Fight!

Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him. A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. (Mark 5:26-29 NLT)

The woman with the issue of blood has been on my mind lately. I've heard this story so many times down through the years but today, during this month, in this year, it takes on a whole new meaning. I never realized until now that she was a fighter. She wanted--desperately needed--a move of God. And she got it. She got it only because she felt the risk was worth taking. In my not too distant past, a series of events caused my faith to falter. This was my "issue." But I didn't know until the Lord woke me up in the middle of the night to read the story about the woman with the issue of blood.

As I read, I saw myself standing next to this woman, pale, tired, slumped over; moving slow because she lacked energy. I watched her fight the swarm of people. She was bumped, brushed up against, even knocked down. But she kept going. I watched her get closer and closer to the Son. As I watched her I realized something: I was still standing in the same spot. I had no fight left in me. I told myself that I would remain where I was. I chose to give up.
Yet while I had settled in this place that God had NOT designed for me to be, something really amazing happened. Someone close to me was diagnosed with an advanced stage of breast cancer. The doctor talked about how aggressive the treatments would be; how taking a bite out of the cancer would take a bite out of her. I watched her lose weight, I went with her to a treatment and sat with her in the hospital. I saw the toll it taking on her body. All this time she never felt sorry for herself. She never complained and constantly speaks life into this situation. That cancer knocked  her down, shoved her, has made her tired but she keeps going. Her faith never, ever faltered. She's a fighter.

All this month  I've been thinking about countless women who fight breast cancer everyday. If they have it in them to keep pressing despite what's happening to them,  then so could I. "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" resonated in my spirit like the chanting crowd drawn to a school yard scuffle. It is Satan who wants us to give up. It is Satan who wants us to camp out in the wilderness and stay in the season of lack. But it is up to us to fight: the Enemy, our circumstances, sometimes even ourselves.

This woman in my life will never know the magnitude of how grateful I am for her. She has inspired me in a way I thought was lost. I want to fight. I need to fight. Imagine how the crowd was impacted by the woman with the issue of blood. True, she needed health and healing but what about those skeptics who didn't believe in Jesus's power who saw her instantly be healed just by touching His hem. Think about Jairus who was there, waiting for Jesus to heal his daughter and how hopeful he must have been witnessing that woman with her issue being healed.

I encourage everyone reading this to fight, whatever the situation may be. Just like a boxer must guard himself, we must guard our anointing. Fight! Belive that it is worth it. Faith is an action word. The woman with the issue of blood received a trifold blessing:  And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over (Mark 5:34 NLT).  She was healed, he spoke peace into her life, and her suffering was ended all becuase she was willing to fight.

For more information on how you can help fight against breast cancer, visit http://ww5.komen.org/ or American Cancer Society http://www.cancer.org/