Tag Archives: Jesus

Compassion, Faith and Humility The Story of Naaman’s Servant

Posted in Uncategorized, Unnamed Characters of the Bible by

She was captured. taken from all she had known, everyone she had known, to a foreign land. A land full of strange god’s, full of things she had been bought up to believe were evil. Forced to serve in the household of her homeland’s enemies. The wife of one of the commanders of the same army who had come and taken her. The memory of being taken still woke her up in the night. And yet she had no choice but to stay and to serve.

The girl could have grown bitter. Forgotten her home, forgotten the God she had once trusted. After all he had left her alone.

The master of the house had his own troubles, a skin disease, leprosy, which would cause an excruciating and prolonged death.

The girl could have rejoiced in his misfortune, afterall he was a big part of all that was wrong in her life.

But she didn’t. “I don’t know why he doesn’t go to a prophet in my land, he will heal him.” And she a servant girl, who’s name was never recorded, set forth a chain of events which let to Naaman’s healing, one which changed his body and his soul.

The more I read this passage. The more amazing I think this girl is.

I know that this is but one incident, barely a paragraph, in a whole life, but I like to think that the faith of this young girl (possibly around twelve) shows us an insight into her character, and that there is much we can learn from her.

She was taken from her home land by an army. A young girl taken by a group of bloodthirsty men. I won’t say anymore than this, but we can assume that this was not a pleasant experience, and that that there is much that happened during her capture that was never recorded in scripture.

Compassion

First of all lets talk about her compassion for her master. Or perhaps we could call him captor. He was a major part of the machine which had taken her from her home. And yet, when he was facing sickness she did not rejoice. She sought to help him. She sought to see him healed and restored.

She was traumatised and alone in a foreign country. And yet she kept hold of her faith. We know this because when faced with a problem, she remembered her God, and a prophet who could heal her master.

Faith

This is quite incredible faith. How many people would have lost faith in the God of miracles, when they are themselves trapped in a nightmare. And yet, even though God hadn’t set her free from her circumstances, she trusted that he could

It is easy to have faith in a good God when we find ourselves in good circumstances. But what about when we are struggling. What about when we are trapped. To have faith in a God who can perform miracles, when he doesn’t seem to be doing one for us.

To be able to say God is good when life is bad takes incredible faith.

Humility

This girl probably had the least influence of anyone in that story, and yet she was willing to stand up, and say what she thought her master could do. I know that there are many times in my own life when I have failed to stand up in this way, because I was too scared to rock the boat.

You only have to glance at social media to see how many people long to have influence over others. But who is that influence really benefitting. I would argue that it is often only themselves: their ego, or their bank balance. And in a small way I’m sure we can see this in the way that we ourselves use social. But this girl used her influence to help somebody was was effectively her enemy. Who stood up for her beliefs when she was the only one who had them, and used her little influence to change a life. And we don’t even know what her name was.

Wow!

How I long to be like that.

Jesus tells us, at the start of his famous sermon on the mount.

God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.

Matthew 5:5 New Living Translation

In this world, it feels like we have to push our self to the front to get noticed, but the bible flips this on its head and tells us that God blesses the bumble.

Writing a blog it can be tricky to balance this. I don’t know if any other bloggers can relate, but as soon as I hit publish I am there refreshing my dashboard to see how many people have read my blog, and if I have any new followers or comments. I know I need to remember this girl who was compassionate, faithful and humble in these situations, and try and be a little bit more like her. What about you?

If you would like to read more about Naaman’s wife’s servant you can do in 2 kings: 5.

This is part of my series on women in the bible who’s names we don’t know. You can read more here.

Blessings,

Alice x

P.S. If you would like to keep up to date with Me Set Free then you can subscribe here.

Twelve Years: The Woman Jesus Healed from Bleeding

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Image by 1388843 from Pixabay

For twelve years I had been bleeding, without stopping. For twelve years I had been unclean. For twelve years anyone that I touched had been unclean. Anyone who sat where I had been sitting would be unclean. I was an outcast. No one wanted to be near me. This bleeding pushed everyone away. Because when you are unclean, everyone is scared of you.

