Exonerated: Women Exonerated Through Christ

By Covette Hamilton

Are you bleeding emotionally due to unpleasant circumstances in your life? Have you lost all hope in life? Are you bleeding internally due to being sexually abused while young? Perhaps you are the victim of domestic violence. You may even be bleeding due to your financial situation. Are you too ashamed or afraid to talk about it with anyone for fear of being judged? Maybe you know of someone who is struggling with internal bleeding in their lives. Look no further. Exonerated: Women Exonerated through Christ is the book for you. There is hope. God can exonerate you from whatever you are struggling with in life.

This book introduces you to women who grappled with emotional bleeding in their lives. They each experienced as different issue. Readers will connect with women who struggled with physical and mental disorders. You will meet a woman who struggled with promiscuity in her life. You will be introduced to women who bled emotionally due to situations concerning their children. You will even be introduced a woman who wrestled with low self-esteem.

In the midst of the suffering and angst, God intervened in the lives of these women. He relieved them from their dilemma. As you read this book, you will realize how the power of prayer and faith will ignite the power of God to move in your life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: May 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781400330744

Covette Hamilton

Covette J. Hamilton was born and lives in Chicago. She earned a BA in English from The University of Illinois and her MA in Reading Education from Concordia University.  She became a reading specialist in The Chicago Public School System, as well as The Charter School System. She’s authored 3 previous books to date, her most recent, “Emotions Redeemed: Women Reclaiming Emotional Health through Christ was featured at the “New York Rights Book Fair” in New York City in 2018.

Book preview

Preface

There are many bleeding women today. Many are dealing with issues that are beyond their control. Maybe you are that bleeding woman. Some of you are bleeding due to being sexually abused while young and have never been able to heal from your experience. Perhaps you were or are the victim of domestic violence, and you see no way to escape. You may even be bleeding due to financial difficulty and can barely live above water. Others of you may be bleeding due to broken relationships. Still, others of you may be bleeding due the lost of a love one.

There are numerous reasons why there are so many bleeding women. You just might be that bleeding woman who does not feel comfortable talking to anyone about it. You keep it bottled up inside of you. You feel as if you are about to explode at any moment. Some of you may even be considering suicide! Well, in this book you will become more acquainted with someone who you can talk to about your situation. You will be introduced to someone who can stop the bleeding.

In this book you will read about bleeding women. They each had a different kind of bleeding experience. They, just like you, may be bleeding due to circumstances in their lives. They were at their wits’ end. Their backs were up against the wall of life. You will also read about my bleeding experience in life. Additionally, you will also read about how God intervened in their lives and mine. He relieved us from our bleeding scenarios. Moreover, you will discover the power of faith. You will learn how we overcame our situations.

Are you that bleeding woman in need of a touch from God? My desire is that after reading this book, you will be encouraged by learning how God’s supernatural power touched our lives and healed us. God is still touching the lives of bleeding women today. If not you, perhaps you know of a woman who is bleeding due to various unpleasant circumstances in life. My desire is that you will be encouraged by knowing that there is hope in God and that you can be exonerated from a bleeding situation.

CHAPTER 1

Just a Touch

Iam what those in the medical profession refer to as a bleeder. I was born with a defective aortic heart valve. Doctors did not detect that I had a heart murmur until I was pregnant with my first child. Later, when I asked about it, I was told by another doctor that I did not have a heart murmur. As the years went by, I begin to experience periods of shortness of breath. Shortly after that, I began to have brief periods of dizziness. My primary care doctor scheduled me for an MRI. However, nothing abnormal was detected. Finally, after seeing several doctors, I was scheduled for an echocardiogram. It revealed that I had a defective aorta valve in my heart. It also revealed that my condition was congenital. I was born with this birth disorder.

