Touching the Hem of Jesus’ Robe

By Kareena Holloway, Fellowship Bible Church, Rogers, Celebrate Recovery TEAM Women's Encourager Coach



“If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed”. The story is told in Luke chapter 8 and also in Matthew 9.  The woman had been hemorrhaging for twelve years and had spent all of her money trying to find a cure to no avail.  When she saw Jesus, she knew without a doubt that he was the one who could help her. She found her way through the huge crowd gathering around him, and upon touching the hem of his garment, her bleeding ceased!

In the middle of this swarming crowd, Jesus noticed he had been touched. When He asked who had touched Him, His question returned with no answer. The woman she knew she could not hide from Him and admitted that it was her. 


Read with me:
“When the woman realized that she couldn’t remain hidden,” Luke tells us, “she knelt trembling before him. In front of all the people, she blurted out her story—why she touched him and how at that same moment she was healed.” (Luke 8:47 Message)."          
                 
I can relate so much with this! Certainly, I was not in a crowd surrounding Jesus, and I wasn’t bleeding, but I know that heartfelt desperation firsthand. I had been hiding from the truth, hiding from God, and after confessing to my husband, I thought that all..EVERYTHING.. was lost. I clearly needed a miracle! I needed my Savior! I cried out in desperation to my God. If I could have just touched the hem of His garment, I would have done exactly what that woman in Luke 8 did. 

A little over ten years ago, grieving some very poor choices I had made; I was heaped over in anguish, reaching my hand out to God. I cried out to God to help me, because I felt like I was dying and saw no way out. He heard me! It still amazes me that although God had literally millions of people calling out to him on that day He heard me! My husband, Joe, who had been closely following the Lord’s leading, reached out and took me in his arms as Jesus would, and he said the words that I believe were the words that Jesus wanted him to say, “I love you. If you’re willing to do the work, WE will get through this together.” It was as if I had touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, and that HE said it to ME!

I read in 2 Corinthians 1:4-7: 
“He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort - we get a full measure of that, too. When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it.”

Joe has his own “touching the hem of Jesus’ garment” story, but I will let him tell that story another time.  What I can say, though, is when Joe started Celebrate Recovery a little over eleven years ago, he had others who came alongside him in his brokenness, too. People who had also known hurts, habits, and hang-ups of their own but had seen redemption and new life in others as well as in their own lives. Jesus worked through my husband to show me that undeserved grace and restoration was possible! I know brokenness, and I also know healing thanks to Jesus Christ and Celebrate Recovery! Giving back for what he’s done in me is an absolute joy and helps me in my own recovery. 

Perhaps you also have a “touching the hem of Jesus’ garment” story of your own and have shared that story with others. Perhaps you’ve also payed it forward and have been the hands and feet of Jesus, loving on others in their pain and showing them the same grace that you’ve been shown. Thank you for doing that!

Principle 8 states, “Yield myself to God to be able to being this Good News to other, both by my example and by my word.” By working Principle 8, I not only help others, I help myself stay on track with my own recovery. Someone today needs to hear YOUR story too! 

Click HERE to listen to “Just One Touch” by Planet Shakers

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12 Days Of CR Christmas

Image
One of our great leader Monica rewrote the lyrics to this old Christmas song to tie into the 12 steps. We had a lot of fun singing it and love that it keeps the focus on the 12 steps thru Christmas. Great job Monica! On the first day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the notion it’s not about me; On the second day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the third day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fourth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my inventory, will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fifth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me On the sixth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, desire to be humble, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the
Read more

Why do we introduce ourselves?

One of the things that might confuse a newcomer coming into this great ministry is the way we introduce our self and do so every time we meet in a Step Group and/or Open discussion group. The question that often comes up is; “Why in the world would we have to introduce our self every time we come together? I mean, we all know each other don’t we? We all know what the other is struggling with right? So why should I have to state my main issue I am dealing with? These are all logical questions and I think the below content from Tina at Saddleback might help shed some light on this. As you may already know, in our small groups we ask our Leaders to introduce themselves with this statement: “Hi my name is _______; I am a believer who struggles with________.” We ask our leaders to keep it short; to stick to one or two primary areas of recovery. We ask them not to state a host of recovery issues and character defects, etc… especially because we do not run recovery specific groups for cha
Read more

Verbal Reality--Why you can't believe an addict and what you can do as a co-dependent

I recently came across the below article when websurfing for information about verbal reality, a concept a friend introduced me to last year during a time I was trying to figure out is someone was telling me the truth or not. The below article is specifically for Porn addiction, and comes from a very good website, but I've found it true with all addictive behaviors. If you've never heard of Verbal Reality, and you question whether or not your spouse is being honest, this is a good way to help you sort it out, and a great tool for your recovery. ______ Consider This. (from http://www.pornaddicthubby.com/Help-For-The-Addict.html) Addicts of any kind live in a "verbal reality." This means if they say it, it is true and if they say it passionately enough even they believe it is really true. Men who have an addiction to porn live in a verbal reality. A sex addict believes what he is saying while he is saying it. Your most helpful tool in dealing with verbal reality is look
Read more