who brings YOU peace?

When you read the story below, put yourself in the place of this woman, but change it to : an alcoholic; or a chronic homeless person. A person who has been mentally ill for many years...the list is endless. Walk your journey with this woman. Haven't YOU also felt as though you have been shunned by society? Do you wish someone would come up to you and say, "I am here, I will walk WITH you?" Me too. I have a chronic illness that saps so much energy from me. There is no cure, just the slow decline of my faculties. And yet I have the love of a very good husband who is my best friend. This fact alone helps me to meet each day head on! I hope that after reading this story, you reach out to God in your life....give Him your fears and watch as He brings peace!




He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you.  Go in peace and be freed from your suffering,’” (Mark 5:34 NIV).
Friend to Friend
Oh how I love the story of Jesus healing the woman with the issue of blood recorded in Mark 5:21-34. I can so relate to this woman. What woman among us hasn’t felt the wretchedness of rejection, the shame of suffering, and the humility of hopelessness? What woman hasn’t wondered, would God care about the likes of me?  And here we have a story of just how much God values and esteems. He singles out one lone woman from a multitude of curious followers, heals her of her affliction with but a touch, and then shines the heavenly spotlight center stage for her to testify about the miraculous transformation.
The woman we meet in Mark, chapter five, has been called, “the woman with the issue of blood.” She was defined by what was wrong with her; I’ve felt that sting as well. For twelve long years, this woman had been bleeding…When we meet her, she is physically, financially, socially and spiritually drained – bankrupt in every way.
In Biblical days, certain situations and conditions rendered a person ceremonially unclean.  Leprous people were separated from society and had to shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” when they walked among common folk. Anyone who touched a dead body was considered unclean. And women were considered unclean during their monthly period.
A woman hemorrhaging for twelve years would be considered permanently unclean. If unmarried, she would not be able to marry. If married, her condition would be grounds for divorce. She would be expelled from her home, cut off from her family, and ostracized by her community.


Unlike the lame man who was lowered through the roof by four friends and placed at Jesus’ feet, this woman had no one to intercede for her. There was no father pleading for his daughter. There was no husband praying for his wife.  There was no master imploring Jesus’ help to heal a servant. When we meet this woman, she is fearful and forgotten. She is all alone – or so it seemed to her.
Sometimes we can feel the same: abandoned by friends, deserted by a spouse, forgotten by family, unseen by society. But she was not forgotten. She was not alone. This Daughter of Abraham was close to God’s heart and foremost on His mind. So God the Father orchestrated His Son’s journey to pass her way.
This woman understood that Jesus was radically different in his approach and appreciation of women.  She knew full well that she was overstepping cultural and religious boundaries set out by pious men of her day, but it was a risk she was willing to take.
Two things happened when she touched Jesus. First she was healed. It was measurable. She felt the flow of blood cease. Jesus felt the power of God released.
Secondly, she was revealed. Her courage was cloaked in anonymity trembling in the fear of exposure, but Jesus was not going to allow her to “steal” her healing. He wanted to do more than stop the flow of blood. He wanted to start the flow of ministry. He called her forward to testify, to tell what had just happened to her so that others would believe.
 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. (Mark 5:34).

A Rabbi did not speak to a woman in public, but once again, Jesus, the liberator, broke the man-made rules for the God-made woman. No longer was she a woman in need of a healing touch, but now a believer who had received it and was called on to tell about it.