Introduction
This program looks at the elements that can contribute to a healthy life style.
Ideas
Invite a nurse to share what healthy food is necessary for developing strong red blood cells.
Check the website: www.healthline.com/health/how-to-increase-red-blood-cells for information on this subject.
Share an evening of exercise using the DVD “Walk the Walk” by Leslie Sansone or walk one mile. Share the importance of healthy exercising, healthy blood flow and good blood pressure.
Invite a Christian counselor, officer or minister to present ways to heal from emotional pain. There are a number of articles on this subject on the website: https://www.psychologytoday.com.
Icebreaker
Ask the women to briefly describe in writing ways in which God has touched or cured them or a family member. The leader can pick a few stories and read them aloud.
Craft
Invite the women to take slats of a pallet or wood and paint the word “Hope” on them. These can be taken home to remind them of the hope they have in Jesus. “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord” (Psalms 31:24).
Activity
Hand out stones to the women and ask them to write on them those things for which we need a cure. Add the first names of those in your group or whose family member has a need for one of those cures. Create a prayer corner of these rocks so that as the women pass by they will remember to pray about them.
Give each woman a large stone. Ask them to simply write “Believe” on it, take it home and place it where they can see it daily to declare their faith that God is able to handle any problems they are facing. As the women write on the stone, play the song, “Able, He is Able,” which you can find on YouTube.
Service Project
Visit the local Blood Donor Center and give blood to help others.
Video Clip
Show the YouTube video clip of Jesus healing the woman with an issue of blood.
Decorations
Place candles on small wood slats with the words “Hope,” “Believe,” and “Cure,” printed on them. On the podium sign print the words “The Great Physician.” You can also go to HomeGoods or TJMaxx and buy decor items with these words on them.
Scripture
Read Luke 8:43-48
Who Touched Me?
How could it be? There was no lump there last week. I looked again thinking I had not seen correctly. The next day, I checked again hoping I was mistaken. By the third day, I set the appointment for a doctor’s visit with great uncertainty. He chose to try medicine first. One week later, the lump was still visible, and the doctor quickly set a surgeon’s appointment and x-rays for the same day. Within just a few short days, I was in surgery. Little quieted my fears except my faith in the Great Physician, Jesus. Two tumors were removed and sent off to be checked as I waited breathlessly for the results.
We have all experienced that moment, that question; “What is this? Is there a cure?” Perhaps our child or parent is sick. Why me? Why now? Perhaps the hardest question of all is “God, I serve you every day; how could you allow this?”
No doubt the woman in Luke 8:43–48 who had been subject to bleeding for twelve long years had many of the same questions we have: “Will I die? Why can’t anyone help? Why did this happen? What did I do to cause this?” Just imagine how tired she must have been.
Yet there was that ray of hope. She had heard about Jesus and she knew He was coming to her town. Her heart beat with possibilities. Maybe, just maybe, today would be her day of freedom from this hard life. Yet how could she get through the crowd to Him? Surely, He would not care about her situation. She wasn’t important. But this could be her one possibility of healing! So, with great determination, she waited, heart pounding, expectation written on her face. There He was in the middle of a crowd. As He drew near, she threw herself into the crowd reaching for Him only to touch a bit of the cloth on the hem of His garment. Suddenly, she realized that she had been cured! Her journey of pain and fear was over at last.
Who touched me? Jesus recognized that she had been healed but wanted her to testify to the crowd. She did, hiding nothing. Oh, the joy of her thankful heart!
…..she was determined.
…..she refused to give up.
…..she pushed through the crowd.
…..she fought for hope.
Will you do the same today?
….will you choose determination?
….will you refuse to give up?
….will you push through the crowded, busyness of life?
….will you fight for hope?
And those two tumors? One was a cyst and one was benign. Hope for a cure … fight with faith. When you do, when you find that cure you hoped for, tell everyone around you. Be the bearer of hope because of your fulfilled hope!
Discussion questions
- What speaks to you about this woman?
- How long has she been sick?
- What changed her world?
- What illness has challenged you?
- How do you hold strong to hope for a cure?
Songs
“She Only Touched the Hem of His Garment”
