Reach out and touch a miracle

“A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.†Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ‘You see the people crowding against you,’ his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’  But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering’.†(Mark 5:24). I love this story of faith and healing found in three of the Gospels, especially today as my heart is heavy with the knowledge that my father has inoperable cancer. According to Bible scholars, the unnamed woman had to travel on foot for 30 miles to reach Jesus after hearing he had cured many people of their illnesses. She was desperate–she was considered “unclean” and was isolated for 12 years because of her bleeding, and yet had the audacity to touch Jesus’ cloak.   As they say desperate times call for desperate measures. St. Paul tells us also that we have to pray bold prayers. I am hoping to take a trip to meet someone who may help my book be made into a movie…this person seems “untouchable” and it’s a huge long shot and the trip for me is taking a big risk (financially) and yet I feel like I need to be like the woman, reaching out in hopes to touch a miracle.  And I hope my dad will hold onto his faith and that all of those who love him will keep praying bold prayers for his healing. I believe miracles happen every day.