Jesus is coming again and we have to be a Bride who has made herself ready! But the Bride has been attacked. For women, one of the attacks, and one that I am passionate about overcoming, is that women have lost their dignity. The word "dignity" means "to rise up; to lift up one's countenance". It's a personal pride about oneself with a healthy perspective of your identity.
In Mark 5, we saw a young girl who was dead, but Jesus said, "She is just asleep" and I talked about how we, as women, are often "dormant", hardened by the world and the wounds of it. If you didn't get to read it, click HERE. Today, I want us to talk about the other lady mentioned in this story. Jesus is on His way to Jarius' house to awaken his daughter and within the crowd is a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years! The number 12 means "established". This infirmity had established itself in her body!
She was considered unclean, untouchable, and unable to reproduce. There are many woman who will read this today and you have felt this way before...may even feel this way right now. Can you imagine the shame? Can you just imagine having not been touched by another human being for 12 long years? How lonely. How painful. Can you imagine not being able to have children, and yet longing so much for a baby? This pain runs deep. It's a wound that often never heals because there is such a finite feeling to it.
The word I hear is that she felt damaged. The word "damage" means "injury or harm that reduces value; a feeling of uselessness".
There was a time in my life, when my husband and I went through a nasty divorce, when gossip and lies were swirling through our hometown, and I was completely damaged by it. It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. The words hurled at me. The name calling. The anger. The emotional abuse. No words to describe how numb and empty I felt. I felt I was "damaged goods" that needed to be sent away, tossed, and disregarded. Some of those who even claimed to be my best friends turned their backs on me in my greatest hour of need. I understand pain.
And yet, this woman finds enough courage to come from behind the crowd, just trying to get to Jesus. As soon as she touches Him, she is immediately healed! Her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was FREE!
Jesus knew that power had left Him and begins to ask, "Who touched Me?" When she shares that it was her, Jesus makes the most valuable, loving, and kind statement to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you." He called her "daughter". She was not alone. She had a Father who loved her and cared very deeply for her. And for those of us who know Jesus as Savior and Lord of our lives, you have become adopted as His daughter, too.
Romans 8:15 says, "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, ‘Abba! Father!"
YOU ARE NOT DAMAGED, YOU'RE A DAUGHTER!
Let me ask you a question to ponder: What healed the lady? Did Jesus say that He healed her? I mean, we know that the healing power left His body and entered her body. But Jesus didn't attribute her healing to Him. He said she was healed by her own FAITH. She believed Jesus was God's Son and had the power to heal her. She believed it enough to act upon it. She pressed through that crowd and got to Jesus! She didn't care what anybody thought of her, or how many would be "offended" at her being in their presence. She had to get to Jesus, and she was going to do whatever she had to in order to get there! That's FAITH! And it was THAT faith that healed her.
Countless women, including myself, have been deeply wounded with a gaping hole that has left you bleeding for years. Today, my prayer is that you will rise up, remember who and Whose you are, and get to Jesus. You are His daughter, and He loves you. No matter what you've done or will do. He loves you, and He wants to heal you...heal your heart. Would you do whatever it takes to get to Him in faith? Do you believe that He can heal you? Then bring it all to Him and by faith, surrender it all into His hands. Let Him be a good good Father to you, so that you can be FREE.