"Preacherman, if I am blessed why am I bruised and bleeding in many places of my life?"Woman, you are indeed blessed and that is one of the reasons why you are being bruised. Only those in whose lives heaven has deposited treasures, hell tries to burst the vessel to waste the treasure. This was how angel Gabriel addressed virgin Mary when he came to announce to her that God had chosen her to birth Jesus, the Saviour. He said:"
Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women." (Luke 1:28).

She was called blessed among women yet of all the women in her town she was the one everyone doubted how she became pregnant. She was suspected to be a loose lady. The man she was betrothed to wanted to abandon her secretly (Matt. 1:19). Mary was blessed amongst women but she bled in the secret more than any other woman in her city.

It is not your circumstance that makes you to be blessed but the truth that you were chosen. Mary was chosen. What you go through does not determine who you are but your relationship with Christ. Jesus was on the cross of shame yet Pilate addressed Him as "King of the Jews". Woman you are blessed despite your bruises from family members you relied on, friends you trusted and co-workers you spend most time with.

You call her the woman with the issue of blood but I call her the woman with issues of life.
She was a woman with the issues of blood, finances and loneliness. Bleeding in many places and yet she was still moving with the crowd, to reach Jesus. She is referred to as the woman with the issue of blood but she had other issues. She was bleeding from her body and her pocket. As she met doctors she bled in two places, so I call her the woman with bleeding issues. As doctors wiped her blood, they took her money.

But one day she heard about Jesus; not just what Jesus could do but who He is.

This woman knew who Jesus was by revelation so she had an unusual strategy for her “blood bleeding” to stop. She did not depend on the stories of how Jesus healed others, so she could do what they did. She had a strategy to stop her bleedings. Woman! May the Lord give you a strategy to stop your pain.

She came to Church not dressed to impress anyone. She had an agenda -- to touch the hem of the Master's garment. A woman losing blood should be resting but she kept moving with the crowd following Jesus, and she finally made her way through the crowd to touch Jesus. Immediately she touched Him, Jesus noticed that power had gone out of Him into someone. This is the first time she was receiving something instead of losing things.

Woman keep on studying the Word of God. Keep on meditating on who Jesus is and the wonders of God despite your bruises and wounds. It may be wounds from your husband, or ex-husband or ex-boyfriend. It may be wounds from strangers, colleagues or even your children it may be wounds from parents and inlaws. It may be wounds of temporary barrenness, or loneliness or rejection.

Wounds are wounds but sometimes it is not the wounds that pains much but how and who inflicted the wound. Wounds from words spoken against you could hurt much. Gunshots break bones but unfair words from close ones breaks the heart. However, keep moving ahead because your victory is not in where you are coming from but in where you are going. Press on towards the high mark of your calling. Jesus looked ahead and saw the joy ahead and endured the shame.God feels your pain when you bleed. In all their affliction He was afflicted (Isa. 63:9). But He is not moved because He has seen the whole picture. He knows it will work for your good at  the end. Keep moving ahead.

Mary anointed Jesus ahead of His burial. She did it by revelation and Jesus gave her the best commendation in scriptures yet one of the disciples criticized her. She was not moved.

God said of Jesus; “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17), yet Jesus was wounded everywhere in his body. His wounds went with Him to heaven, came back to earth with it, showed them to the disciples and went back with them to heaven forever. Your scars are your stars.

When one of the soldier's used the spear to pierce the side of Jesus on the cross, it wounded Him, water and blood gushed out and that is the living water that refreshes us. Satan regrets afflicting that wound on Him. Every wound that Satan inflicts on you ought to bring out the living water in you to refresh others. When you respond instead of reacting.

Don't focus on your bleeding to trade off your joy in the Master's presence. You are alive today because you still have something to give despite your bleeding. Press on woman!In 2007, I was listed by a Christian magazine as one of the Fifty Most Influential Men of God in Nigeria.

I didn't know how they came about it. A pastor came around to tell me of a minister and his wife who were bitter that I was listed in the magazine. I heard the terrible things they said about me. I was wounded. So after the informant left I called my Personal Assistant, put some money in an envelope and told him to go and give it to the pastor and his wife. He received it and called me to pray for me. He said that I am a man in the Spirit and that they were just trusting God for money to pay some workers when he received my envelope. I responded instead of reacting. Guess what? He began to partner with my ministry. I was bruised and bleeding but I was moving ahead by responding instead of reacting. My prosperity was inside that wound I received from him and I knew how to respond to it. A corn that is buried must be bruised by the soil for a new corn to emerge in multiple folds. Woman stand up. Dust yourself. Respond! Don’t react.

God visited Adam in the cool of the day; he didn't need a miracle but he visited Abraham in the heat of the day because he needed a miracle. There is a miracle in your wound. There is a river of blessing that will flow out of your wound if you praise Him despite...! The brook will have no song without rocks obstructing its path. No one can sing the blues without suffering. Woman, don't lose your mind, keep it to enjoy the blessing ahead of you. Our Father in heaven has a Son who knew no sin but He has none who has not experienced pain. Get one thing clear there is no trial you face that another believer is not facing but God is faithful to see you through it or out of it. You will laugh at last.