Daily Treasure

“And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any. Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.  And Jesus said, Who touched me?  When all denied, Peter and they that were with him, said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And Jesus sais, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.  And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace”  (Luke 8:43-48).

As Jesus traveled about, throngs of people followed him. These people needed the Great Physician.  They had heard of His miraculous healings. One such person was a woman who  had “an issue of blood twelve years.”  Sadly, this meant she was deemed ceremonially
unclean and could not go to the synagogue to worship. She had gone to many doctors, spending everything she had to find a cure to no avail.  Though Luke’s account doesn’t mention this, her condition was getting worse.  She was reaching the end of her rope. She was so desperate. Her last hope was to somehow fight the crowd and get to Jesus. I picture her almost being trampled in the crowd. The closest she got to Jesus was to reach out and touch the hem of His garment. Little did she ever realize that would be all it took for her miracle.  Why would Jesus ask the question, “Who touched me?’  The NIV Study Bible has this to say about the question Jesus posed after the woman touched His garment.  “For the woman’s good and for a testimony for the crowd, Jesus insisted that the miracle be made known.”  The disciples were puzzled and told Jesus it had to be the press of the crowd.  Then Jesus mentioned that He knew somebody touched Him because He felt “healing power” leave Him. That could only mean one thing.
What that was, will soon be revealed.  Back to our story.  Verse 47 continues with the woman’s admission that she was the one who touched Jesus’ garment. She revealed she was “healed immediately.” Her “trembling” calmed when Jesus spoke unto her and called her, “Daughter.”  It was her faith and the willingness to take a risk to reach out to Him that brought her healing. She was healed  physically and spiritually. She was once called “unclean,” but now she was Ms. Complete.

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for Fernando and Reyna Bustamante, (Joint Project Home Missionaries with FWBHM and the South Carolina Mission Board) working in Effingham, South Carolina. The burden of their heart is to plant Hispanic Free Will Baptist churches within this state, specifically in the Florence and Myrtle Beach areas. Their daughter Mayan is working alongside them in this project.

Read Luke 8:26-40

Our October study is entitled “My Name is Complete.”  Our first week mentions miracles that lead up to our focus—a woman healed of an issue of blood.
Today we will learn about a man who lived among the tombs, a wild man no one could tame.  This man had been possessed with devils for many years. His life was completely out of control.  You can sense his desperate needs as you read his story. I found some interesting commentary in The NIV Study Bible and will refer to some of it.  It is believed this man dwelt at “an isolated burial ground avoided by most people.”  When he saw Jesus, he fell at His feet and cried out to Him. Since he used the phrase, “Most High God” it was believed he was a Gentile.  When Jesus asked him his name, he answered, “Legion.”  Though this is debatable, some think it was the demons who answered Christ, to show they were still in control. God had already started to command the evil spirit to leave the man.
Even demons know Jesus. They knew He had the power to order them to “a place of confinement for evil spirits and for Satan.”  Jesus decided to cast the demons out of the man into a herd of swine which were feeding nearby.
Picture this scene. Those who fed the swine saw that herd “run violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.”  Witnesses just had to go and tell others what happened.  People came to Jesus and  found the deranged man “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind.”  As the witnesses shared their account of how the man was healed, fear caused the multitude of that country to ask Jesus to leave.   The healed man wanted to be with Jesus but Jesus told him to go home and share what God had done for him. He did so, and later, when Jesus returned to that country the people gladly received Him.  This scene started with a man called “Legion.”  It ends with the man gaining a new name—Mr. Complete.
News of Jesus’ miraculous healings traveled quickly. Everywhere He went throngs of people came to be with or near Him.  Before we hear about the woman with the issue of blood, we learn about a ruler of the synagogue named Jairus. He came to Jesus in behalf of his only daughter who was dying. But wait, there’s a commotion in the crowd! There was a woman who desperately needs to be made complete.  She had to somehow reach out to Jesus. Tomorrow we will learn more about this needy woman.