I was desperate, I spent every penny I had on trying to get better. I had sat back and watched my friends lives go on, while mine was on pause for twelve years. Gradually people drifted away from me, they didn’t care about the unclean woman. I missed sitting to a meal with my family. Over twelve years I had lost all hope of this ever stopping.

But then I began to hear stories of a man who could heal people, he even bought someone who was dead back to life. I had to meet him. I became obsessed by it. This had to be the answer to my prayers. I would hang around waiting to see if he would come past. Listening out to hear where he might be heading next. One day there was a huge commotion. I knew it had to be him, it had to be Jesus. He was surrounded again, but I knew this was my chance. If I didn’t do it now I never would. So I pushed through the crowd, not worrying about who I touched for the first time in a long time. Then I reached out and touched him. Well not actually him, just the cloak he was wearing. And Immediately I knew it had worked! I turned away to sneak off before anyone could notice

“Who did this?”

I was terrified. “it was me,” I whispered as my knees gave way. “I did it.” And then I explained why to all the people, hoping they would take pity on me.

“And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

“And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.

Mark 5:34

A story hidden between another Miracle, perhaps and a woman whose name time has forgotten.

When we read this story its easy not to realise the kind of suffering that she had faced. It wasn’t just the awkward pain of having a period that lasted more than twelve years. It was twelve years of almost complete social isolation. This bleeding meant that she was unclean and according to the Jewish laws anyone she touched was unclean, anyone who sat on a seat she had sat on was unclean, and stayed that way until evening. So people would have avoided her.

We don’t know anything else about her life circumstances, was she married? Single? Young or old? With or without children? Rich or poor? At the end of the day, none of this mattered, her illness made her live a life of isolation. I am sure that after this year many of us could relate to that. but imagine multiplying this year by twelve, and then knowing that you are facing that suffering alone. That’s why she spent everything she had on trying to get better. That’s why she was so desperate to get to Jesus. Her healing wouldn’t just make her body better, it would change everything for her. It would give her a future, it would change her entire existence.

He healed her, yes. He gave her a hope for the future, one which now had posebilities, But he also called her daughter. Can you imagine how that sort of acceptance would have felt for someone who had spent so much time alone. For someone who’s future seemed to have been ripped away. Jesus didn’t just heal her body, he restored her, and made her whole, and he sent her in his peace. Something that she probably hadn’t experienced for all the years of her suffering.

When we encounter Jesus, it doesn’t just change one part of our life. It doesn’t work like that. it changes everything. it must change everything. He doesn’t just set us a little bit free, he sets us completely free.

But sometimes taking hold of this complete freedom feels scary. We hold bits back. But Jesus accepts us, he calls us daughter and longs for us to be completely restored.

This post is part of a new series, in which we look at the stories of people found in the bible, whose names have been lost in history. You can read more here.

This story can be found in Mark 5.21-43, which focuses on two different healings.

How to Bloom

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I’ve not got a good track record when it comes to house plants. But one that I have managed to keep alive is my Christmas cactus. I even succeeded in getting it to bloom this year.

There are a couple of things I have learnt from this experience. (Not just about plants)

If I left this plant in my warm cosy living room, it would not bloom. Ever. It needs to experience some quite harsh conditions: It needs to be cold and have more hours of darkness than light.

The second thing I learnt was this: Even though it bloomed almost a month late, it didn’t matter. It still bloomed.

So I think there are some fairly obvious life lessons, (and perhaps some slightly less obvious ones too) that we can take from this. Obviously some of this will be a bit cheesy, but what do you expect? So lets get to it…

In order to bloom, we often need to experience hardship

I think this is a fairly obvious statement. But do we really live in this way? Life is lovely when everything is easy., but not so much when we are facing hardship. From my own experience, and the lives of many others, I know it to be true: In order to bloom we often need to experience hardship.

