The woman with the illness was out of money, still sick, and nearly out of hope—except for Jesus.
The Bible tells an interesting story about a woman who seems to appear as an interruption in another story about a little girl who needed healing.
The woman had been suffering from some sort of bleeding illness for twelve years. Besides taking a terrible physical toll on her, such an illness would have rendered her ritually unclean all this time (Leviticus 15:25–28), leaving her essentially cut off from worship at the temple. She had spent all she had on doctors, but to no avail. She had only grown worse, and now it seemed she had nowhere else to turn for healing.
At this same time, Jesus was on His way to heal a young girl, and crowds were following Him closely. The woman, too, heard about Jesus —and boldly approached Him from behind to touch His cloak, trusting that this would be sufficient to heal her. The Lord rewarded her faith, and she was instantly healed. When Jesus insisted on knowing who touched Him, the woman came forward and confessed. Instead of rebuking her, Jesus praised her for her faith (Mark 5:24–34).
This story clearly teaches that Jesus has the power to free us from suffering if He chooses to reward our faith in Him. At the same time, we must also keep in mind that, as with Paul (2 Corinthians 12:7–9), God sometimes chooses to give us grace to endure our suffering rather than releasing us from it. If you are suffering from an illness, seek God’s healing in faith—but rest assured that God will provide all that you need in Him.