Desperation turned to hope, hope to faith
I am Miriam. I have waited so long for this day, and frankly, it is not at all like I imagined. My desperation is gone, turning first to hope and then to faith. Far more than my constant bleeding, I never realized the amount of energy that my desperation stole from me. I have strength and it is not just physical, it’s a new lease on life. I am not afraid to go places, to approach people, to be an ordinary person. Yet my life is far from ordinary anymore. Everywhere I go people stare and say, "there she is, she's the one, she grabbed his cloak, and he told her she had faith that heals." They all want me to heal them. They think because I have faith and the Master said my faith heals, that I can heal them.
Twelve years ago, Jairus' wife and I gave birth on the same day. I never stopped bleeding after the child came. Now her child is sick and when I heard Jesus was going to their house to see the child, I wasn't surprised, because her husband is a leader in the synagogue. I decided to take my chances that he would heal me. I thought it might be prophetic, our lives crossed twelve years ago and perhaps they would again, fortuitously this time.
If only I could get Jesus to see me. On the way to Jairus’ house, I tried to meet him, but there were just too many people. I couldn't get near him. As if touched by an angel, spontaneously out of my mouth came an inspiration. "Please God, let me just touch his cloak!" "That's enough. I promise." And so I did, I inched my way toward him, I grabbed his cloak. Immediately I felt a pulsing power and I realized the angels were directing me.
Jesus turned around and asked who touched him. I was so ashamed I didn't respond, but he persisted in wanting to know, I was so, so frightened, I couldn't move, and then this new power, the one I still feel, came over me, and I spoke, "it was me, sir, it was me."
"I touched you because I have been sick for years, I need to be healed that I might care for my family, I am the mother of three children and since the birth of my last one twelve years ago I have never stopped the bleeding. I am always so tired, and I want to be healed." "I know you are The One and I thought if I could touch even your cloak, it would give me the relief I need and the strength to care for my family."
Jesus looked at me with his powerful, loving eyes and said, "Daughter, your faith has healed you, go in peace." He was so right, it is peace I have now, a feeling deep inside my heart, that has granted me a new energy. I realize now that I am loved by God. I am his daughter, and he has healed my desperation to be whole.
Jairus' girl is my daughter’s playmate and my prayers are with her. I trust Jesus made it to their house and blessed her with healing as he did me. I am going to see her today. Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the name of our God on high.
Loving God, like the bleeding woman, my heart is sometimes
desperate. As I reach out to touch your
cloak, the mantle of healing, turn my desperation to hope and my hope to faith.
Amen.
The Woman who touched Jesus' Cloak Luke 8:41-56
Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”
But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”
Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed.
Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
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