Friends
Do you believe in miracles? Are you waiting, and wondering, and hoping for one?
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“because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”
Mark 5:28 – NIV
Have you ever prayed for a miracle and then been disappointed when one didn’t come? Have you ever prayed for healing and then found that the brokenness remained? Have you ever wondered if God heard your prayer?
I’d like to say that I never doubted God‘s plan for my life. I’d like to say that I always knew my prayers were heard and my troubles seen. I’d like to say that I was never disappointed when my prayers for healing weren’t answered. But I can’t say those things, because there were times in my journey when I wondered where God was. Why was he letting things go on this way?
That must be how the woman in Mark 5:25-34 felt. For 12 years, she had struggled with her brokenness. For 12 years, she had been an outcast, despised by her society, unable to participate in the normal comings and goings of everyday life, all because of her need for physical healing. She had suffered with an issue of bleeding for twelve years. She had seen doctor after doctor, exhausted all her resources, and still she was not healed. How many times had she prayed, only to find that the issue still remained? How many times had she wondered, “Where is God? Why is this happening? Why won’t God heal me? Where is my miracle?”
She waited, and she wondered, but she never gave up on God. She didn’t understand, but still, she trusted that somehow, some way, someday, she would be healed. That’s when she heard about Jesus. The stories of His amazing miracles had reached her ears. He was healing the sick, the blind, the lame. Could He heal her? Could He be her miracle?
She knew Jesus was passing through her village. She had to try and reach Him, but her unclean status prohibited her from entering the crowd. Still, she was desperate. She had to reach Him, “Because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed” (Mark 5:28, NIV). She knew the risk she was taking, but Jesus was her only hope.
She hid her identity as best she could and slipped into the crowd, steadily inching her way toward Jesus. She had no right to speak to Him, no right to even be there in the crowd, but she knew deep within her soul that just one touch would save her.
Then came her moment. Jesus passed by in front of her, His cloak within arm’s reach. Her hand trembling, her body wracked with fear, she extended her hand and brushed her fingertips on the hem of His cloak.
She felt the change immediately. Her body was healed, her issue of bleeding completely resolved. For the first time in twelve years, she was normal. She was cleansed. She was free.
“At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” (Mark 5:30, NIV).
Panic gripped her gut, sweat poured from her brow. Was He angry? She wasn’t supposed to be there. What if she was caught? What would they do to her?
The disciples balked at His question. Still, Jesus wasn’t deterred. Again He asked, “Who touched me?”
Seeing His face, she knew that she had to tell the truth. No matter the risk, she had to come clean. She had to admit what she had done.
“Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth” (Mark 5:33, NIV).
She waited, steeling herself for the rebuke that would surely come. She waited for the jeers from the crowd about her even daring to be there. Would she be hauled off and flogged? Or worse?
“He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” (Mark 5:34, NIV).
After twelve years of waiting, the woman received her miracle, not because of mere proximity to Jesus, but because she chose to reach out in faith. She found her peace because she believed in the One who could set her free.
“Hard things happen in this life. How we choose to handle them makes all the difference.” (APS, 2022)* We are all broken in some way. We can let the brokenness define us, or we can reach out in faith.
“Jesus still heals today. He still walks among us. He sees our brokenness. He understands our pain. He is still available to us if we will but reach out in trust.
We desire healing, but in our own way, by our own definition. Jesus desires healing for us too, but in His way. His definition of our healing is sometimes different, but It is still healing nonetheless.
The miracle that Jesus sometimes delivers is not the cure for cancer or the recovery of sight to the blind, but the ability to go on with life anyway. It is the courage to traverse the rough waters that lie ahead. It is the strength that you didn’t know you had. It is the peace that you couldn’t imagine ever knowing. It is the joy that comes even in the midst of suffering. It is the hope that is not lost when the sickness still remains.
“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 – ESV). Jesus still touches us. He equips us to go on despite our brokenness. He equips us to travel on, not simply trudging along, bogged down by the weight of our worries. Rather, Jesus offers us the opportunity to live abundantly despite our circumstances.
Maybe that’s the miracle.”(APS, 2022)*
PRAYER
O Lord Jesus, we ask for Your miracles. We plead for Your healing. We seek Your comfort, Your peace. Help us to understand that though we may not receive the miracle we desire on this side of heaven, we will see every miracle fulfilled when we rise to eternity with You. Help us to understand that the miracle is living abundantly despite our circumstances. It’s finding hope beyond hurt and life beyond loss. The miracle is knowing You.
In the Precious Name of Jesus, we pray,
Amen
Blessings,
Anita
*Excerpts from the story “Miracles” in Chapter 18 of “Rough Places Smooth: moments In A journey Through Blindness” by Anita Peden Sherer.
© 2022 by Anita Peden Sherer
All Rights Reserved.
-APS 6/30/2025
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