For starters, it makes us more compassionate. How much better can we understand other peoples problems when we have faced a few of our own. And it often means we have a desire to help others who are now going through the same things we have.

Paul puts it like this in one of my favourite bible verses.

Not only so, but we  also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Romans 5:3-5

We grow through suffering, it even leads to us really know hope.

But when I talk about hardship, I’m not just thinking about suffering that we have no control over. In my mind, I also have the kind of hardship that we choose. If we want to get in shape we will pick up weights which feel uncomfortable at first, and then when it begins to feel comfortable, we will have to pick up an even heavier one. When you start to think about it, there are many hardships we will endure in order to achieve something.

In order to bloom we need to be willing to get uncomfortable at times. That may mean being willing to get up earlier, or go to a place which might feel difficult to us. It may mean giving away something that we hold onto tightly. The problem is, many of us (myself included) are addicted to being comfortable. We will do anything to avoid being being tired, or hungry or cold. But if we stay in our cozy living rooms, we may never have the opportunity to bloom.

The timeline doesn’t matter as much as we think it does.

I didn’t get any less joy from my cactus blooming, just because it happened a month late. I still think it looks as nice now as I would have done a month ago. Now it has bloomed, that extra month I was waiting doesn’t seem to matter at all.

Have you ever noticed this in your own life? You can wait and wait for something, for what seems like eternity. But once you get it that time you waited doesn’t matter at all, because its all behind you. You have that thing now.

You may have a timeline for your life in your mind. And maybe that time line isn’t going to plan. Especially this year!

When the pandemic hit, it felt like it was at the worst possible time. Not only had I just got engaged, but the children’s ministry I lead at church was growing. I was so excited about the future. I had plans for our wedding, and also for the children’s ministry. Our wedding was much smaller than we would have wanted and most of the plans for the ministry have been put on hold. But God has taught me so much during this time; mostly that it isn’t just about me and my timing, but that it is all in his hands. Taking our children’s ministry online has meant that some children who would struggle to get to church normally, have been able to join us, and then when we were able to return (for a time) we were able to experiment with really good all age ministry.

There have been times when I have compared myself to my friends, what they have achieved, and felt disappointed, because I hadn’t bloomed in the same way as them. Maybe you find yourself doing this. Maybe you had a plan for you life, and you feel like you are years behind schedule.

Do you think that my cactus sat on the windowsill in the spare room/ Tom’s office (which will hopefully be my office again at some point after the pandemic) worrying about when it will bloom. Worrying about why it hasn’t bloomed yet, and why all it’s Christmas cactus buddies have. Of course not! That would be completely ridiculous. Jesus tells us its just as ridiculous for us to worry.

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 

Matthew 6: 28-30

In this blog it may feel like I am trying to tell you two completely opposing things. Push out of your comfort zone in order to bloom, but relax if it’s not happening in the time frame that you want it to.

But perhaps these two things are not quite so opposed as they may seem. Perhaps the people who are most concerned about the future, are the very ones who don’t want to push out of the comfortable zone. Who don’t want to leave the living room.

So don’t be afraid of being uncomfortable, that is when God will stretch you, that’s when you will learn develop perseverance, character and hope, and also, don’t worry if you have to wait a longer than you thought you would.

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Three Years On

Posted in Real Life Stories by

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Although I haven’t written on this blog for well over a year, I have had his date in my mind for several months as the date I should begin to share again. Because this was the date I made the most important, difficult, journey of my life. (Not just because I had a phone call from the police, as I was going in and out of coverage across the Yorkshire countryside side on a busy train carriage, asking for details of a crime I had witnessed earlier that year, and even if I wanted to pick the suspect from a line-up.) It was the day I finally left an abusive marriage

It wasn’t the first time that I had left. And when I was leaving, I didn’t realise it would be for good.

I remember my dad picking me up from Sheffield train station, and telling me I didn’t look good: in the most loving way possible. I remember truths slipping out through tears, as I realised I could never go back. I remember switching off my phone to break all contact. I remember the confusion of making decisions of my own for the first time in years. The freedom of knowing it didn’t matter that if I got it wrong.

