Good morning and Happy Sabbath friends. As you may know if you read my previous blog post, I have been feeling broken, sad and frankly I have been struggling. I am here to tell you that today, for the first time in a long time, I feel that fire and spark that I haven’t felt since 2017 when God saved me from my first ever toxic relationship. In 2017, I felt very similarly to how I’ve been feeling for the past few months: empty, depressed, anxious, etc. and on some random day in July of 2017, I felt God’s presence fill my whole being and I felt this extreme desire to tell everyone I knew what He did for me. I am back to feeling that same exact way, but this time I am staying true to my promise and my vow that I made to God that He will be the number one priority in my life.

As it is written:

“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭16‬:‭7‬-‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I have been through the darkest moments in my life. I have been abandoned by people who told me they would always be there. But guess who has always been there? Yup, the Lord. I am by no means perfect and have messed up more times than I can count. Yet, God still sees something in me. Yet, as I am writing this, I feel an overwhelming feeling of God’s presence within me.

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.””
‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To summarize, I was dead, but because of Jesus’ overwhelming love and power, I have been brought back and am alive. Because of this, I want to go over the story when Jesus raised a dead girl and healed a sick woman (Luke 8:40-56 NIV).

The first thing to note in this story is that Jesus was surrounded by a crowd of people. That can be related to today’s world as some may think, how does God have time to be there for me when there are so many other people in this world who are probably going through way worse than me? Well in this story, the woman who was sick still caught the attention of Jesus who was surrounded by a crowd of people who also needed Him.

As it is written:

“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.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭8‬:‭43‬-‭46‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Even in a crowd of people, Jesus still noticed the woman and all she did was touch His clothing and He STILL noticed. Isn’t that powerful? The next biggest thing is because this woman believed in Him, she was healed!

“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.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭8‬:‭47‬-‭48‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Even in moments where you may feel that God does not have the time for you, He does. If you feel like your problems are not as big as some others, God still wants to hear them. God loves each and every one of us. Our problems are never too big nor too small for Him. He wants to hear it ALL. We need to have faith and truly believe that God will heal us. Just like the sick woman had faith, we need to have that same faith. All we need to do is reach out to Him and truly believe that His overwhelming power and love will heal us and give us strength as it did for the sick woman.

But it doesn’t end there, Jesus then healed a DEAD person! The biggest part that stands out to me is the beginning of this part of the story. The fact that as soon as the daughter died, they assumed there was no way Jesus could help. They were viewing the death of this daughter as the impossible and that there was no possible way she could be brought back.

“While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭8‬:‭49‬ ‭NIV‬‬

If we relate this story to our lives, it can be looked at in many ways, but I’ll just point out one. In my situation, I could’ve been compared to as being dead. I could’ve been looked at as an impossible project and that there was absolute no way Jesus could do something with me. At least that’s what satan tried telling me, right? But this story proves otherwise. The story goes on to give Jesus’ response to the people’s doubt:

“Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭8‬:‭50‬, ‭53‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Think of a time where you were in a dark state, possibly hanging around the wrong crowd, and probably entertaining the wrong things. When you came out of this dark period, were there people that were shocked and surprised that you changed your life around and chose Jesus instead of staying in the darkness? That’s how Jairus and the people felt when Jesus said He could still heal the woman. Shouldn’t we have faith and just believe Jesus instead of doubting that He can turn the impossible to possible?

“Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭8‬:‭52‬-‭56‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Another key part that stands out to me here is that Jesus states that she is not dead, but is asleep. There’s another lesson I can address in another post about this statement, but for the sake of staying on track, God does not give up on you, and there is still a chance for you to be brought back to life until the gates of grace are closed (His second coming). No one is too “dead”, too far gone, etc. to be saved and brought back by Jesus Christ.

We just need to have FAITH and BELIEVE that Jesus can turn what may seem to be the impossible, into possible. No matter how “dead”, or broken you may currently feel, you can be brought back to life and back to our Heavenly Father.

Let me leave you with a quick prayer:

“Dear Jesus,

I want to thank You for never giving up on us. I want to praise your Name that you see us amongst the plethora of other people that need you as well. You love each and every one of us with such a pure, genuine and unconditional love. Help us realize that and let that truly sink in so we can turn our hearts over to You, so You can transform us into who You created us to be. Please be with the person reading this post, and help these words that came from You, comfort them and bring them peace in whatever season they may currently be in. Help us to have the faith that the sick woman had. Help take away any fear we may feel when we might be too far gone from you, and replace that fear with belief in You. Thank you for all that You do, and help us to resemble You each day that we live on this earth.

Amen.”