Where Are You Bleeding?

I told you a few weeks back that I’ve been praying about what comes next for Woman Made Well. I’ve had the opportunity to be cocooned for a short time where life gets intentionally reigned in, wrestled, decluttered, and quieted. Where I can better hear the whisper of a small voice that prompts and guides me. 1 Kings 19:12 

Getting some extended alone time with God to enjoy His presence and listen to His voice is precious. Just as critical as air inflates my lungs or the H20 hydrates my body to function – He’s essential. John 7:38 God is more important than air and water. Yes, that’s by design. That’s how God created us to live. And when we live outside that design, things can go terribly wrong. I can testify.

When I first started the blog, I explained the concept of Woman Made Well rested on the bleeding woman’s story in scripture. (You can find her story in Mark 5:24-34 and Matthew and Luke’s gospels as well.) I realized how much bleeding I’d done in my life – through things that have happened to me and some things I’ve done to myself – but more importantly, how much Jesus has restored. Joel 2:25

The bleeding woman’s story speaks of a physical issue with blood, but bleeding doesn’t just happen physically. We also bleed spiritually, emotionally, relationally, and in lots of physical ways. This bleeding woman’s story invites us to look around our lives and relationships for hemorrhaging regularly. To honestly evaluate what path, advice, rules, or doctrines we’ve been subscribing to and following and ask ourselves a critical question. 

Honestly, are things better or worse? 

I am excited about Woman Made Well’s future! When I started Woman Made Well, I’ll be honest; I didn’t realize the name was actually a call to maturity. The Greek word “Sozo” used in the story is a call to wholeness. We who identify as Christian are being called to examine ourselves and work with God for healing maturity – spiritually, emotionally, relationally, and physically – and then telling the whole truth about what’s been done for us in obedient love and service to God.

So it begs the question. Are we maturing? Do we know what God’s Word says, and are we doing what He says to do? John 14:15 In what areas are we bleeding, and are we curious about those areas? Have we taken those issues to God, or have we been looking for other “doctors” or sources to help heal things only God can heal?

Just some more curious questions to ask yourself: Is my love for God growing deeper in faith or shallower in skepticism and doubt? Is my emotional life expressed in ways that lead to a deeper connection with God and others, and do I know myself more honestly, or is there more denial, distance, arguments, and division? What about relationships? Are they growing freer – more vulnerable and honest – or smothering with spaces filled with fear and silence? Do I cause other people to bleed? Finally, concerning physical health, is there a way I’ve been either willfully or neglectfully not treating my body well?

It may be a very desperate circumstance that opens our eyes and prompts us to question these things, especially if we feel safe and comfortable in our habits and routines. But we don’t grow in safe and comfortable. We certainly don’t find much curiosity and courage under those conditions either.

God doesn’t allow suffering because He likes to see us suffer. No, that’s so far from the case. But suffering is productive in a submissive heart. In the bleeding woman’s case, her twelve-year spiritual, emotional, relational, and physical exile from society caused her to question the status quo of her life. Through the wisdom suffering brought, she understood that the days’ doctors didn’t have all the answers. Proverbs 14:29 She understood the religious system of the law, and additional rules and regulations from the Jewish rabbis were also powerless to change her condition and were blocking her access to Jesus. Galatians 2:21 

The bleeding woman had to curiously and courageously step out of her religious and socio-cultural traditions to seek the real power source of healing.

Whether you’ve caused the suffering or you’re the innocent victim, suffering is an invitation to grow and learn by leaning into God. Suffering develops perseverance which builds a solid character – aka maturity. Romans 5:3-4

With God, suffering will never be wasted or be for naught. Romans 8:28 In God’s hands, the results of suffering can produce much understanding – IF we accept the invitation to be curious and courageous – to move to a deeper, more intimate relationship with our heavenly Father.