But the thing I remember the most was just how close God was then. I would close my eyes and he would be there right in front of me. He was big, and he loved me so much. I have never known this is such a tangible way as I did back then.

And that was the most important thing. If that is where the story ended, if God didn’t do anything else apart from love me, that would be okay. But he did so much more.

He healed me. And he provided for me. In those months and over these last three years he has done so in such detail.

Jobs, finances, friendships and even a new relationship.

Within a couple of weeks of leaving, I was provided with a job in a card shop. That would have been enough, but God had more. I had registered with an agency, to work as a teaching assistant. On the very day I bought my car, I got a phone call from them, offering work a cars journey away.

These were the big things, but God even had the smaller details sorted out as. One day I got the bus over to Doncaster to do my Christmas shopping. I knew I wanted to get something more than I usually would for my parents. As I was walking along the high street I felt drawn to go in to one of the shops. I ignored it. I was on a mission, and it was the kind of shop that looked like even more of a jumble sale than TK Maxx. But the same thing happened as I walked back up the high street. After all, that feeling was one of them God kind of ones, although I wouldn’t normally get them to go into shops. I took a deep breath and went in. Right in the entrance there was a pile of board game. Including the one that my parents had been asking for, which normally retailed at around £40 they were selling is for £7. I had to chuckle on Christmas day when my mum commented on how generous I had been.

God has kept on working out the details for me. I could go on and on. I am now blessed to be working in a church doing a job I was made for as a children and families minister, just up the road from where I grew up. Even moving here I have been provided with an amazing flat, with a balcony (something I had always dreamed of) and two bedrooms, so I have space for friends and family to stay. (hint hint)

I guess what I really want to say is this: Whatever life throws at you, whether it is your fault or not, God can redeem it, and he can use it for good and for his glory. As October is domestic abuse awareness month, I want to make it clear that leaving an abusive relationship will be one of the hardest things you ever do, but it will also be the best. There is so much life after, it does not disqualify you from serving, or new relationships.

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Missing the Point

Posted in Motivational, Uncategorized by

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I am worried that I have completely missed the point.

Being more worried about how many people are following me… than the one I am called to follow.

Being more concerned with looking good… than doing good, than actually being good.

Putting more effort into the contents of my bank account… than the contents of my heart.

More interested in making people like me… than making disciples.

And, frankly, I am sick of it. I am sick of being so selfish. And what’s even more disturbing that I don’t seem to be alone. This idea of success has seeped into the whole culture of the church.

And no where is this more obvious than in the bizarre world of blogging.

A world of perfect hair and perfect teeth and selling your soul for an extra like; spending our days sat in comfortable homes writing words of “encouragement” instead of getting out there and helping the poor and needy.

Blogging is a nice thing, but maybe, for some of us, it’s the easy option. The safest option, that avoids any real connection, or any real risk.

Blogging is a good thing. It helps me organise my thoughts, and I know it helps other people on some level. But lets not let this, or anything else get in the way of the real Christian work.

The Christian life involves actually getting out there and getting your hands dirty and helping people in the worst kind of need. It involves real community and a shed load of the hard kind of love. It means you will often get hurt. It is not the easy road. But it is the road that we need to take.

When we take this steep and stony road, which probably involves a few dark valleys or, even worse, rickety rope bridges across those dark valleys; a lot of mud and dirt and hurt, but the road that has the most beautiful views. This is the place where we meet Jesus. This is the place where we find adventure.

For many people reading this there might be other good things getting in the way of great things. Maybe the pursuit of education and knowledge; a good career; the idea of the perfect family or the perfect marriage, no matter what the cost.

While, like blogging, these can all be great things, they can become a hinderance if we do not keep them in check. If we do not look beyond our own lives and towards the rugged cross. After all, Jesus didn’t die so we could have a nice comfortable life, he died so that we could have a relationship with him. He calls us to a life of risk and discomfort, but the only kind of life that is really worth living.