When the Soul Bleeds - Girlfriends in God - January 27, 2014
January 27, 2014
When the Soul Bleeds
Sharon Jaynes
Today‘s Truth
Do you want to get well? (John 5:6b NIV).
Friend to Friend
I just can’t leave this woman with the issue of blood quite yet. My last two devotions have been about her, but let’s visit her one more time. She deserves it, don’t you think?
When we read the story of Jesus healing the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, it is hard for us twenty-first-century women to imagine such a condition lasting for so long. Medical science has progressed far beyond the rudimentary knowledge of Jesus’ day. It is simply unthinkable today.
But I suggest there are still many women with chronic bleeding of a different sort. We bleed from the heart.
From the time Sarah was six-years-old, her father crept into her bedroom in the dark of night and violated her little body. Now, as an adult, her heart bleeds.
When Beth was walking to her dorm room from the college library, a lurker jumped from behind the bushes, drug her to a nearby shed and raped her at knife-point. Now, ten years later, her heart bleeds.
After twenty years of marriage, Lucy accidentally stumbled upon an in-town hotel receipt in her husband’s wallet. Suspecting the worse, she uncovered past e-mails, supposed meetings that never occurred and a trail of deceit. When presented with the evidence, her husband admitted having a three-year-long affair. And her heart bleeds.
Margaret’s routine physical reveals that she has AIDS. She had been with only one man her entire life…her husband. And her heart bleeds.
Laura was laid off from her job and her mother’s words re-emerge like sewage leakage from an underground septic tank. “You’re no good. You’ll never amount to anything. You’re a loser just like your father.” And because of the lies, her heart bleeds.
Melissa holds her newborn little girl in her arms and coos her to sleep. Interrupting the sweetness of the wee hours of the morning, she hears her aborted child crying from the grave. Guilt presses down as the ever-present weight deflates her joy. And her heart bleeds.
Women—hoping the pain will go away. Awakening each day with a memory that cuts a fresh wound. Women—longing to hear the words “Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
The woman with the issue of blood was no different from you and me. While her apparent illness was physical, her inward suffering ruled her life. But in one radical moment, one momentous decision, she reached out to Jesus and grabbed hold of her healing.
He wants to set us free from our suffering, but he will not push us out of the cell. He unlocks the jail cell, but we must walk out the door. We can choose to bleed. We can choose to remain in our suffering and pick at the scabs of the past. But hear me dear friend, it is a choice. Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10). That’s what he wants for each of us. But we have to embrace the truth and, like the woman with the twelve-year bleeding, reach for our healing.
In John, chapter five, Jesus encounters a lame man sitting by a pool of water where the paralyzed, blind, and afflicted gathered. They believed that when the waters were stirred by supposed angels, the first one in the pool would be healed. For thirty-eight years this man sat in his sickness.
Then Jesus walked up to him and asked a strange question, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6b).
Perhaps it was not such a strange question after all. Many times we get used to being sick and wear it like a shroud. Emotionally we are the walking wounded—victims who pick at scabs—not allowing them to heal.
Jesus said to the woman, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” That is the same healing he offers to you and to me.
Let’s Pray
Dear God, I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I reach forward today, touch the hem of Your garment, and receive my healing. Yes, I want to get well. Give me the faith to walk in freedom and victory.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
Now It’s Your Turn
Is there pain in your life that you have refused to let go of?
Do you want to get well?
That is a risky question. It took a lot for the man to get up off of that pallet. He had to learn how to walk, get a job, and learn to live like a healthy person. That’s a big change after thirty-eight years. But you can do it! You can let go of the past and begin to live in victory and freedom! Let’s start today!
How has this devotion ministered to you? Let’s chat. Visit www.facebook.com/sharonjaynes and share your comments with your Girlfriends in God all around the world.
More from the Girlfriends
Want to learn more about how to be free from your past suffering and walk in victory? How to stop the bleeding of your soul and use your past pain for present purpose? Then you’ll want to read my book Your Scars are Beautiful to God.
Also, today’s devotion was taken from my book, What God Really Thinks about Women: Finding Your Significance through the Women Jesus Encountered. We tend to read the Gospels with our twenty-first-century eyes. But when we understand how oppressive the culture Jesus stepped into was against women, we begin to understand just how radical Jesus’ ministry, messages, and miracles were at setting women free. He risked His reputation to save theirs…and yours.
Seeking God?
Click here to find out more about
how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Girlfriends in God
Matthews, NC 28106
info@girlfriendsingod.com
www.girlfriendsingod.com
.webp)
