A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” — MARK 5:21–34

As a young person I, like the woman in the story above, felt at the end of my rope.

I was a fifteen-year-old insecure young girl and I was tired of the constant pain I felt in my heart and the confusion and chaos swirling around in my mind. I had grown weary from the relentless sense of rejection I felt from family and friends. I was worn out  feeling like an outcast to my peers. And I was totally drained from the weight and burdens of life—family, school, church, loneliness, etc. I felt as though no one understood me. It seemed there was no one in my life who cared enough to even try understand me, which led me to question: did God really care about me? Because if He did I couldn’t fathom why I would feel so burdened all the time. What began in my preteen years as “normal” adolescent insecurity had, at fifteen, escalated into a full-blown identity crisis.

I felt stuck somewhere in the middle of an unyielding game of tug-of-war over my soul—and I was exhausted.

I longed to encounter God.

I needed a touch from Him.

But I had no idea where or how to get it.

But that all changed in an instant as I reached the end of my rope and began crying out to God from the very depths of my soul! I needed Him… I was desperate…

His word says that when we draw near to Him He draws near to us (James 4:8)—and that is precisely what happened on this particular night.

Suddenly I felt two strong yet gentle hands reach downward from the heavens and push me to the ground!

There on the floor the floodgate of my heart was open and I wept. All of my fears…all of my pain and anxiety flowed freely from my eyes like waters flowing through the banks of a raging river. I was sobbing, yes, but the peace I felt was beyond comprehension. What happed next forever changed my life and shaped my destiny.

God had drawn near to me. And He was holding me tightly in His loving arms. In a gentle whisper He began to speak. He spoke life into my destiny. Like a movie trailer playing from the projector of His heart He began showing me glimpses of His plan for my life. He breathed new life into the cracks of my broken heart and revived my tired and weary soul.

Suddenly the tug of war for my soul was over and God had won!

He had won my heart—my whole heart.

He had pursued me with His immeasurable love and I would forever be His. Just as the woman who touched the hem of His garment was affirmed in her faith so I was in mine. I always knew God had good things for me. I always knew He had a plan for my life. But it was on this day, as He held me in His arms, that I finally believed it!

God took a young, broken, insecure girl and transformed her in an instant. He gathered the many fragments of my heart and put them back together again—stronger than ever!

I want to encourage you today friend—as desperately as you long to encounter Him, He longs to encounter you! One encounter with the King of kings changes everything!

So draw near to Him!

If you are desperate to encounter God today begin to cry out to Him. Set aside some time as soon as you can and tuck away with Him friend. There’s a reason you are reading this today… Allow the hunger of your soul to drive you to the secret place where God can come to you and satisfy the depths of your desire for more of Him!

“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” —Psalm 63:1 NIV

I love you,

Krissy

P.S. How can I pray for you today?

Did you miss yesterday’s #DailyTruth “When You Need More Than Religion”? Click HERE to read…