GLAD THAT'S IN THERE

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if only one story had been left out of the Bible? Take, for example, the story of David and Goliath. Or, the story of Abraham offering up Isaac. Or, the walls of Jericho falling down. What of the story of the Lady with the Issue of Blood? What if that story had been left out. What if it happened but was never recorded? Worse, what if it had never happened? What if that very ill, hemorrhaging lady had never gotten out of bed, gone into the street, pushed through the crowd, touched the hem of Jesus’ robe and been healed? Think of the undoubtedly multitudes of Christians through the centuries who have found inspiration from that story of that Lady and have kept pressing forward through every obstacle until they received help for their need. Without her story, they never would have. Let me tell you of one who found inspiration from the Lady’s story: After our annual 2002 Thanksgiving service, our younger daughter, Hannah, ten at the time, came home complaining of stomach pain. We thought it must have been something she had eaten at our Thanksgiving Snack we have after the service. The pain persisted the next day. We took her to the doctor. It was surmised the pain came from a virus. The pain the next day or two only increased. We took her to the emergency room. At first appendicitis was suggested but examination ruled that out. All night she would roll back and forth across the floor moaning and screaming in pain. We were in and out, back and forth, to her pediatrician’s office and the hospital emergency room. Her pediatrician suspected a rare disease, but there was no presentation of its external symptoms. In the next couple of weeks, our daughter, unable to eat, lost a fourth of her body weight. During those nights of rolling on the floor in excruciating pain she began to pray, “Please, God, just take me to heaven. I can’t stand the pain anymore.” Then the disease presented its telltale external symptom. The pediatrician sent her to the emergency room. After x-rays, she was wheeled immediately into OR for emergency surgery. Her small intestine had been consuming itself (intussusception), and it had almost reached the point of dying. After surgery and about five days in the hospital, she was sent home, and, we thought, the ordeal was over. Not so. She had been released just a few days before Christmas, and, I went out to do the postponed, belated shopping for the kids’ gifts. I was just leaving one shopping center for another when my wife phoned. In a frantic voice, she exclaimed, “You have to get home right now. Blood is pouring non-stop out of Hannah (She was passing blood.) and she’s screaming in pain. We have to get her to the hospital!” I responded, “Ok. I will be there in a minu…” At that moment a drunken driver in a pickup sped through a red light at the intersection I was crossing, hit and totaled our car, and fled. When I finally got to the hospital, our daughter’s pulse was shooting up to 260 and higher. She was given three doses of morphine in a row with no effect on her pain. It was determined that she would be moved to ICU. Surprisingly, the emergency room doctor then asked my wife and me, “Before we take her upstairs, would you mind if I prayed for her?” In ICU with no usual painkillers working, the staff gave our daughter drugs given to patients before surgery to render them unconscious. Later that night, my wife went home to attend our other children who were also ill with the stomach virus. In the early morning hours I sat in a chair by my daughter’s bed watching her in the glow of the monitors attached to her. Suddenly, I saw her lips moving though her eyes were still closed. I thought she was trying to talk when I realized she was singing. I could not hear what she was singing, so I stood and bent over her with my ear near her mouth. Then I heard. She was singing, “If I could just touch, the hem of His garment. If I could just touch some part of His robe. I know I’d be healed…” The next day she was released from the hospital straight from ICU. The disease never returned. My daughter is just one who has been influenced by the Lady with the Issue’s story. God knew just what to put in the Bible. I’m glad that story is in there. I’m glad it happened. Not just to her, but to many. Not just once, but many times. Not just then, but now.

GLAD THAT'S IN THERE

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