Reach Out and Touch SOMEONE~

Monday greetings ~

I have a personal bubble. It’s the space around me that I consider private, and I don’t particularly appreciate people all up in my bubble. Whether it’s to touch me, breathe on me, or to talk to me. A very select few are welcome in my bubble – like Jorge – but even then, I appreciate a respectable distance. (The exception is all babies and small, friendly animals). There’s actually a colleague I am very fond of because the first time we met, I accused him of being in my bubble – which he knows he was – and we both cracked up. And when he met Rayray for the first time, we played a joke where he introduced himself about half an inch away from her nose, and seeing her all uncomfortable was hilarious.

Thank goodness, though, that Jesus never had a personal bubble.

Mark 5:25-34 A woman who had suffered a condition of hemorrhaging for twelve years—a long succession of physicians had treated her, and treated her badly, taking all her money and leaving her worse off than before—had heard about Jesus. She slipped in from behind and touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, “If I can put a finger on his robe, I can get well.” The moment she did it, the flow of blood dried up. She could feel the change and knew her plague was over and done with.

At the same moment, Jesus felt energy discharging from him. He turned around to the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”
His disciples said, “What are you talking about? With this crowd pushing and jostling you, you’re asking, ‘Who touched me?’ Dozens have touched you!”
But he went on asking, looking around to see who had done it. The woman, knowing what had happened, knowing she was the one, stepped up in fear and trembling, knelt before him, and gave him the whole story.
Jesus said to her,“Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague.”

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This is one of my favorite passages in scripture, and here’s why. A woman, who by all accounts had every reason to be tired, frustrated, depressed, desperate, and hopeless did not give up.
Twelve years is a long time to be suffering. Honestly, 12 days, 12 weeks, 12 months of an ongoing serious problem is terrifyingly exhausted. But 12 years? Lord, have mercy. And yet she must have heard something amazing about Jesus to venture out in her worsening condition and touch Him – to touch Him without His permission, by the way. Talk about invading someone’s bubble. But Jesus did not get upset. Her “risk of faith” paid off.

Jesus welcomes our every effort to reach out and touch Him.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We reach out to You today by prayer and ask for a healing in our emotions, body, and soul. Thank You for being accessible. In Your name we pray, AMEN.