It had been nearly two decades since the last time she’d been able to straighten out her spine and stand upright; two decades she’d been in pain; two decades she’d gotten those stares; some people glancing at her in pity and then awkwardly looking away, others openly gaping at her deformity. That morning when she went to the synagogue for the Sabbath, she had long since stopped waiting for healing.

She’d cried out to Yahweh thousands of times by then and had probably just about given up hope of ever being freed from her pain. But that day everything changed; that day Jesus Christ was in the synagogue preaching. That day God stretched out his hand and healed his broken daughter.

Whether it be by illness, grief, sin, or any other ailment, we are all crippled in some way. We may struggle for years seemingly in vain, like the woman in the synagogue who had gone eighteen years without being able to stand upright. Sometimes the burdens we carry feel like too much to bear and we crumple beneath the weight of guilt, of sorrow, of pain, like the woman in the story, “completely incapable of standing erect.”

But let us not lose hope! For eighteen years the woman had suffered, and yet one brief moment was all it took for Christ to heal her. And it is all he needs to heal each of us as well. As we go about our daily lives, let us try not to become weary and discouraged beneath the weight of our trials – remember that at any moment Christ may call out to you, “You are set free of your infirmity!”

Never forget that God is neither bound by the laws of human nor of nature. Jesus was able to heal her even when her body had been broken without a cure for years, even though the laws of his time prohibited labor on the Sabbath, even when the leaders of the synagogue blindly condemned him. So, too, can he heal us if we will allow him to.

As we go through this day, let us resolve to remember Jesus in the midst of any pain or sorrow we may experience today, to call out to him and ask for strength, for consolation, and for healing. No illness is too severe for him to cure, no wound too deep for him to mend, no trial so long that he cannot end it with but one word. Do not lose hope – his grace is enough to heal all the sorrows of this broken world.