The Power of Being Seen by Jesus

There is always, always more to people than meets the eye.

Often our hearts are carrying a heavier load than what our hands hold, and far heavier than anyone else can see.

This reminds me of a woman in Scripture who has been overlooked and judged and even exiled for that which is unseen; she has been bleeding for twelve years. Can you imagine?? Many of us bleed monthly — yet another thing we don’t often talk about — but here’s a woman who bled for twelve years. Imagine her reception in the time of Jesus, when in 2026 we still don’t really talk about body issues and illness.

She makes her way to Jesus, through crowds of hopeful people and dust, hoping to clutch His robe.

Yes. That was her big, bold goal — to merely touch the hem of Jesus’ robe.

A handful of fabric. That’s it. Not only is that how deeply she believes in His healing power, but at the same time, it’s all she believes she’s worth. Not worth being seen, not worth being noticed, not worth being spoken to, not even worth being looked at.

If she just grazes the hem as it drags on the ground, trailing behind Him, she knows He won’t even need to look at her.

But Jesus never lets any of His children remain unseen. None of us is ever unknown.

She touches the edge of His robe and is immediately healed, and at that moment Jesus also knows something has happened.

The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”
Mark 5:33-34 CSB

In the book of Luke, it says “the woman sees that she could not go unnoticed” (8:47 NIV). Not by Jesus, and no longer by the crowd that had ignored her so completely that she’d been able to approach Him, to get near enough to brush His garment when His own mother couldn’t even get through (8:19 NIV). What a shocking change of pace for this nameless woman! And then, on top of being seen, she was healed. Her life was forever altered; her whole world was changed.

Christ’s presence alone can heal us. When we are too overcome to be seen, we can simply cling to the hem of His robe. He doesn’t require a backstory or explanation or reason or justification. He just requires our proximity and our faith in Him.

Today, may we show kindness to everyone, remembering that they could be trying to elbow their way through the crowd to brush His holy garment, running on faith and hope alone. May we realize we are worthy of being noticed. And may the One who heals all hearts do so for yours.

This article is by Anna E. Rendell as published from the (in)courage archives.

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February 23, 2026, will be the final devotion at incourage.me. Starting February 24^th, you’ll find new articles every Monday at the DaySpring Writing Community on Hallmark’s Ideas & Inspiration blog at https://ideas.hallmark.com/dayspring-ideas/. Be sure you’re signed up for emails from (in)courage to receive emails sharing article features from the DaySpring Writing Community!

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