Apologies to anyone reading this post who isn’t experiencing what I’m about to talk about. There’s a story in the Bible often captioned “the bleeding woman,” but before I even share my thoughts on that story, I want to say that something very closely tied to infertility is the bleeding.

Every now and then I experience menstrual cycles that seem to go on and on, with spotting that lasts for days before and after my actual period. Not too long ago this lasted for two weeks straight. Many women who are battling infertility see one of two extremes: lots of bleeding, or rare bleeding. Since writing Embracing Hope During Infertility, I have heard from women who have cycles that are few and far between – sometimes a new cycle doesn’t start for months. (Most often this seems to be associated with PCOS.)

For a woman who wants to get pregnant, irregular bleeding is not very hopeful, since you need regular cycles with ovulation in order to become pregnant. On the flip side, I have pretty short cycles – 28 days for me is a nice loooong cycle. This is not fun for many reasons: I suspect that my short luteal phase has been detrimental to my attempts at pregnancy. And being on my period is just miserable, and it happens way too often. (Plus the endometriosis I have been diagnosed with makes periods way more painful than what the average person likely experiences.) Every woman facing infertility is defined to some degree by her bleeding.

One Sunday I approached our busy pastor between services. He’s an excellent pastor, but he has a lot on his plate, and I don’t talk to him often. He had shared a message about hope that morning, and since I had just finished writing and editing my book Embracing Hope During Infertility, I wanted to share how much the message had spoken to me. I explained that Mike and I had been trying to start a family for several years, and that as part of that process I had written a book to encourage others. My pastor listened to me and paused to pray for me, even in his busy few moments between services.

I left that conversation feeling like that woman who approached Jesus in the middle of His busy ministry time – the woman known in the Bible as “the bleeding woman.” Jesus and His disciples were heading across town when He felt someone in the crowd reach out and touch Him. “Of course You felt someone touch You,” His followers said, “We’re in the middle of a crowd of people!” But Jesus felt someone reach out to Him and He felt His power go out of His body. It was a woman, dealing with “an issue of blood” as the Bible puts it. Presumably this was a menstrual problem – definitely an awkward thing for a woman to talk to a man about these days, and creating a lot of social problems in those days. It was something that had bogged her down for years. The Bible says that she had spent all of her money on doctors, but nobody could heal her. (Luke 8:40-48)

How many women battling infertility feel like her? Defined by their bleeding? Spending all of their money on doctors yet not finding a solution to their problem? Shedding tears because of the pain and frustration associated with that blood? Reaching out in desperation to that One who carries hope and healing.

She reached out to Jesus and in that moment she could feel that she was healed from her bleeding issues. He stopped in the middle of a busy moment to speak with her, to acknowledge God’s healing power in her life. He said, “Your faith has healed you, go in peace.”

Although I haven’t yet had that moment of breakthrough when God looks at my infertility battle and proclaims “it is finished,” this story shows me how God is able to heal years of misery in an instant. This moment from history demonstrates that Jesus cared enough about this woman to speak with her about her healing. The fact that this story is in the Bible forever reminds us that God cares about us – the women with the “issue of blood”.

My pastor cared enough to listen and to pray.

Early one morning last week I made a note to finish and publish this blog post, despite the awkwardness of the topic. Minutes later I received an email from a pastor I know asking me for suggestions of how to pray for couples dealing with infertility in his congregation. Once again, a man of God was speaking hope to a woman “with an issue of blood.” The timing of his note convinced me that I needed to confidently share about this – because the God who created our very bodies CARES about it.

Jesus cared enough to listen and to heal this woman who had felt miserable for years.

I love that God found this story worthy of putting into the Bible – it is a word of hope for you and for me. Whether your bleeding is too much, too little, or too indicative of your failure to become pregnant, there is hope. If your irregular bleeding indicates that menopause is coming and you feel your hope of pregnancy fading, or if your bleeding is from a devastating miscarriage, or if your bleeding reminds you of the pain of a past abortion – no matter what has happened or what is happening, I want to remind you that when you’re crying in the bathroom God sees, He knows, He cares, and He is able to heal.