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for Sam and June McVay, enroute to the US today from Spain, to assume a leadership role in the FWBIM office.

Only eight days after the transplant, I was able to come home. On the following Sunday night a group from our church (Westside Free Will Baptist Church) surprised me by coming out to sing to me.  Due to my low immune system, they had to keep their distance, singing with a keyboard about 15 feet from our deck.  They sang many of my favorite songs—the same ones that had sustained me so many times as I waited for my kidney transplant.  Nothing in this life can take the place of a loving, praying church.  Like many of you, I feel that I have the best church family.

I ask that you continue to pray that my body will not reject this kidney.  Many of you have stood with me in prayer for many years, and for that I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.  God heard and answered our prayers and provided a miracle in His Perfect Timing.  And as we have done and continue to do, please remember the family of the young man who died and provided organs for at least 4 people.

I look forward to what God has in store for me as my full health and strength return.  My heart’s desire is to serve Him, and WAC has always been a big part of my personal ministry.

Faye Hanna
South Carolina

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for the Tennessee State WAC Retreat, meeting this weekend in Pigeon Forge.

“As for God, His way is perfect…” (Psalm 18:30).

God’s Perfect Timing was just that – PERFECT.  My daughter Kristi was able to stay with me and accompany me (and my husband Marion) to the hospital while her husband Tim and the kids kept their scheduled flights.  Kristi, Marion, and I left our house as soon as we could pack, and my sister, Mona, left her house at the same time.  We all arrived at MUSC at 4:30 a.m., and our son Lee and his wife Jen arrived from Anderson later in the morning.  The testing began immediately, but it was actually Thursday morning before the surgery was done, due to other surgeries from the same donor and extreme weather conditions in Charleston.  We had a sense of peace about all of this – the “Peace that Passeth Understanding”, because we knew God was in control.

The surgeons told us that the kidney began working as soon as it was transplanted, and has been working great ever since!  My recovery has been remarkable so far.  The morning after the surgery, they got me up walking, going up four stairs, and going down the hall to ring the bell – a long-standing tradition followed by applause and cheers by the staff.

The doctors, nurses, and staff at MUSC were so nice to us.  I stayed at the hospital three more days, then moved to the hotel arranged by the hospital for transplant patients, where a home health care nurse makes visits at night.  Each day we returned to the hospital transplant clinic for infusions of anti-rejection drugs and daily blood tests. One spiritual lesson to be learned from anti-rejection medications is that we need a daily walk with God to ward off the attacks of Satan whose main purpose is to destroy our commitment and our walk with God.   Just one week after my transplant, all my numbers looked good, and I was allowed to go home to continue anti-rejection and other medications (for life I might add), returning regularly for labs and visits with various doctors.  Don’t ever forget the importance of the Blood!  We had been prepared to expect to be at the hospital/hotel for up to 3 weeks, but God’s Perfect Timing allowed us to return home in eight days feeling stronger and healthier than I had in years.

(tomorrow—the rest of the story)

Faye Hanna
South Carolina

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for Sam and June McVay as they transition from Spain to the FWBIM office stateside. Also remember their teammates as they adjust to ministry without this vital couple.

“As for God, His way is perfect…” (Psalm 18:30).

At 1:45 a.m. on the morning of August 14, 2013, I got the long-anticipated call from The Medical University of South Carolina, my transplant center, that a matching kidney had been found for me, and that I should immediately come to Charleston for the transplant surgery.  This story had actually begun over 18 years before when I was diagnosed with the beginning stages of kidney failure.  My disease had progressed gradually, but two and one-half years ago I was placed on the waiting list at MUSC and Georgia Health Sciences. I had started dialysis eight weeks earlier. During all those years, and all those tests, and all that blood work (including monthly vials to each hospital to be tested as potential donors became available), God continued to assure me that He had my life in His hands.  Once my name was placed on the list, my sister Mona, my daughter Kristi, and my fellow church member, Terry, began the process of being tested to give me a kidney.  It was a very humbling experience for someone to offer to donate a kidney to me.  One by one, each of them was disqualified for various reasons, along with six other friends who were eliminated at the first step of being a blood match.  You see, the blood is a very important qualification for life, both physical and spiritual.  Let me back up here and remind you that a “Friend that Sticketh Closer than a Brother” had already taught me this lesson at the age of twelve when our Savior, Jesus Christ, who had laid down His life for my sins and had shed His precious blood, gave me Eternal Life.

