To Touch His Cloak

I've been sick for most of the summer - scary sick - like setting down my fork mid-meal, and crying because I am so fatigued and don't have the strength to keep eating - sick.  Then there are the days my fatigue is accompanied with a migraine headache, and I can't do anything but lay in bed.  And I've been hesitant to make advance plans with anyone, for I won't know how I'll feel on any given day until it is that day.  I'm not one to cancel plans, so this summer I rarely made plans with anyone because it's only a 50/50 chance I'll feel up to hanging out when the times comes.  This is not good for an extrovert, who is typically energized by being around other people. 

I'm now in the Poconos Mountains on a leaders retreat for my church.  To be honest, I questioned if I should leave my parents' with my health being as it is.  At "home" I could get away with being ill and streams of tears, but a retreat followed by several weeks of couch surfing in LA and NYC, followed by a drive back to Michigan for a conference I'm coordinating, doesn't seem like the wisest game plan for someone who is feeling under the weather.

But, as I mentioned before, I'm not one to cancel plans.  So here I am in Pennsylvania.  AND I'm so thankful I came.  Because regardless of whether or not by body was healed by the prayers this evening, my soul is healing from the many broken dreams I've encountered this past year.

But as a few of us gathered to pray for my health and my friend's health, this passage came to mind.  I'm struck, that when we reach out to him, his power pours out upon us to heal us.  But there is an action on our part to reach out to him in order to receive what he has for us.

Luke 8:41-48

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.  And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.  She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

"Who touched me?" Jesus asked.

When all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you." 

But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me." 

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet.  In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed.  Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you.  God in peace."