As a result of my diagnosis, I was scheduled to have a heart valve replacement. My aorta valve was replaced with a mechanical valve. Furthermore, due to the fact that my condition was congenital, calcium had built up around a valve, causing doctors to have to scrap deeply to remove the valve. This caused them to cut into some of the electrical wires in my heart. The lower chamber of my heart was no longer functional. Therefore, I received a pacemaker. Additionally, I was prescribed to take Coumadin, a blood thinner, for the rest of my life. As result of having to take Coumadin, I bleed easily. I must be careful of cuts, bruises, bumps, and falls, otherwise, I will encounter tremendous bleeding or acquire a blood clot. It is for this reasons that doctors refer to me as a bleeder.

When thinking about my condition, it brings to mind the story of another bleeding woman in the Bible. Both Luke and Mark were disciples of Jesus. They each gave their account of a woman who had an issue of blood. The woman had been tormented by this agonizing, nerve-wracking disorder for twelve long, tedious years (Luke 8:40–48, Mark 5: 24–34). Both disciples report that the woman had exhausted all of her savings visiting doctors upon doctors. Yet, none of them were able to come up with a remedy for her condition. Furthermore, her condition had gotten worse.

Imagine the emotional toll the woman suffered. It’s enough for a female to experience her monthly menstrual cycle accompanied by cramps for five to seven days. However, consider the stress, frustration, vexation, and mood swings this woman must have suffered. Psychologically, it had to have been torturous for her. Surely, she wore a banner of hopelessness. She found no doctor who was able to relieve her from her malady. She was held captive by her condition.

Now, Jesus and His disciples had just returned to Galilee from a town called Garasenes. Just as they disembarked their boat, there stood a crowd of people waiting for Jesus. Among the crowd was a young ruler named Jarius. He appealed to Jesus to go home with him. The young man wanted Jesus to heal his dying daughter. Therefore, Jesus and His disciples proceeded to follow Jarius home down a narrow road. However, a massive crowd of people overwhelmed them with their presence. They also were trying to solicit Jesus to heal either them, an ailing relative, or a friend. People were clambering on top of each other while trying to gain the attention of Jesus. Take a moment and try to envision a crowd of lame, blind, deaf, diseased, and those possessed by demons among those in the crowd of people.

Undoubtedly, the woman with the issue of blood had heard the rumors of a man named Jesus. Word had reached her ears that He was the long-anticipated Messiah. In addition to that, she probably heard about the many sick people He had healed. Reports circulated from town to town of Jesus’ supernatural power of making the lame to walk, giving sight to the blind, and healing all of manners of sicknesses and diseases. The woman was in desperate need of a remedy. She had run out of options. She had exhausted all her options and financial savings seeking doctor after doctor. Jesus was her only hope.

Sorrowfully, as a result of the woman’s condition, people avoided being near her. She was considered to be ceremonially unclean according to the Jewish law. The bed she slept on and the chair she sat on were all considered unclean. Not only that, anyone who touched or came in contact with the woman would have been considered contaminated (Leviticus 15:25–27). Moreover, any unclean person was forbidden from entering the Temple. Anyone who touched the unclean person or animal or ate the flesh of the unclean sacrifice of peace offerings was to be separated from the other Jewish people (Leviticus 7:21). The reasoning behind this according to Jewish law was that during the Old Testament period, the Temple was considered the place where God dwelt among His people. While in the New Testament, God dwelt among man in the person of Jesus Christ (John1:14).

Imagine the effect of being ostracized. The Bible doesn’t state it, but we can assume that to some degree, the woman must have felt a certain amount of low self-esteem. She may have even felt ashamed to come near other people. Not only was the woman bleeding outwardly, she was bleeding emotionally and psychologically. Equally, the bleeding woman must have felt a certain amount of grief. In many instances, grief can evolve into depression. She undoubtedly had to have felt somewhat depressed over her situation. Certainly, life must have seemed hopeless to her. She had been turned away by doctor after doctor who simply could not arrive at a remedy for her ailment. How depressing this must have been for her. Depression has been known to cause social stress as well as anxiety.

By the same token, we can assume that the woman felt humiliated, miserable, and lonely. After all, she was considered to be an outcast due to her continuous bleeding disorder. Unquestionably, these restrictions must have made married life and social life almost impossible for