Mark 5
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She 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. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"
31"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
Alex, when I was 19 years old my daughter who was only 6 months old came down with a bad case of Ecoli. I was in the room when she had a grand mal seizure and they hit the code blue button. I stood there and watched as she stopped breathing and her heart stopped. I had to leave the room and went into shock.
My mother took me to the hospital chapel and told me a story. It was the story in the scripture above. Years earlier my brother was born with a rare heart condition and he was only one of two others who survived it. My mother remembered the story above and sat in the hospital chapel and tugged on Christ's robe. I was very young and had little faith and all I could do was sit there and turn my fear into faith by tugging on Christ's robe. It was the first time I turned my fear into a little bit of faith. It was my first lesson on faith of any kind. My husband ran into the chapel and told me my daughter was going to be ok.
Fast forward years later when my granddaughter was born with pneumonia. After a few days the nurse walked into the room and told us there was no hope for my granddaughter's survival and she was going to die. I was devastated and walked outside and sat in a little heated room they had outside the hospital. I was crying so hard I couldn't come up with any words to pray. I prayed and told God I didn't have any words and didn't know what to pray. Suddenly I thought the words "tug on my robe". I was instantly filled with joy and ran upstairs to tell my son my granddaughter was going to live. Right after that the nurse came into the room and said she didn't know what happened, but my granddaughter made a turn for the better. She lived and is now 11 years old.
My father had an abdominal anurism the size of a grapefruit and the doctor said there was a big chance he would die on the operating table. I can remember driving to the hospital and hour away pleading with God to spare his life. That's all I could do at the time. He went into surgery before I got there. He survived the surgery.
I learned small lessons in faith during these times. I was afraid too.
There was another time when I was 22 years old. My husband and I were having a lot of problems. I remember praying for my husband. I told God I didn't care what happened to me, but I wanted him to help my husband. 2 weeks later my husband took his own life. I remember feeling so betrayed by God. I was even afraid to pray after that. My life was torn apart after that for about 10 years. The lessons in faith during those 10 years were hard lessons. The testing and trials were behond what I could endure, but God brought me through it.
It is only now at 55 years old that I am able to pray that God's will be done no matter what.
James 1
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
There are some here who will pray that God's will be done. This is the prayer they pray with the measure of faith God has given them. When I am afraid and have a hard time praying for God's will to be done I will ask others to pray that prayer for me.
1 John 5:
14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
Hebrews 10
23Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)