Peace Where?!

At the beginning of this month, I celebrated a major milestone of being blood transfusion free for FOUR YEARS!!!! (You can find the backstory here)

As March 1st approached, I was in thought about my journey to this fourth year and in good Shenyre fashion, I had to examine and analyze my thoughts, feelings, and emotions that led me up to this point. In my quiet time, the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance a very familiar and specific story, not ironic but divine- the woman with the issue of blood. (Read Mark 5:21-34)

This woman had been through a WHOLE LOT!!! The Bible is not specific to the medical term she suffered from, but we know that she bled constantly for twelve years. Blood is necessary to live; without blood, we would not exist and this woman was at a constant and ongoing blood deficit. I’m not sure if blood transfusions were a thing back then but the Bible tells us she suffered and got worse after spending everything she had on doctors in hopes of being healed.

Although she was suffering, she was in the right place at the right time and her faith was active! When she had heard about Jesus and her awareness of him in the crowd, she knew that if she touched his clothing she’d be healed. And that is exactly what happens, after touching Jesus’ clothes her 12 years of suffering immediately ends; just like that. While I admire her bold and courageous faith, what sticks out to me most is Jesus’ response to her. After she tells her story He reassures her of her healing and gives her instructions that I had overlooked; Go in peace.

Perhaps Jesus told her to go in peace because he knew that instant healing could be a challenge. At least with gradual healing, you can warm up to it, but instant healing would require an immediate and new level of faith.

Maybe he told her to go in peace because although her body was healed her thoughts may take time to catch up to her new way of living. The mental and emotional anguish she face in her suffering no longer had to be a part of her story, but it may have taken time for those thoughts and emotions to cease.

Or it's possible he told her to go in peace because He knew she’d come across people who would try to remind her of her past and impose limitations on her. People may have thrived off of her weakness by being her support in her suffering. But now they would have to have to reacquaint themselves with her new identity as “Daughter” of Jesus and “healed”.

Although I had been healed, I went forward and left peace behind. I was so focused on the healing that I wasn’t experiencing the peace God gives with His healing. In my case and in this woman’s story, we were healed from a physical illness but God will heal in ANY and EVERY area we have the faith to receive healing in. This week take time to ask God where you need healing and trust Him for it; maybe it is emotional, relational, or spiritual healing. Or maybe you have already received His healing but you aren’t experiencing the peace that comes with the freedom of healing. If that is you, I encourage you to prayerfully journal on this question,

What does “going in peace” look like for me?

I pray that God will show you a new level of living through the healing and peace you find in Him and that we will continue to move forward with our NEW identity rooted in His peace.

He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” -Mark 5:34 (NIV)