And she heard about Jesus

The pain of loneliness!
The pain of rejection!
The pain of not-making-the grade!

She suffered all these on top of a physical ailment and was also bankrupt chasing down a remedy from all the doctors in town, yet none could help, but then she HEARD...

Broken in spirit, hurting, bleeding, unclean they called her and banished her to the wilderness, cut off from family and friends. The gut-wrenching sobs of loneliness and rejection were worse than the pain of the disease. No one to share a laugh with. No one to watch a sunset with. No kind word or encouragement on any given day; no loving caress of a friend, mother, child or spouse. No one! The future was bleak, the verdict - her use-by-date had expired.

Yet, on this day, she heard....the sound of salvation drawing near with the noisy expectation of a crowd, and the whisper that gathered momentum until it was shouted in the street, that the Master, the Teacher, the Christ was coming. She had nothing, but she had faith. Faith in the Man, Jesus the Healer and faith brought legs to a plan. "If only I can but touch His garment, I will be healed." If only....but the crowd was jam-packed, jostling each other for a better position; closer to the Teacher who made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dead to rise and who spoke the life changing words that touched the heart and soul of the guilt-ridden, the shame-carrying, the down-and-outs, and set them free.

The only way in, was on hands and knees, crawling between the feet of a massive, moving crowd and breathing in the dust being kicked up on the stony road. She was in a place she should not have been, shunned by society because of a disease no one understood. To be found in amongst the crowd was a sure death sentence by stoning. The sharp stones thrown would have killed her before the sharp pains of the disease ever could.

If only was not an option. She knew healing would be hers if she pressed on through that dense crowd, over those stones, toward the hem that floated above those sandaled feet which would one day be pierced by nails to a wooden cross. She reached out and touched that dusty hem and instantly healing power gushed into her body and she was healed.



"Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. You have been healed." (Mark 5:34) Imagine the joy of feeling well for the first time in 12 years, the honeyed affirmation of those loving words spoken to a lonely and withered soul. He gave her back, not only her health, but an end to the lonely existence outside of family and friends; an end to rejection. She could walk through the market place and have a laugh and a chat to those around her. She could bend over and hug a child. She could love and receive love once agin.

She may have had a physical ailment that separated her from others but her story tells us we always find acceptance and healing in Jesus. Scripture tells us to cast ""all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Pet 5:7)

Do you need peace? Come to the Prince of Peace and hear the words, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (Joh 14:27)

Are you guilt-ridden? Listen to the words of freedom. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." (Rom 8:1)

Do you suffer with a spirit of rejection? Listen to the sounds of acceptance from the lips of the Saviour Himself. "All that the Father gives me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." (Joh 6:37)

Rejected by mankind, but His loving arms are open to the one who comes. Are you coming? There's no better invitation for love and life. Come. Come to Jesus, He beckons you,

"Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Mat 11:28)