Luke 8:43-48 New International Version (NIV)

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 they 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. Go in peace.”

The woman with the issue of blood had been struggling for years and then she was instantly healed by Jesus. I wonder how much she had changed because of the bleeding in her body? How did the illness change her psychologically, emotionally, socially, spiritually, and physically? What behaviors  and mindset had she become acquainted with because of her illness? Did the bleeding prevent her from going in public? Did she have friends? How did she feel about herself? Did she believe she was fearfully and wonderfully made?

One day she hears Jesus is coming. She is desperate, she pushes through the crowd, she reaches out to touch Him and she is healed immediately. She was shifted and changed in that very moment. What she was physically experiencing in her body for twelve years was over but what about all the other stuff that came along with her issue? She was healed but what about the habits, mindset, and insecurities she adopted because of her illness. Over this period of time she learned how to cope and function, in dysfunction. She learned how to be alone and ostracized. Then one day Jesus comes along, He touches her, He heals her, and now she has to learn how to walk in her healing. She has to learn how to walk in the newness of life.

So many of us are learning to walk in our healing after being rescued from shattered, dysfunctional, and broken lives. It is interesting that Jesus says, “Your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” See, her faith activated her healing, now she had to learn to walk in the peace that comes along with her healing.

Teach us Lord how to walk in your healing and peace. Teach us how to walk in the newness of life.