Healed

<p>Imagine feeling so certain that if you did one simple thing, you’d have your deepest desire fulfilled. What if that desire was to be healed from years of suffering? And what if, after spending all you had on doctors, you heard about someone who could heal you, even when doctors couldn’t?<br><br>This is the story of the woman who believed that if she could only touch the hem of Jesus’s clothes, she would be cured. This woman was an outcast, shunned by others because of an illness that caused her to bleed continually. This made her unclean, so she couldn’t go to the temple or synagogue to worship God, and those who touched her or sat where she sat would also be unclean. But she hears about a Rabbi—some even called Him the Messiah—named Jesus. This woman sees Jesus’s power and believes she simply needs to get close enough to touch His clothing, and she will be well.<br><br>But how? The crowds are pressing in. Yet, desperate to be healed, she reaches through the throng of bodies to be transformed by the Son of God.<br><br>And she instantly feels a change. She feels her body healing, being renewed. And Jesus feels it too. He stops and says, “Who touched me?...I know that power has gone out from me” (Luke 8:45-46). Normally, Jesus is face to face with whoever He heals.<br><br>This woman, transformed by Jesus’s power, admits what she’s done and why. Jesus isn’t angry. He has compassion for her and all she’s suffered. He accepts her and blesses her, saying, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace” (verse 48).<br><br>Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the One God promised to send to save His people. And this event—with such power emanating from Him, and such knowing, and such compassion and forgiveness—reveals the love of God. Whenever we are suffering, Jesus invites us to come to Him, like this woman did. Lord, give us faith to reach out to you too. • Lisa A. Wroble<br><br>• Do you have a deep desire? Jesus invites us to come to Him with all our longings. Sometimes, He answers our prayers with a miracle. Oth