"In His Sign" Podcast

Last week I was interviewed by Bill Donaghy at "His His Sign" and "At the Heart of Things" about Behold Your Mother: Mary Stories and Reflections.

Here is a link to the podcast, if you'd like to hear it!

I spent this weekend with the women of St. Charles Borromeo Church in Greenville, MI, speaking of the "Good Girls of the Gospel: Women of Courageous Virtue." Mary, of course, is the perfect model of courageous virtue ... but then, she is the perfect woman, who had one perfect Son. I don't know about you, but I don't have either of these things going for me ... which is why I love to explore the lives of some other spiritual matriarchs.

One of the women who was repeatedly mentioned this weekend was the woman in Luke 8 who was healed from the "issue of blood." For twelve years this woman faced down doctors and neighbors ... and finally found the healing she sought by touching the hem of Jesus.

What strikes me about this story is the fact that Jesus didn't let her slip back into the crowd unnoticed. "Who touched me?" He asked. In that moment, the woman had to own up to the fact that she had reached out to the Lord, and sought His healing touch for both her body and her soul. In that moment, she knew what it was to be loved, accepted ... welcomed.

To me, this encounter speaks hope for those who struggle with infertility, inability to carry a child to term ... and those who struggle in the aftermath of abortion. So many struggle in silence, when the Lord wants to bring healing and grace into your life. No one is beyond the mercy of God. Nothing you could tell Him would surprise Him about you. He already knows it all.

The question is, are you willing to let go of this chapter of your past, and live in joy-filled hope?