The Hem of His Garment

 It was day 6 of my 21 days fast a few years ago when I discovered just how much I relied on social media for my daily encouragement. It's so easy, just one click of my mouse, and it's there for me to see.

A short cut of sorts, a quick fix in a world, my world, that is constantly moving and changing.
But when I dig into the word of God, when I take the time to seek Him, the encouragement is more. So much more.

Today I am encouraged by the woman who suffered with the issue of blood. For 12 years she suffered a life of misery and in her culture was considered unclean. It was a chronic condition which means she probably had anemia as well as physical weakness. She was hopelessly incurable by the many doctors she had sought out for medical care. She had become destitute for she spent all that she had. Everything and everyone who she would come in contact with would have become ceremonially unclean making her shunned by all in society including her family. Her husband, if she had one, may have even divorced her so he would not be "unclean" according to the law.

 Let that sink in for just a few minutes. 
Isolated and ill for 12 long years, can you imagine?
I cannot even imagine.

Though I do not relate to her type suffering, I can relate in an emotional one.
How many times in our own lives have we allowed an emotion bleed of sorts to consume us?
We all have them, but exactly how long do we allow them to bleed?  When are our insides broken and our hearts shattered and full of rejection?  What do we do?

Let's go back to the woman with the issue of blood.
Her story doesn't stop in the midst of her suffering. She had heard of Jesus and believed He could heal her. She broke all social standards and went out to find Him. She sought after Him and His healing power.  She declared and made known her faith in Him by one simply act.

She touched the hem of His garment. 

 She wasn't looking to make a scene. Nor did she cry out in a loud voice for him to heal her.
Maybe she had to push her way through the crowd, maybe she had to crawl her way to Him. Or maybe once she got close to Him, she fell down on her knees in shame. Who knows what steps she had to take to get to him. But what we do know is she found her way to Him. Jesus then asks " Who touched me? " In a crowd of people, He felt her touch the hem of his garment and felt the healing power leave Him.  Once she came forth and confessed it was, she that had touched Him, look what Jesus tells her.

 Mark chapter 5 verse 34. "Daughter, your faith has healed you. " 

 Hurting, alone, isolated and destitute but yet holding on to a new belief, one outside of the law she was accustomed to with all that she had left; what an amazing testament of her faith and His healing power!!

The same Jesus that healed her from a decade and more of pain and shame, can and will heal us from any and all emotional bleeds.
I see in my own life where I allowed my own suffering to linger.  I had to get to a point of shear desperation with nowhere to turn before I would cry out to Him. And the truth of it all; We don't have to wait. we can reach for Him immediately. He wants to heal me; He wants to heal you.

I believe the lesson He wants me to grasp is no matter what the voice of society shouts about me, my circumstances and situations, it is by faith His healing makes me whole whether it's physical or emotional. It's connecting and remaining within Him I find my life's provision. The woman with the issue of blood connected emotionally with Him through hope when she heard of His healing power.  Her faith grew before she ever laid eyes on Him. She pushed past all social taboo and made her way to Him.

I believe in today's time our own social taboo or standards parallel those of Old Testament days. Though we are not considered "unclean" according to religious law, we are judged harshly by our situations and circumstances. We are told we are unworthy of great things, we are not good enough to succeed, we will never heal, gain or thrive due to past choices. And that is the world's way of telling us we are "unclean."

But.

My God says different.

 I am a child of God. 
But to all who have received him--those who believe in his name---he has given the right to become God's children. - John Chapter 1 verse 12

I am a branch of the true vine. 
I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me--and I in him--bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.
John chapter 15 verses 1,5

I am a friend of Jesus.
I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what the master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father.
 John chapter 15 verse 15

 I have been justified and redeemed. 
But they are justified freely by his grace through redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans chapter 3 verse 24.

 I will not be condemned by God. 
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans chapter 8 verse 1.

So, in the midst of my fasting, I had injured my back and made it hard to sit, walk or stand.  I can see where it would be so easy to focus on the pain and not the voice of God; to have had curled up with my heating pad and just wait for my back to heal. And on the flip side the emotional stress which had so eagerly surfaced, I could have chosen to lay down, shut myself off from reality and surrender to its destruction or I could have chosen to reach out to Him, seek His word, soak myself in His presence and ................touch the hem of His garment.

I chose to grab the hem of his garment; to believe Jesus had already healed me. 

As a child of God fashioned as a branch of the true vine; a friend of Jesus who has been justified and redeemed and not condemned by God, I made my way to Him.

My prayer today is that you find it in you as well to reach for the hem of his garment in faith! 

And let your healing begin!