I will reach out to Him for healing
Brushing my teeth in the bathroom, I stare at my mirror, lost in thought. After the insanity of 2020, I pondered what this new year will bring. Dropping my hands, I glared up at the ceiling, “Lord, I can’t take another 2020. I am tired of being sick. I am tired of the disappointments. My friends, family, and so many persons I speak with are aching right now. I am tired … just tired,” I exclaimed.
Days later, I still felt like I was in a funk. I realized I was waiting for God to do or say something. “Hmm”, I thought, “this isn’t like me. Time to get rid of this.” As I am reading scripture that night, something caught my attention.
“Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.”
Matthew 9:20–22
Understanding God’s love
I have written so much about this amazing story, and God continues to teach me even more. For a woman who was given no name, her story provides such a depth of understanding God’s love and the relationship He wants with us. Having no name makes sense to me now. It is the same feeling when you see an image of someone where you can’t see their face, but the image draws you in so much that you can imagine yourself right there.
We don’t know who she is but we can empathize with her, and if we broaden our minds with our ‘illness’, we can also put ourselves into her shoes. We don’t know the issues that so many are facing. Many people are bleeding inside with issues of depression, anxiety, sickness, abuse, loneliness, abandonment, addiction… you name it and fill in your blank.
Stop Waiting
But this nameless woman heard about Jesus. Went to find Him. And I can hear her saying, ‘I will reach out to Him for healing’. She reached out and touched Jesus. So many of us are sitting and waiting for Jesus to touch us. But she wasn’t waiting. She wanted to be healed, and so she proactively went to find Him and got the courage to touch His clothes.
So many of us are nameless. Suffering quietly. But look at what Jesus called her: ‘daughter’. Interesting fact: she is the only person that Jesus gave this title to in the New Testament. Using this godly woman in the bible, God wants to remind us that no matter what we are suffering or how people see us, that is not how He sees us. We can be nameless to others, but Christ knows our name. We are his daughter or His son. We are His!
Her focus wasn’t even to speak with Him. She only wanted to touch that dirty part of His clothes. The hem that picks up all the dust and dirt; but she didn’t care. She approached Christ with humility and the belief that He can heal her.
This is when the healing comes
Here is another critical point about this story. She didn’t get healed when she touched him. She was healed when God spoke to her. So when we go to Jesus and touch Him, don’t lose patience and leave before He speaks to you. Wait. She courageously waited. She could have touched and fleed the scene. But she didn’t. Scared, she answered Jesus’ call. Jesus’ response brought her healing.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, maker of heaven and earth. Clean me of all impurities and sin. As I reach out to you for healing, have mercy on me, Lord. Heal me, I pray. Like David, my soul is full of anguish, and I cry, ‘How long, Lord, how long?’. Grant me Thy strength to persevere. Deliver and save me because of your unfailing love. May even in this, Your name is glorified forever and ever. Amen
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