now. Maybe she didn't need to know why this had happened. She just needed to trust that there was a purpose behind it.