Issues, Issues, Issues!

In week three, day 3 of Me, Myself, and Lies by Jennifer Rothschild we are looking at "Speaking Truth to Your Issues!" We are looking at the circumstances of the woman in Mark 5:25. Who is that woman you may ask...well we do not even know her name, but we can learn a lot from her thought closet, because it was full of wisdom.

One thing that all of us have in common on this earth is that we all have issues. Issues like illness, financial troubles, insecurities, relationship conflict, fear, and sadness. Our thought closets are filled with a lot of tricky things. As we look at the woman in Mark 5 we see that "this woman had a single, insurmountable issue, and she had endured it for 12 long years. It had challenged her physically, strained her emotionally, drained her financially, and ostracized her socially."

She had been dealing with the same issue for 12 years. I'm sure some of you can relate to her as you may have endured or have been in the middle of a particular issue for many years. Take heart, daughter of God, and lets look at what this issue laden woman did in Mark 5:27-28. "When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well." She practiced some soul talk. "She encouraged, counseled, and advised her soul. Her wise words prompted her action. With that brush of homespun cloth across her fingertips, her great need ran head-on into His limitless provision. In that instant, her courage met His compassion; Her hope met His holiness."

We see in verse 29 that the blood was dried up and she was healed of her affliction. "The most important thing isn't that she talked to herself. It's what she told herself that matters. She didn't mouth a bunch of happy talk of feel-good phrases." The key is that "she spoke words of wisdom and truth to her soul. Wise soul talk helps us overcome our issues."

What brought her healing you may ask; Mark 5:30-34 holds the answer. Jesus told her that her faith had made her well. Rothschild remarks, "Jesus never said her soul talk made her well. He said it was her faith. Her faith invited healing. Her soul talk contributed to her faith, but it didn't replace her faith. She spoke truth to her soul in the same way you and I need to speak truth to our souls. By faith we receive truth. By faith we believe truth. And by faith we act on truth." It is important to remember that "soul talk can never substitute for faith. The woman could never have talked herself into healing--not in a hundred years. But she did talk herself into seeking Jesus, and that was what she needed. Soul talk is faith's companion, not its replacement."

This days ends with a story,

"Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a desperately unhappy woman who talked to herself.
She might have said any number of things. She might have told herself to cheer up, to walk on the sunny side of the street, to whistle while she worked, or to simply accept her lot in life. She might even have told herself that her problems were illusions; she was really healthy and whole.
But those aren't the sort of things she said when she spoke to her soul. What she did say led her to an act of faith more daring than anything she could have imagined. When this woman talked to herself, it initiated an encounter that brought immediate healing to her body and soul. It was all because of what she had in her thought closet during one of the most important conversations of her life. She told herself the truth, and that led her straight to Jesus. May you be that woman."