A
dead girl and a sick woman
That is the
heading in my Bible above Luke Chapter 8:40. If you know any Bible stories at all
you've probably heard these two. They're often connected because Jesus performed one
miracle on the way to performing another.
One day it came to
mind that the girl who Jesus raised to life was twelve years old, and the woman he healed
had been sick for twelve years. I didn't even know if this was the case - it just
came to mind that it was so. I looked it up and sure enough, I was correct. It
occurred to me that this had some significance for me, and it didn't take long for the
thoughts to crystallise.
I was twelve when
I rejected the church and effectively turned my back on God. This was similar to the
girl dying. It was at age 24 that I accepted God's invitation to receive the Life He
offered me in Jesus. This was like being brought back to life, and it was a spiritual
healing after twelve years of spiritual sickness, something like the woman in the story.
There seemed to be
more to it than that, and I wasn't too sure of myself at the time, but I felt like God was
saying that He had another very significant event planned for me at age 36. It was
only after events unfolded that I could look back in wonder and marvel at His
foreknowledge and perfect planning.
After 12 years of
trauma, a time of emotional 'bleeding' akin to the woman's physical bleeding in the story,
God intervened decisively in my circumstances and brought Grant into my life. I was 36
years old. More of that story later.
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