Sheri Wohlfert
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Talks & Topics
    • Discipleship & Evangelization
    • Women's Ministry
    • Catholic Schools
    • Catholic Hospitality Training
  • Events & Bookings
  • About
  • Contact

Joyful Words Blog

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path. 

– Psalm 119:105

Two Stories

10/3/2019

1 Comment

 
For she said “If I even touch his garment I will be made well.” Mark 5:28

I love it when I find a nugget of something new and cool.  I’m in year two of a four year Scripture Study class and we are currently studying the Gospel of Mark.  One of the resources we are using is a study book written by Dr. Mary  Healy and it is so wonderful.  She peels away so many layers of new meaning and understanding to words and stories I’ve heard my whole life.

Last week we were comparing the stories of the healing of Jairus’s daughter and the hemorrhaging woman.  To be honest, I had never really paid attention to the fact that the second story was sandwiched inside the first.  Two things really struck me and I thought I’d share.

First, Jairus had just begged Jesus to come heal his daughter and Jesus heard his request and they were headed to his house.  As a parent, I would have wanted to take his hand and sprint to my house but shortly after they set out Jesus  stopped to find out who had touched his cloak.  Can you imagine the panic of Jairus? I could just see myself screaming to Jesus in utter panic, “Come on Jesus, she’s so sick, talk to this lady later and for heaven sakes how did you even notice someone touching your cloak in this crowd?  I’m sure it was nothing; please, hurry, lets go!”  I’m sure to him that  conversation with the hemorrhaging woman seemed like it lasted forever and as they  were getting ready to head off again, he received news that it was too late. My heart hurt for Jairus thinking about it all from his perspective. How hard to feel like our children are the center of our world and then discover they don’t seem that way to everyone else.

The second thing was a little fact Dr. Healy pointed out in her book.  Jairus’s daughter was twelve.  That is how long the woman had been bleeding.  Holy Cow!!  She had been sick for as long as that little girl had been alive.  If you think about the little girls twelve years they were probably filled with joy and laugher.  In those twelve years they celebrated her birth, learning to walk, speak and learn.  Everything in those years had been new and exciting and her family probably adored her.  Then you think about the woman's twelve years and realize  she had been sick, hurting and she used all her resources and still didn’t get better.  She had no joy, no support or family to celebrate her because she was ritually unclean for a dozen years and she was sealed off.  She was miserable, out of money, and isolated from people and from her ability to worship in the temple and find comfort among those gathered there to pray. She was closed out and suffering through no fault of her own yet she was treated like a criminal outcast.

When you compare those dozen years it seems so out of balance.  As I have  pondered these two stories the past week I realize there are some lessons and truths to consider.  When I think of Jairus and the  panic he must have been in; the urgency he felt, I wonder how many times those emotions are mis-judged.  Do we see frazzled parents and stop to think about what might be going on that’s making them that way?  Do we offer to pray or talk with them about their worries or anxieties or do we wonder why they can’t seem to get a grip and settle down?  It also makes me remember that every child is somebody’s everything and parents deserve to be treated like we know that.

When I think about the hemorrhaging woman I wonder how many people I know who have been suffering for a long time with something I can’t see?  How many people are struggling with isolation and judgment and an affliction that just doesn’t seem to get better.  I think of those who battle with anxiety or mental  and emotional challenges and I wonder if I’m doing all I can to offer support, compassion and prayer;  basically everything the woman didn’t get?  This Gospel passage made me realize everyone has a story and I don’t need to know what it is but how drastically the world would change if I simply remembered these stories, applied them to people I meet and changed my attitude and behavior toward others.  I had to ask myself, have I done all I could to help stop the hemorrhaging or have I made it worse.  I’m pretty sure I can do better and I’m thankful for the chance to see this Gospel through new eyes.
A Seed To Plant:  Look for the strugglers and pray for them and ask God to show you how you can help.  If you are the struggler, take it to prayer and let someone share your struggle and walk with you and help you find healing.​

Blessings on your day!

1 Comment
LeAnn Thelen
10/3/2019 11:13:36 am

Hi Sheri,
First of all, thank you for your Joyful Words. I so appreciate the time, effort, thoughtful preparation, and careful writing of your messages. I’m sure people read and use your uplifting and educational writing in a variety of ways. Personally, I use your posts as a break from my sometimes mind-numbing... (actually a numb mind sounds sort of pleasant so maybe that’s not a good descriptor, lol)...OK mind rattling days. Whenever I see the email that there is a new “Joyful Words” post I know I give a little sigh of relief and give myself permission to lay aside all of my “action items”- (ha! I love that term...isn’t everything in a person’s day an action item?) and just take a few minutes to breathe more slowly, read a small bit of scripture, and take in your words to savor, ponder, and pray for a renewed spirit and effort in keeping God first in my life. Sometimes I even do it without coffee!!! So again, thank you for including me in your ministry and for allowing me to have my small but highly meaningful and refreshing breaks from blessed but sometimes overwhelming life. I will pray for your continued wisdom, insight and skilled sharing of God’s word and blessings. I ask that you pray that my “action items” don’t consume me like a flock of chickens pecking at my brain.

Thanks,
LeAnn

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe to Joyful Words Blog
    Subscribe

    Sheri's writing can also be found at Faith Catholic Publications and on CatholicMom.com
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

Email     [email protected]

Phone   989.640.6673

Subscribe to Joyful Words Blog

* indicates required
/* real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups */

Content is the intellectual property of Sheri Wohlfert
Created by Olivia K Design
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Talks & Topics
    • Discipleship & Evangelization
    • Women's Ministry
    • Catholic Schools
    • Catholic Hospitality Training
  • Events & Bookings
  • About
  • Contact