Am I Special to God? See Your Way to Hope through One Woman’s Story

Inside: Am I special to God? Get your answer plus a fresh dose of hope through one woman’s remarkable story of desperation and healing. Don’t forget to download the free Scripture Cards to remind yourself daily of why you’re special to God.

I remember when I used to think I was special to God.

Whenever I thought about my future, it was kind of vague but I knew God had something special planned for my life. Just thinking about it brought my skin out in thrilling goosebumps of excitement and anticipation.

Then I lost that precious feeling. I can’t pinpoint the moment it happened but the time came when I stopped believing I was special to God.

Maybe it was an accumulation of life events. Choices I made which landed me in situations that sucked the joy out of my life. A relationship that chewed me up, spat me out, and left me feeling emotionally beaten down. And through all of it, feeling unheard, unseen, and unloved by God as I begged Him to rescue me from the morass of misery that was my life.

You can see why I started doubting and wondering, “Am I special to God?”

Bonus: As a bonus for joining my weekly newsletter, get this free printable download—The Instant Pep-Talk Pack. Its 8 Scripture cards are your daily reminder of why you’re special to God and who you are to Him.

How You Lost That Special Feeling

And now you’re where I was, feeling unsure and wondering if you’re special to God.

But, you say to yourself, who can blame God for overlooking you? After all, you’re one of 7.5 billion people in the world. It’s next to impossible to tell you apart from the people in your neighborhood, much less from 7.5 billion people. No one can be special among 7.5 billion people, even to God.

Right?

And sure, you’re not a bad person. But outside of normal things, you haven’t helped anybody in any noteworthy way or made a meaningful difference in anyone’s life. You haven’t sacrificed anything for Christ or anyone else. You sure haven’t done anything to make you special to God.

Right?

And anyway, God hasn’t said a word to you in years. Despite your desperate begging, pleading, and bruised knees, God is silent in your life.  When someone is special, you don’t ignore them, especially when they have problems like you’re dealing with now.

Right?

So, yes, you’ve lost the thrilling goosebumps of feeling special to God. Because it seems like He’s made it more than clear—you’re of no particular importance to Him.

Or are you?

Am I Special to God? One Woman’s Remarkable Story

Remember the woman with the issue of blood? She makes a quick appearance in Luke 8:43-48 but we get a more in-depth account of her story in Mark 5.

It’s easy to skim over her story since it’s told as part of why Jesus was delayed in going with desperate Jairus to save his dying daughter.

But if you’re struggling with feeling special to God, you’ll be well served to look a little more deeply into this bleeding, anonymous woman’s predicament and her resulting actions. Her story is truly remarkable!

Bonus: As a bonus for joining my weekly newsletter, get this free printable download—The Instant Pep-Talk Pack. Its 8 Scripture cards are your daily reminder of why you’re special to God and who you are to Him.

A Suffering, Unidentified Woman

This woman was just a part of the crowd pressing in on Jesus. You couldn’t tell her apart from the others. In fact, we don’t even know her name. But we do know about her biggest problem.

She’d been bleeding for over a decade. Can you imagine? And this poor woman tried every earthly thing to solve her problem.

She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse.

Mark 5:26 (NLT)

This poor, suffering woman must have prayed endless prayers for help, healing, guidance, anything to stop the awful bleeding. But for twelve years she continued to suffer.

By the time Jesus came through her town, she must have been dangling at the very end of the last strand in her rope.

After twelve years of unanswered prayer, you could understand if she felt unseen and unimportant to God. Kinda like you do now.

A Desperate, Daring Woman

The years of no cure had probably caused this bleeding woman to lower her expectations as far as they would go without abandoning all hope.

Can you imagine, then, how her heart gave the tiniest thump of hope when she heard about Jesus’ impending visit? She probably figured she had nothing to lose by trying something a little different.

By this time, she probably wasn’t asking for much. She wasn’t looking for Jesus to pour out the treasures of heaven into her waiting arms. She didn’t need Him to take time out of His busy day to speak a blessing over her. And she didn’t need reassurance from Him about how special she was to God.

All she’d heard about Jesus had convinced her of one simple truth: If she could touch His clothes, her suffering would end.

So she made a simple plan. Get close to Jesus somehow, touch His clothes, get healed, and slip away unnoticed, hopefully into a life where she no longer bled non-stop.

The day Jesus rolled into town, she put her plan into action.

I’ve suffered through the hell of fibroids, with weeks of heavy bleeding each month. So let me paint you a picture of this woman’s probable physical state.

She’d have been physically weakened from bleeding every day for twelve years. Also, standing and walking for any length of time would have been difficult since she’d have to deal with lightheadedness.

Being this weak in body, she’d have to be clever to get her plan to work. So I wouldn’t be surprised if she decided to position herself in a strategic location on Jesus’ route. This way, she wouldn’t pass out from loss of blood and would give herself a fighting chance of getting close enough to touch Him.

She was clinging to her last tendril of hope for God’s deliverance. Kinda like you’re doing now.

A Seen, Special Woman

Her plan played out pretty much as she’d envisioned. She pressed through the crowd surrounding Jesus, stretched out her hand, and touched His clothes.

Imagine her relief as instant healing flowed through her body. Imagine her silent, joyful weeping as she pulled back into the surrounding crowd. The non-stop bleeding was finally over!

So far, so good. Now to slip away, still unnoticed.

