Daughter....yesterday morning, in the midst of the Scripture reading in worship, that one word struck my heart in a way akin to the shocking spray of cold water to the skin that is burning on a hot summer's day. The word washed over me in relief, but also stung my parched heart.
Daughter...how I long to hear Christ call me Daughter. I have heard him call my name....Stefanie.....In those moments, when he identifies me, when he calls me, I know that I am known by him. I know that I am on his mind, and in his heart.
Daughter...this word adds another dimension. I am on God's mind and in God's heart. But this word also brings me into God's family. This word makes me believe that I am more than just known....I am loved. This word reminds me that God cares for me, as one who comes from the Divine DNA.
Daughter...given good gifts from the Father. Given only good things. Given the egg, and not the scorpion. So often I cry for the scorpion, I want the scorpion, and when I am given the egg, I protest. Like a rebellious teenager, I cry, I pout, I scream, and I accuse God of forgetting me.
Daughter...this woman in Mark was suffering from a chronic illness. Desperate, she broke all moral, social, and religious code by touching the robe of a man who was not in her family. But instead of reprimand, she received adoption. She was healed, and she was brought into the family of God.
Daughter....this is what I need. This is what we all need. To feel God's power roar through our bodies as though we are standing still while the universe passes by at the speed of sound, leaving us renewed, transformed. This is what we all need, to be engulfed into the family of God, without condition, without qualification.
"Daughter, go in peace and be relieved from your suffering."
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