Courage to Take Risks

Opening Scene: A simple house in Capernaum in the 1st century AD.

What a day this has been. I awoke to another day of pain with no idea of the miracle God had planned for me. For twelve years I had sought healing from doctors, priests, any one who offered a ray of hope. I was still bleeding. I heard rumors of a Man who had healed people of all sorts of diseases and infirmities. He had raised people from the dead. I didn’t know what to think. Could this be true?

I crawled out of bed and dressed. My desire for healing gave me a determination I had never felt before. I left my house and blended into a group of people in the center of town. People began pushing toward a Man in the center of the mob. He looked like an ordinary man but I needed to believe He could heal me so I inched my way through the crowd. I hoped I could go unnoticed as I reached out and gently touched the fringe of His garment. A burst of sunshine exploded inside of me and I knew the bleeding had ceased. I quickly turned to escape the pressing throng.

Suddenly the Rabbi turned and said, “Who touched Me?” His friends were all saying, “But, Master, the people are pressing in on You. What do You mean, ‘Who touched Me?’” I begin to tremble. What would He think of me? Would He rebuke me for disturbing Him? I fell down before Him and admitted I was the one who had touched Him. And I exclaimed, “And Master, I am healed!” Jesus looked at me with a tenderness I had never seen before and spoke in a quiet voice.

"Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you're healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague.” (Matthew 5:34; MSG, emphasis mine).

This short scripture passage relating one woman’s story has become my testimony. I didn’t experience an actual blood loss but an innocent comment I misunderstood when I was twelve years old inflicted a small emotional wound. I kept breathing but my lifeblood, my passions, my joy, began to seep out of my body. As my life continued other wounds caused the tiny hemorrhage that began that day became a major blood loss.

Forty years later I found myself divorced and alone. My identity was gone. I was no longer a wife and my children were grown and on their own. All I had were my job and my faith. Just like the women with the issue of blood, I was seeking healing. Daily, hourly, by the minute I cried out to God for healing. One day I found myself face down on the floor in complete hopelessness, just wanting the pain to stop. In the darkest moment, I lifted up my eyes and cried out to my Father. He was there. His presence filled the room and embraced me with a love unlike any I had ever felt. This is when I took my risk of faith and reached out to touch the fringe of His garment. The bleeding ceased and the restoration of my lifeblood began.

Five years after this “risk of faith” God continues to restore what was lost in every area of my life. With His guidance and strength I have taken other risks of faith. I sought and obtained a position in a church in another city where I bought a house. I traveled from Kentucky to California to train with Katie Brazelton. My ministry to women through my writing and speaking is making slow but steady progress. In the last year I had two total knee replacements. God is leading me into amore intimate and loving relationship with Him. Spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically God is allowing me to begin living well and blessed.

What about you? Has life wounded you? Reach out and touch the hem of His garment. Allow Jesus to tenderly heal you and restore to you a life of hope and blessings. Dare to take a risk of faith. Jesus will not fail you.

Joy in Jesus!
Ginny