Foot Space

“Have you ever wondered why the woman touched the hem of Jesus’ garment? Because it’s always crowded at His hands, everyone wants a handout. But there’s plenty of room at His feet.” (Jeff Arnold)

NOTE: This is a fictional retelling of a Bible story. See the footnote at the bottom of the narrative for the scripture passage that inspired this modern version of the biblical account.

 

Bea Red had been exhausted for the last twelve years. As a lawyer at Fifer, Todd and Associates, her active lifestyle had left along with her money and health. She’d seen more gynecologists than she could remember. Bea wondered why her menstrual time never stopped. A slow, small stream of red blood constantly came out of her no matter what was done to make it normal again.

 

Twelve years ago, Bea had been engaged to a guy nicknamed Lucky and her career was on an upward climb to where she wanted to be. When the debilitation bleeding did not stop on a hot day in July as it should have, Bea wondered what she should do. Bea’s life seems to be falling apart. She had done every medical test done that should have provided her with answers. The cash value of the treatment s Bea had gone through during this time had drained her physically, mentally, and monetarily.

 

One Friday afternoon, Beatrice’s sweet older neighbor, Maria Cristos, who knew of her health plight, called her and invited her to a Friday night prayer and healing service at the church that Maria attended. She accepted. What could it hurt? There was nothing to lose?

 

Though the service that night had lively worship music, an informative sermon, and the anticipation of needed healing to come, Bea was weary of this kind of TV evangelist ask- and-receive hype.

 

When Bea felt the urge to touch the hem of the Pastor Jessie’s jacket as he walked by her down the aisle, she felt she’d gone crazy. Somehow, she knew her absolute healing was close at hand. As soon as she acted on her faith, a bolt of what felt like a large electrical shock spread from her the top of her head to her female area.  It caused her to squirm so much that her next door aged neighbor, Maria, bent over and whispered, “My daughter you are healed.”

Bea felt she might be correct as she no longer felt blood soaking a pad. The exhaustion and light-headiness had lifted. She felt like she’d gotten a full eight hours of sleep. For Bea, today was the beginning of a wonderful new life.  

 “The recurrent drama of menstrual bleeding must have been unnerving to primitive peoples. In man, the shedding of blood is always associated with injury, disease, or death. Only the female half of humanity was seen to have the magical ability to bleed profusely and still rise phoenix-like each month from the gore.” (Estelle Ramey) [i]

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[i] Adapted from: All for One: The Towns of Ohio Completer Trilogy by Robert Kinker,  Book One: Chapter Twelve ”A Female Issue,”  Matthew 9:20-21,  Mark 5:25-29,  Luke 8:43-44