What I term the Transplant Miracles began with that call.  The fact that Kristi, Tim and the kids were visiting with us and were scheduled to leave for the airport at 6 a.m. that morning was Miracle #2.  You see, God’s Perfect Timing was just that – PERFECT.

(tomorrow—the story continues)

Faye Hanna
South Carolina

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray strength and God’s guidance for any in your church or community awaiting a transplant surgery or involved in ongoing medical treatments.

“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him” (Hosea 4:14).

Healing Love

Within my heart’s door I can see your face clearly,
Taking my hand and leading me to the cross.
I bow down to worship your holy name.
In the cries that shatter the night, I come to you
From seas beyond the furthest imagination.
Wash my heart in your blood that has cleansed me from all sin.
When the wings of the dove are broken,
You will take it in your hands and it will be healed.
In confusion and doubt your love
Will cushion the fall of life spiraling down out of control.
Yes, I come to you with all that is within me;
Without you I am a speck of dust meaning nothing.
You are my meaning, my soul and my home.
In you there is nothing lost, but gained.
Even when my eyes cannot see the light, you will be my eyes.
When I cannot hear and rejoice in the sounds of the birds,
I will hear your voice and smile.
You are the only thing that can bring us through
the winds that rock the boat. In you the boat will become
a majestic force that can conquer all the world.

(WNAC Creative Arts entry 2009)

Rebecca Marler
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for missionaries Nate and Jenna Altom, working together with Tom and Pam Jones (Jenna’s parents) to establish a church in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

(Since the Fall Treasure studies focus on Women Jesus Healed, this week we will feature testimonies of a few Women Active for Christ who have also been healed.)

For those who are acquainted with me, you may be surprised at the title of my testimony.
On November 13, 1996, I had disabling neck surgery followed  by a light stroke. I prayed, as others did, for a complete recovery.  I praise God I recovered from the stroke.  However, that’s where the physical healing stopped.  I desired a  full recovery.  It didn’t happen. But something greater happened. God healed me spiritually.
In the days immediately following the surgery and stroke, I really felt like I was spiritually wounded. How would I go on serving the Lord ?  How would I continue being a needed  caregiver for my husband (now deceased)?  I couldn’t even pray. Though I never want to give the devil credit, he had me feeling pretty worthless.  Both immediate and church families and friends were encouraging me and praying for me, but I needed more. I had to surrender myself, with my lack of faith, to the One who was standing right where I left Him. I just didn’t stop to realize He was just a prayer away.

From that time on, I’ve sought to depend on the Lord.  I’ve learned to place my hand firmly in His to help me through times of adversity since my surgery. The more I lean on Him, the more I feel my burden gets lighter. God is bigger than anything I will ever have to face.
I have upper body limitations because of nerve damage in my neck and shoulders. This has affected my posture.  As I worked on the September devotionals, I could sense Miss Liberty’s pain. Hers was far worse than mine. Like Miss Liberty, I desire that others not define me by my limits.  Writing last week’s devotional about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh,” I identified and rejoiced, knowing I have also learned the sufficiency of God’s grace.  I’ve been writing for Jesus since 1973. Through the years, WNAC has been an outlet for my writing ministry and I am humbled. Yet it would have all been over 17 years ago if God hadn’t reached down and healed me spiritually.

Sue Winchester
Missouri

PRAY TOGETHER: Pray for strength, health, and joy for Mrs. Billie Sexton (widowed former missionary to France) as she continues to battle extensive health needs and recovers from injuries sustained in a fall.