10  |  ROBERTA M. DAMON Dear One, H ow terrible to be forever known as the woman with the issue of blood. From the time of Moses, women were declared unclean after childbirth and at monthly cycles, and that always meant that she was a contaminant. If she sat on the same chair or bed with her husband, not only was she considered unclean,butsowashe.Thatis,hewasunfittoapproachGodinworship and had to submit to ritual cleansing before he was clean—worthy— before God. I don’t have to remind you. You lived with the shame, the humiliation, every day for twelve years. Well, the doctors couldn’t help you. Of course, they could take your money. How many worthless potions did they sell you? And with what hope did you swallow each one? How discouraged and how frantic did you become? How did you hear of the Nazarene? Did you hear Him preach? Did you sit on a hillside while He taught? Did His reputation precede Him? Did you hear of Magdalene, now cured of seven devils? Did you hear Jesus had compassion on the widow from Nain and raised her son from the dead? Did you hear of the mad man of Gadera, now healed and in his right mind? How came you to be in the crowd that day? What made you think that by simply touching His robe you would be healed? Well, you did it. And you were healed. I imagine you thought you could just slip away without anyone’s being the wiser. But He knew. And when He asked, “Who touched me?” you knew you couldn’t hide.