What She thought to herself . . .

Margaret Frye
Mar 23, 2023
4 min read

It’s the thought that counts, right? Well, I guess that depends on what you’re thinking. Our thoughts have powerful impact on our actions. Our self-talk, our mind frame, that constant thread running through our minds and connected to our hearts – often what we think determines what choice we will make next. In life and leadership, the right thoughts, the right mindset can be effective tools for experiencing success and forward growth. But it’s not just any thought that makes the difference or simply positive thinking. Thoughts rooted in God’s Truth and reality have power to transform our mental capacity, our spiritual life, and even our physical condition.

A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 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 5:25-26, NLT)

Reality. When your reality is framed in constant pain, prolonged suffering and social isolation, the thoughts that go through your mind may not be the most positive or productive. For the woman with the issue of blood, her lived experience held no promise of deliverance or relief. After visiting doctor after doctor to find a cure, her mindset was likely one of defeat. When will this ever end? Will my life always be this way? The forecast, the prognosis, the outlook for my life is only darkness, sadness, aloneness, and pain.

She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” (Mark 5:27-28, NLT)

Thoughts. But how do you go from twelve long years of hopelessness to the thought that your whole life can be different? This was a huge leap for the woman with issue of blood after everything inside her and everything and everyone around her told the same story. What reality did this woman embrace that thrust her into the crowds of people swarming, thronging, surrounding Jesus? You could call it a change in mindset, a leap of faith, a whole paradigm shift! A truth had crystallized in her mind, that changed her thoughts and moved her feet into action. I will be healed.

Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. (Mark 5:29, NLT)

Truth. Propelled into action by the truth she had heard, pressing her way through a massive crowd, the woman with the issue of blood got just close enough to grasp Jesus’ robe. The only thing that had changed in her world, the only thing that changed her mind was Jesus’ entrance into her experience. The transformation of her thought pattern was belief in the reality of Jesus and his power to do the miraculous.

LeadHERs, what if you were only one thought away from your miracle? When our thoughts align with the truth and reality that Jesus brings into the world, what once seemed impossible can become our cogent reality.

Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?” His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” (Mark 5:30-31)

The truth is when Jesus enters the picture you can have a different reality. The realness of who He is, is the truth that transforms thoughts, hearts, and lives. The challenge for us as leadHERs is to embrace the truth of Jesus in every area of our lives, not just what He can do but who He truly is. Where in your life and leadership do you need to expand your thinking to encompass the reality of Jesus? A transformative experience, like the one the woman with the issue of blood had, comes when our thoughts change in relationship to Christ.

But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” (Mark 5:32-34)

LeadHERs, what truth are you hearing today that can change your reality tomorrow?

RENEW your mind daily by reading God’s Truth in His Word.

RID yourself of thoughts that don’t align with the Truth of what God says.

RESET your mindset to cultivate a faith-filled perspective rooted in Truth.

REFRAME your reality in accordance with the Truth of who Jesus is.

LeadHER, my prayer for your today is that you will embrace the reality of who Jesus is. Let His truth transform your thoughts, your actions, and your reality. Recognize that His Truth changes everything!