Do you ever feel restless in your soul? Restless for rest in Jesus? Like you know it’s Jesus you need but still you keep trying so many ways to fill up the lack you feel with so many different things? Nothing helps, and you know who can help, but you’re afraid to trust… He will reject me, too, just like people do. He doesn’t have time for someone like me. I’m too unclean. Will He really care and love me just as I am?

I’ve been thinking a lot this past week of a certain woman (Mark 5:25-34, Luke 8:43-48). We’re not told her name. We just know she was broken and very sick. She had already hemorrhaged blood for twelve long years! She spent all the money she had on physicians, but not one could help her. She just became sicker, weaker, more hopeless.

Isn’t that so like us? We will try everything else first for healing in our souls, but we don’t dare to trust our souls to Jesus. Like this woman, we come to the end of ourselves, desolate, and desperate.

Then she heard Jesus came back to Galilee. He is here! Her only hope left! The restlessness in her soul would not let her be still. She had to get to Jesus, her only Rest, her only Hope, her only Healer.

Other people who wanted to see Jesus perform more miracles pushed and shoved to get near to Him. But this woman didn’t seek Him to see more miracles. She desperately needed a miracle for herself. She was despised, rejected, cast out as unclean, and she needed a Savior.

I can imagine her emaciated body stumbling weakly along, perhaps even crawling, pushing herself beyond her strength, pressing on and squeezing herself between so many people as she thought to herself, “If I can just touch even the hem of His garment, I will be healed.”

There! As her desperate emptiness touched the edge of His cloak, she immediately felt the blood stop flowing. She felt renewed, restored, whole. What a sigh of relief as she gave all her soul to Jesus, resting in Him and His love. She became whole not only physically, but her emotional brokenness healed, and spiritually her sins were washed away by the cleansing blood of Jesus.

“Who touched me?” Jesus asked gently. He gazed around, searching the hearts of those nearby. No one admitted it.

His disciples said, “But Jesus, how can You ask that? Just look at this crowd pressing around You.”

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from Me.”

Jesus continued looking at the people around Him. But why did Jesus ask when He knows all things? He knew exactly who it was, but He wanted her to come forward. To freely pour out all her brokenness with no shame. To confess her absolute need of His healing. To glorify Him with her praise of His unexpected, unconditional, miraculous healing of her body and soul.

Oh, what now? She knew she could no longer go unnoticed. She knew she could no longer keep silent. She knew she must fall down at His feet with her heart wide open, holding nothing back. As she trembled at His feet, she told Him the whole truth.

“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over,” Jesus gently replied. And the soothing balm of His love and grace refreshed her.

All this was happening in front of the crowd. People who cast her aside as not worthy of their notice, their attention, their love. But Jesus unashamedly included her and pulled her into belonging. He healed all her brokenness. He even marked her as His precious daughter, and He loved her with all His heart.

Do you feel broken? In your body, your emotions, your mind, your spirit, your very soul? Jesus cares for restless, broken, burdened souls. He can and will heal. He is always ready and willing and has already paid the price.

Jesus Whispers:

Come, My dear child,
Touch My garment.

Let your brokenness be turned to beauty,
Your emptiness filled with My fullness,
Your captivity be released to freedom.

Come, My precious child,
Rest your restless soul in Me.

“I Need You, Jesus, to Come to My Rescue”
by Hillsong

Praying our restless hearts will find rest in Jesus!