You can see my digidisciple postover on Big Bible today:
Sick and Tired
•June 26, 2012 • 3 CommentsI’d been to them all. The best, the worst. The supposed “miracle cures”, the quacks. The famous, the obscure. They had taken all my money – and still I was no better – if anything I was worse.
They’d all listened. Said they knew what it was. Said they knew how to help, or there was no help. Still I was the same – I needed help.
I’d been pushed from pillar to post – try them, how about this, go to that place…
I was exhausted by the constant bleeding. Weary of being ill. Embarrassed by always being unclean. My relationships had gone. I couldn’t go to anyone’s house and sit on a chair even. I was ostracised and so alone.
And then I heard about a man. I’d not heard of him before. It couldn’t do any harm could it? One more person. I was so desperate.
But how could I approach him? If what they’ve said about him is even half-true, I can’t go touching him – not in my state.
Perhaps… perhaps if I can just reach out and touch him? Perhaps some of his goodness my rub off on me? I have nothing to lose do I?
There were people everywhere, such a crowd.
But
if
I
can
just
reach
him…
I did. I touched him. And it happened. The bleeding stopped.
After all those years. All those false hopes. All my rejection.
I touched him, and it was gone.
Then he turned round. Now I was in for it. He knew what I’d done. He realised he was now unclean. Quick run.
But no. He wanted so much more than me being better. He wanted to know my story. He wanted me to know peace. God had met me in my pain, and given me the peace I was longing for. I am free. Released.
25 In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had gone to many doctors, and they had not done anything except cause her a lot of pain. She had paid them all the money she had. But instead of getting better, she only got worse.
27 The woman had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him in the crowd and barely touched his clothes. 28 She had said to herself, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will get well.” 29 As soon as she touched them, her bleeding stopped, and she knew she was well.
30 At that moment Jesus felt power go out from him. He turned to the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 His disciples said to him, “Look at all these people crowding around you! How can you ask who touched you?” 32 But Jesus turned to see who had touched him.
33 The woman knew what had happened to her. She came shaking with fear and knelt down in front of Jesus. Then she told him the whole story.
34 Jesus said to the woman, “You are now well because of your faith. May God give you peace! You are healed, and you will no longer be in pain.”
I never know how to respond to this encounter of Jesus with this woman. It touches something raw in me. I just have to let it sit.
In some ways, this woman’s story could be mine. Going (or being sent!) from doctor to doctor, looking for “the cure” and finding none. There are so many people living, existing, struggling with pain and illness – those we can see, and those we can’t. So clearly God does not always heal by getting rid of the illness. She had suffered for twelve years before her encounter with Jesus. As I said last week, struggle is part of life, being a Christian does not make everything a bed of roses – yet God is in it. God is with us in storms – just because there is one doesn’t mean God isn’t there.
Sometimes God heals in the way we expect him to. For this woman he took away the bleeding and pain she had suffered for years.
But God’s healing is not always like that – yet I believe it is still healing. His peace and his presence.
I don’t know why God heals some people by removing their physical symptoms and others by giving them the strength to live in and through theirs – but it’s on my list of questions to ask him!
For me it continues to be a struggle, but I walk by faith in the fact that God knows what he’s doing, that he meets me at what he knows to be my point of deepest need, and gives me his peace in the struggle.
Wherever you are today, whatever your story, I pray that God will meet you as you reach out to him, and give you the peace, hope and healing you need.
Giving it Up
•June 25, 2012 • Leave a Comment“Chuggers” have been in the news again over the weekend. Described by the BBC as “professional fund-raisers”, those people who approach you in the street to try to get you to support the charity they work for.
Street fundraising in New York by Edward
I guess we all have our favourite charities. I tend not to give in the street, unless I see a real need, but have planned giving – always backed up by Gift Aid! Perhaps that seems lacking in spontaneity, but it is quite the opposite, it is an intentional decision that I will give and to whom. I like to be sure where my money is going to and how it will be used – perhaps that’s not the right attitude, but I don’t want it to be wasted. But I guess the main thing about giving is not when, how or to whom – but that we do.
What do you think? What are your rules about giving?
7 You do everything better than anyone else. You have stronger faith. You speak better and know more. You are eager to give, and you love us better. Now you must give more generously than anyone else.
8 I am not ordering you to do this. I am simply testing how real your love is by comparing it with the concern that others have shown. 9 You know that our Lord Jesus Christ was kind enough to give up all his riches and become poor, so that you could become rich.
10 A year ago you were the first ones to give, and you gave because you wanted to. So listen to my advice. 11 I think you should finish what you started. If you give according to what you have, you will prove that you are as eager to give as you were to think about giving. 12 It doesn’t matter how much you have. What matters is how much you are willing to give from what you have.
13 I am not trying to make life easier for others by making life harder for you. But it is only fair 14 for you to share with them when you have so much, and they have so little. Later, when they have more than enough, and you are in need, they can share with you. Then everyone will have a fair share, 15 just as the Scriptures say,
“Those who gathered
too much
had nothing left.
Those who gathered
only a little
had all they needed.”
But this whole thing about giving has to be about far more than giving money. That is just a tiny part of what we have to give to others. We, rightly, get incensed about government cuts to the vulnerable, and money being wasted elsewhere – but what are we doing about it? What are we giving to society?
Paul says that giving is a test of love. How much do we love?
Do we give of our time?
Do we share our experience that may help and support others?
Do we create space for others who need it?
Do we offer friendship?
Do we show concern for the welfare of others?
Giving is not a competition, but it is a response to the abundance of all we have.
It doesn’t matter how much you have. What matters is how much you are willing to give from what you have (v 12)
Jesus gave up everything for us – how do we respond in what we give to others?
Lord,
I want to thank you
for everything you have given to me.
When I look at my life,
and the abundances within it,
I have so much I can share.
Lord,
may I hold loosely to what you have given to me
that I may always be willing to give it to another
Pam's Perambulation 