Ok, Well to be honest that may have been exaggerated!
(Insert my lousy attempt on an evil laugh!)
She does have a name we just don't know it, because her story is only 9 verses long.
But with those verses she does have an amazing story of courage,faith, struggle, and triumph.
So my favorite woman in the Bible is..........DRUM ROLL PLEASE!
She is called the..Suffering Woman.
I know. I know. You are probably thinking two things:
1.) Who is that? Or why does that sound familiar?
2.) Why is she your favorite? Of all the amazing women in the Bible; why is she your choice?
Well I'm so glad you asked!!!
Ok, her story is in all the gospels, but my favorite version is in Mark.
" 24 And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years. 26 And who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said "If I touch even his garment, I will be made well." 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?" 31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'" 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, " Daughter your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." ~ Mark 5:25-34
Some of you have little light bulbs going off in your heads! Because some of you have heard this story in Sunday school. Saying to yourself, "Oh so that's why it sounds familiar!"
Yeah I have heard this story several times. But it wasn't until a few months ago, when I read it again and purposely read it, that I truly grasped the meaning behind this story.
So, I decided to break it down for y'all so you can see the magnificence of this story.
So we know that Jesus was walking in a large crowd. I mean come on Jesus was kind of a celebrity back then. Doing all of these so-called miracles. People were curious. So this woman hearing about him, decided to believe in him. She pushed her way through the crowd to just touch a small piece of his garment.
All the times I've heard this story, the teachers talked about her faith.
Yes, she had amazing faith! She believed with her whole being that Jesus could heal her. BUT I want to show you this story from a different perspective.
HER FEAR:
A little history lesson for you. Back in the time of this story. If anyone was, as they called it "unclean" then they literally became an outcast. In that time if you had a disease you were "unclean''.They were rejected; thrown out of society. They were treated like crap. People wouldn't even talk to you. So for 12 long lonely years she went through that.
So why didn't this woman go up to Jesus like everybody else did? Everybody else walked right up to Jesus and basically said, "Hey, Jesus I have a problem. Fix it."
But this woman feared something.
REJECTION
Jesus was her last hope. She believed with everything inside of her that he would heal her, but she didn't believe that He would accept her.
I mean come on! Why would this guy who has crowds running up to meet him, want anything to do with an "unclean" out cast.
HER COURAGE:
She had a lot to fear, but she still bucked up and went out there to where Jesus was. She touched his garment and was healed!
Just Imagine her reaction! She was healed!
HALLELUJAH! PRAISE YA JESUS!
Then something happened. Something that made her stop all of her crazy celebrating!
Jesus asked, "Who touched my garment?"
This is where her amazing courage comes in.
She came to him! She was terrified! She was trembling! But she still did the right thing and was honest. Even though she was terrified that Jesus would reject her. She still came to him. Even though (In her mind) her health was on the line. Jesus healed her. He could take it right back just the same.
HER ACCEPTANCE:
So here she was: face on the ground, at Jesus' feet, and trembling with fear.
What Jesus did next is something so amazing, and just shows his love!
He said, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.
Did Jesus reject her?
NO! Not by a long shot!
He instead called her daughter, and praised her for her great faith.
By calling her daughter, he didn't just accept her the way she was, But he welcomed her into the family of God! How amazing is that! Here she was afraid of rejection by Jesus, but instead he welcomed her with open arms.
I feel like most of us are like the suffering woman. I know I was. I feared rejection. I mean, if God rejected me then who else could I go too. So I just didn't want to find out. I stayed in my little comfort zone. And didn't buck up.
But this woman did! And He welcomed her!
Just like he will with us! We just need to trust and believe in him! So take a leap of faith, and run to Him. He's waiting for you!
For me to realize God's love for me. It took God stopping me in my tracks. When God basically said, "My child, the only thing stopping my love from fully getting to you is yourself, so please. I'm begging you! Please believe it and accept it." So I did! And it was the greatest feeling in the world! This weight was lifted off of my shoulders!
The only thing I don't like about this story is that we don't know what happened to this woman. What did she do with her life, afterwards?
Well, I like to imagine that she ran around screaming from the top of her lungs about Jesus' great love, grace, and mercy.
P.S. Continue Being Perfectly Imperfect!
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