But she wasn’t unnoticed.

After years of what she thought was God’s inattention, after convincing herself she was just one of the crowd, as unseen and unheard as she thought she was, Jesus knew she was there.

He felt her.

Jesus called a halt to the procession and asked who’d touched Him.

Now, this is Jesus we’re talking about. Do you honestly think He didn’t already know who’d touched Him? But this suffering, unseen, unheard woman was so important to Jesus, He had to stop and let her know she mattered to God.

At first, she said nothing, but Jesus wouldn’t let the procession move on. He wouldn’t let her stay anonymous.

So she separated herself from the crowd with trepidation.

Would Jesus be angry with her for touching Him while she was ceremonially unclean? Would he rebuke and reprimand her? Oh God, would she lose her miracle healing??

What courage this woman had to gather to step up and confess what she’d done! Not only was she afraid, but she had to spill her business—her testimony—in front of a whole crowd of strangers.

Still, she came forward, pouring out her story. And Jesus listened, blessed her for her faith, then sent her on her way.

Touching Jesus that day brought healing to her body. But He also healed her broken heart from feeling unseen and unimportant. Kinda like you need Him to do now.

Why Am I Special to God? Your Remarkable Story

This woman could be you.

Like her, you’re a hurting, unidentified woman in a crowd of unidentifiable people. You’re one unimportant woman with a broken heart. You’re an anonymous woman with almost no expectations of God anymore.

Like her, you’re a woman clinging to your last tendril of hope for God’s love.

Related: God Doesn’t Love Me: 3 Reasons To Be Sure He Does

Like He was for the bleeding woman, Jesus stands ready to let you step forward and learn how special you are to God. To trust in His love for you over your doubts about how special you are to God.

And like this woman, you can relish the feeling of being seen by Jesus, even in a crowd of 7.5 billion people.

Because if this bleeding, unidentified woman was important enough for Jesus to hit pause on His day just to let her know it, why wouldn’t you be special to God too?

You’re Special to God Because He Sees You

God sees you, my darling. You don’t have to worry about being invisible to Him. He sees every single thing about you. Jesus said so.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:29-31 (ESV)

God sees your quirks, He sees your struggles, and He sees your broken heart.

God sees you.

You’re Special to God Because He Knows You

God knows you, my darling. He knows you better than you know yourself.

Remember the mortifying thing you said? The one you’re still cringing over? Or the thing you did, the one you still get a wash of shame about? God knew you’d say and do them before they ever occurred to you. David said so.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

Psalm 139:2-4 (ESV)

God knows every lightning-fast thought, He knows every high and low emotion, and He knows the deepest, darkest places in you.

God knows you.

You’re Special to God Because He Loves You

God loves you, my darling. He loves you more than you can ever fathom.

You think you’re not special to God because you haven’t done anything to earn the right. But you’re thinking this way and feeling unworthy because you’ve mistaken God’s love for man’s love.

People love you more when you’ve done something for them, when you’ve helped them in some way, or when you’ve made their lives better. This is imperfect human love.

But God’s love is different.

He loves you simply because He created you. He loved you unconditionally the moment He conceived of the wonder that is you. Then He made you and keeps loving you unconditionally still.

He’s God; He doesn’t need anything from you. This means you can’t do anything to earn your way into being special to Him. And yet, you are.

David marveled over it.

What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him? Yet You have made him but a little lower than God [or heavenly beings], and You have crowned him with glory and honor.

Psalm 8:4-5 (AMPC)

God loves you even when you doubt His love, He loves you when your faith falters and fails, and He loves you at your most unloveable.

God loves you.

Get Your Free Printable Scripture Cards (With Bible Verses for Knowing You’re Special to God)

When you’ve struggled with doubts, wondering, “Am I special to God?” you need to arm yourself with proof from His word of just how special you are to Him.

One way to scatter your doubts about God’s love for you is to know what He says about you. Use these Scripture cards to strengthen your faith a little more each day.

1. Get the free Scripture cards. You’ll get the printable cards and join my weekly newsletter. Just click here to get the cards and subscribe.
2. Print the cards. You can print them on any type of paper but heavy cardstock is best so they last.
3. Keep the card you need most right now in your wallet (they’re sized to slide right in next to your driver’s license and bank cards), stick it on your bathroom mirror, or prop it on the base of your bedside lamp so it’s the last thing you see at night and the first thing you see in the morning.

Here’s a sneak peek of your free printable Scripture cards:

I Am Special to God and My Soul Knows It Very Well

For most of my childhood, I believed I was special to God. Then life and painful experiences with fallible human love got a hold of me, and I started doubting how special I could possibly be to God.

I don’t wonder anymore and I’ll never wonder again. You see, I finally opened my blind eyes and saw the truth: I’ve been special to God all along. Even when I let my doubts get between Him and me, I never stopped being unique, wonderful, and special in His eyes.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:14 (ESV)

Jesus called one unimportant, unidentified, brokenhearted woman out of a crowd. He did it while she was trying to melt unseen into the shadows. But He didn’t do it to shame her or put her on the spot.

Instead, He did it so she would know for all eternity that she mattered to God. He did it so she would know how vital her faith in Him was. He did it so you would know the same.

“Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Luke 8:48 (NLT)

This still-unnamed woman was so special to God, Jesus stopped, acknowledged, and blessed her so her testimony would reassure and encourage women for generations to come.

Will you let it do the same for you?

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