A few years ago, I was lying in bed when He whispered “Pray for Beth”. At the time I didn’t know a Beth, but little did I know that I would meet Beth the next day. I was at a Britt Nicole concert, and there was a time where we got a chance to pray for those around us. Beth was one of the girls by me.
A few times over the couple years I have been writing, I have asked myself who I write for. Beth has come to represent a lot of women I have met over the years, and these women have become to the “ones” for whom I write.
Beth is the one who was ashamed of her body, she is the one who got strange glares on the street because of how she looked. She is the one who sat on the edge of the prayer circle hoping no one would see that she was about to burst into tears, she is the one who wants to trust in this man named Jesus but doesn’t know how. The one who has struggles with fear, and has a hard time trusting in a God that she can’t see right now. She is the one who wants to quit because following Him is too hard, she is the one who questions if Jesus is even real. The one who feels so unlovable, and can’t fathom that a good God could ever have died on a cross for her.
Remembering the one
Beth is the one that stood in a crowded room. She was another face in the crowd, yet Jesus saw her and knew her. God has given me a piece of His heart for her, and for you. That is why I write.
Before I go any further, I just want to say that I feel like there is someone reading this who feels like they are in that crowded room and that they are overlooked. Maybe you feel like you try and try but no one sees you. He has watched as you have shed every single tear. He sees you. You are not alone. He loves you. He is there for you, and He is upholding you. If this is you, please reach out to me, I would love to pray for you!
Okay, let’s continue. There is another woman who was in a crowd. Let’s take a look at the woman that touched Jesus hem again. I have a love for her. In just the few verses that she shows up in scripture, I have learned an incredible amount about who Jesus is all because of her courage to reach out and touch the hem of His garment.
Jesus and his disciples have just come back from Galilee, and just as they are pulling up to shore in their boat, there is a crowd waiting. One of the synagogue leaders, Jairus falls at His feet and begs Jesus to come heal His dying daughter. He was desperate for her healing, I can feel his desperation just reading the verse. Jesus goes with him, but scripture says that a crowd followed and pressed around Him.
His law reaches the one
Have you ever been in a crowd where you can barely move? Maybe like being at a concert. That is how I picture this taking place.
Just as Jairus was desperate enough to fall at the feet of Jesus to ask Him to come heal his daughter, here is this women, who society would deem as untouchable, making her way through the crowd just as desperate to touch the edge of his garment. She was probably hoping to not be seen, because law pretty much forbids human contact because of her “condition”, but she touches His garment and she is immediately healed. That could be the end of the story, but it’s not.
Jesus could have continued on His way like nothing happened. Jairus was desperate. His daughter was dying, and this woman was healed. But see, this is not our God. Our God, our Jesus searched the crowd for the one. Her law would probably say “get out of here, you are not welcome, you are unclean”. Jesus breaks through the law, because His law is love, and His law reaches the one. Love was searching the crowd for the one to let her know that He saw her and that she was healed.
Who do you serve?
When I saw that my 100th blog “The Wonder Of Chasing Seagulls” was going to published soon, I decided to re-do my website. So, I started working on switching my site from a WordPress.com site, to a self-hosted site. It was tedious, it was very time consuming, and it was technologically frustrating! Words like name servers, DNS, SSL, migration, SEO, plugins, and registration requests were and are now part of my vocabulary. It was racking my brain to the point where I said to my husband one night “I am doing nothing of value tonight…”. And I didn’t!
If you are like me as you serve, you can come across some frustrating times. Maybe you are there right now. During this time switching over the site I had to constantly remind myself who I write for.
I also had to keep remembering Who I write for. I have to go back to Jesus.
Who is your Beth? If you are like me I want to encourage you as you serve the one, remember the One you serve. If you write, write like you are the only writer in the world and someone needs to read the words God puts on your heart. For those who serve in urban ministry with teens, love those children like they are your own. If you sing, sing out of desperation to Jesus the words that someones soul needs to echo. If you are a missionary, remember the hearts that you came there to love.
Above all, remember the One.
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