The Crippled Woman: Having Hope

“On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’ Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” - Luke 13:10-13


How long have you suffered from your eating disorder? Weeks? Months? Years? After enduring your eating disorder for such a long time you may feel like you are doomed to suffer from it for the rest of your life, as if there is no hope. However, there certainly is hope! As long as you are breathing, God is giving you the chance to free yourself from your illness.

There was a crippled woman who had a spinal deformity and likely acute arthritis who was doing her best to follow Jesus through the temple. Imagine this woman, who was not named, and the immense agony that she must have felt day in and day out. Being in the physical state that she was in, she must have in chronic pain, and likely was depressed not being able to do anything get relief.

Jesus was not one to be shy; He called her out in to the center of the synagogue from where she was huddled near the wall. Women were not allowed to be in the center of the synagogue, and Jesus likely led her in the middle so everyone could witness the miracle he was going to perform.

Even though it was the Sabbath a very holy day where no work of any kind should be completed, Jesus laid his hand upon her and healed her body and soul immediately. The woman’s first response was to glorify God. How awesome it must have been to be healed immediately. Praise God!

While you may have been suffering from your eating disorder for years, God still wants to heal you; you just need to use the tools that he places in your life. Perhaps God has placed the perfect friend for you to lean on during the hard times. Perhaps God has provided an excellent counselor who is showing you the steps to achieve a successful recovery. Use all the resources that God has placed before you, he wants to heal you!