I tried to think of a clever story to introduce this blog entry, because let’s face it, isn’t that what our English teachers taught us from the very beginning? Start with your introduction, tie your thesis, write your body, conclude your story, and BOOM, you have created a predictable, formulated, “A+ guaranteed” essay. These English teachers also taught/stressed the importance of cursive, when sadly, the only importance it found in my life was forging signatures. (Sorry, Mom and Dad if you’re reading this, but it’s true). So with all this being said, I’m going to jump right into the meat of this blog even though I think I just subconsciously wrote an intro without even realizing it! Dang it, OK English teachers… you win!
For 2012, I decided to do something different with my relationship with the Lord. Instead of just opening my bible and hoping that the anointed wind would magically turn the pages to a passage I needed to read that day (however, that does work sometimes), I decided to go deep and REALLY study the Word of God. Friends, there is something so profound in doing this. Words barely express its depth which is why I’m going to do less talking from here on out of my personal experience, and instead, share with you a piece of hope and encouragement I received from studying Luke 8:40-48. It may bring tension or feel a little uncomfortable, and all I have to say to that is: good. God’s Word isn’t a children’s book, its real life with real people. So here it goes…
Have you ever felt so broken and unnoticed all at the same time? It could be that you have suffered or are suffering from a physical, emotional or spiritual condition and all you feel is loneliness. You might feel like an outcast in some form while you’re undergoing this process. Perhaps an outcast within your family, at church, around friends, at school or with social norms. There was a woman in the bible who can relate. (Now men, before you think this doesn’t apply to you, I challenge that big time, keep reading). This woman KNEW physical suffering because “she had discharge of blood for 12 years” (8:43)… in simpler yet disgusting terms, she practically had a period for 12 consecutive years. Is there something you feel like you have dealt with for years & years? Maybe something physical? Maybe depression? Maybe self-image? Maybe spiritual complacency? Keep thinking about that as you read. This woman “had spent all her living on physicians and she could not be healed by anyone” (8:43). Ever felt that way? You turn to all your options other than God and find that none of it works? Keep reading. Now this woman, she was considered “unclean”, “polluted”, “dirty”, and “defiled” in society. She wasn’t allowed to get NEAR a single clean person without making them dirty. So isolation was her only option. I know I’ve felt shameful of my conditions to the point of isolation, have you? This woman had no other choice from society though but to isolate. She was lonely and out of hope. Ever felt that way?
Now I could stop right there and say “The End”… but fortunately the gospel shares the good news, not the bad. I’m going to shift this story real quick though from my perspective, to the perspective of this bleeding woman. This clip is a short story I wrote and came up with as I put myself in the place of this woman. They are not her literal words, but merely an illustration of how I think her story might have gone something like…
So after watching that clip you might be wondering how it ties in to my blog entry. Well, here it goes. Sometimes I think God allows us to go what feels like “12 years” of our brokenness until we get to the point where we say “God, I’m out of hope. I’ve tried everything, my last and only hope is You” in order for us to reach out in faith, grab his “cloak” and ask for healing, ask for help, ask for Him. Our finite minds can’t wrap around the fact that he would notice any gesture we make towards reaching out to him, but the truth is, he notices EVERY reach you make towards Him, just like the bleeding woman. I mean, crowds were pressing up against Jesus and this woman barely touched the end of his cloak and IMMEDIATELY, He felt it. Not only did He feel it, but POWER was released from Him that they both felt.
I ask myself over and over again what kind of faith it would take for Jesus to respond, for Jesus to heal… but the truth is, a simple act of reaching for Him and believing Him is all it takes. He is already on the other end with his arms open wide waiting to heal only what He can heal. And all we have to do is receive it. No matter how broken you are, He can mend that. No matter how unnoticed you feel, He notices you. Friends, can you put yourself in the place of this woman, a woman who not even the world considered a human being, and know that there is nothing so “dirty”, “unclean”, “polluted”, any sin or illness has made you feel that Jesus wouldn’t and couldn’t heal you from. His delight is for you to reach out in faith, and He in return will do the rest…
“And He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace” (Luke 8:48)
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