She, Herself & God
The Burden of the Bleeding Woman
“Just then a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding came up behind Him. She touched the fringe of His robe, for she thought, ‘If I can just touch His robe, I will be healed.’ Jesus turned around; and when He saw her, He said, ‘Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.” (Matthew 9:20-22)
2020 marked my twelfth anniversary as a professional writer; and ironically, it was the year that I lost my writing job due to the pandemic. I actually started my profession as a writer intern at the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture back in November 2008. I remember on the first day of my training, I was tasked to cover an event and write a press release about it. To my delight, the press release I wrote was used as the official press release of the Department and was later published in various broadsheets and tabloids nationwide. And even if the story was not under my name at all, I felt accomplished as a writer that was why I kept pursuing this career in the next twelve years of my life.
Nevertheless, I did not feel accomplished at all when I finally made my online portfolio in 2020 that showcased my twelve-year accomplishments as a writer. Instead, I felt like a failure because I did not make a mark in the writing field. I had so many experiences, but I never had any expertise because I was the writer who could write it all. I had worked with the best companies in both private and public sectors, but I never had the best benefits as an employee that was why I was always looking for a new job. And the worst of all, I had failed to glorify the Giver of my gift with the gift that He gave to me and the gift that I had been using to benefit myself, my family, and my companies for the past twelve years.
Just like the woman in our featured verse, I felt like I had suffered with constant bleeding on a spiritual level because I was never happy nor satisfied for the past twelve years. I may have accomplished a lot on the outside; but I felt like dying inside, leaving me with no choice but to touch the fringe of the robe of Jesus so that I could be healed at last. And thanks be to God, my prayer was answered before 2020 ended. I became part of a group of volunteer Christian writers in the Philippines that spread the gospel through blogging after I hit my twelfth anniversary as a writer. Then finally on New Year’s Day 2021, the Lord made me start my writing ministry simultaneously with my healing journey.
As a woman of God, anyone of us can relate to the story of the bleeding woman because we all had our stories of suffering. Anyone of us had experienced constant bleeding on a spiritual level that left us with no choice but to touch the fringe of the robe of our Redeemer. Anyone of us had felt neither happy nor satisfied despite our accomplishments in life. Anyone of us had prayed for our healing and had our prayers answered in the Lord’s appointed time. Anyone of us had been (or can be) redeemed by Christ who shed His blood for us so that we would (or will) all stop bleeding at last.
Father God, we thank You for healing every bleeding woman who comes to our Savior in the hopes that she will be better just by touching the fringe of His robe. We are blessed because You love us and understand us despite our diseases and our depression that cause us to constantly bleed on a spiritual level. We praise You because You can heal us instantly whether we have been sick for twelve weeks, twelve months, or twelve years. We adore You because Your Spirit is the greatest Physician that has ever existed and that He is always available for consultation even if we did not schedule an appointment. Above all, we worship You because we are assured that whenever we lift up our burdens to You, our Redeemer will come to the rescue and carry them in the same way that He carried and removed the burden of the bleeding woman. All these we pray in Jesus’s mighty Name. Amen.
