I took Riley to the vet, the other day, for his checkup and shots. Since his actual death experience while we were in Europe, he hasn’t been too keen on the vet’s office, and, seriously, who can blame him? If I had died somewhere and lived to wag my tail about it, I wouldn’t necessarily want to hurry on back there. Would you?

Regardless of how he felt about it, boyfriend needed his shots, so off we went.

Since he was a puppy, he has enjoyed riding on my shoulder like you would hold an infant there. Because he’s long-bodied and little, even full-grown, this continues to be one of his favorite ways to be carried. So, as I was standing at the exam table, across from the vet, I had my hand on him to provide a little comfort. But as the needles came out, his eyes got wide and he literally crawled up the front of me to my shoulder, like a cat. He’s stood on that exact table before and put his paws against me, pleading to be held, but never taken matters into his own paws before! He settled himself into his preferred position, but his paws and claws, typically relaxed up there, were bent and holding on for dear life. He was actually clinging to me.

It made me think of when Maddie was little and we took her to see the Easter Bunny. She was excited by all the other little children around, and the colorful eggs and balloons dotting the set in the mall. But she had her back turned to the actual bunny. When she felt a furry hand touch her, she turned around to be face-to-face with a ginormous, big-eyed, buck-toothed, hairy creature and she was absolutely TERRIFIED. She all but crawled into my skin, she was clinging to me so hard! If I had let go of her, she wouldn’t have moved an inch.

You know, there was a woman in the Bible who discovered a thing or two about clinging. She had been sick for 12 years, with what was called a “blood issue,” and, according to the law, would have rendered her “unclean.” She knew she could never go up to Jesus for help, but she believed if she could just get a handful of His robe, she’d be healed and no one would even notice. In the midst of a great crowd, she knelt down and pushed through to grab the hem of His garment, a clinging for literal life. Jesus stopped and felt power go out of Him, and turning, asked who had touched Him. The disciples gave Him a little cheek about the crowds who were pressing in on Him from all sides, but He looked down to the woman, who confessed. He then told her that her faith had healed her.

Sometimes things are hard, or scary, or exhausting. Sometimes they threaten your very life, and you know, in your heart of hearts, if you could just cling to something steady and grounded you’d make it through. Well, that something is actually a SomeONE. Have a little faith, cling as if your very life depended on it (because it DOES) and then rest, because that little bit of faith? It heals you.

Yes.

Cling.

“And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” Mark 5:25-34 ESV