A couple of years ago, over the span of a few months, I experienced some internal discomfort and abnormal bleeding, perhaps not unlike that experienced by the woman in the Bible who had “an issue of blood” for many years. The Gospels tell us that the woman expected to be healed by Jesus if she could just touch his clothes, and coming up behind him in a throng of people, she touched the hem of his garment and was immediately restored to health.
What I’ve recently pondered is how Jesus felt the woman’s touch instantly, and then demanded to know who it was who had touched him. It seems to me that in identifying her, he was asking her to stand up and be counted as a pure and perfect child of God, sinless, healthy, whole. I love, too, that Jesus vocalized her healing, saying, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague” (Mark 5:34). By announcing her freedom, he was broadcasting that Christ—the idea of Truth—was what had healed her. I’ve often thought this is a good example for us to emulate.
In my case, I began praying for myself when the physical symptoms first appeared, but when they lingered I reached out to a Christian Science practitioner for treatment so I could better see myself as spiritual, and therefore whole. In the weeks ahead, I made tremendous progress in this direction as a result of the practitioner’s prayers, as well as my own.
