Today I want to write about who I think must’ve been one of the most miserable and depressed women in the Bible –the woman with an issue of blood. This nameless woman had been bleeding for 12 long years. Under the law she was to be isolated because she contaminated everything that she touched. That meant she couldn’t feel the warm embrace of a husband, children or grandchildren. Sitting alone on the sidelines meant there was no purpose or joy in her life (Luke 8:43-48; Mk 5:25-34).
She went to physician after physician for a cure. Things got even worse and she had no money left. Then she heard about the Divine Physician. She wrapped herself in her shawl and then breached the law by creeping through the crowd, coming behind Jesus, bending down and touching the hem of His garment. Immediately she felt the surge of powerful energy flowing through her and knew she had been healed.
Jesus also felt the surge of energy leaving His body and, after an attempt to hide, the woman came forward and confessed what she had done. Jesus reassured her: “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”(Luke 8:48 CSB).
While others had shunned her, Jesus called her “daughter”. While she was looking for physical healing, Jesus gave her both physical and spiritual healing. The word for “saved” can be translated as either, “Your faith has healed you” or “Your faith has saved you”. With these few words, Jesus had restored her -- to her family and friends and to His family and friends.
Jesus wants to save you, too. His promise of redemption through the Holy Spirit is promised all throughout the Bible.
“Thus says the LORD who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you:…For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; they will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses” (Isa. 44:2-4 NKJV).
Your restoration begins with God declaring: “I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you” (Isa. 44:22).
When you accept God’s offer, then He will say to the weeping in your life: “Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers” (Isa. 44:27). All you need do is to take hold of the hem of our Saviour’s garment.