A Hannah story

Happy Friday, dear readers! And Happy January 28th. How are your New Year's changes coming along? If you feel discouraged or off track, don't fret. We have eleven months and three days to work the kinks out.

I'd like to give you a morsel of prayer thought to consider this weekend. Call it encouragement to keep reaching out to God and believing in His goodness. And something to record in your prayer journal. <chuckling> I just won't give this month's challenge a rest...

1 Samuel 1 records the story of Hannah, a woman brokenhearted by the lack of provision in her life. Hannah deeply desired children, yet "the Lord had closed her womb" (verse 5). In spite of the abundance her husband tried to bestow on her, Hannah felt the emptiness of a mother without children, and she mourned.

But she didn't stop there.

Hannah prayed. This is interesting to me because God closed her womb, but she didn't get angry at Him and stop talking because of the unfairness of her life, the way I sometimes threaten to do. Hannah cried out to God, "weeping bitterly" (verse 10). And she kept praying until she got an answer (1:12, 15-17). The answer didn't seem to come directly from God, but from His prophet, Eli. What did she do next?

Hannah rejoiced.

She didn't see the answer to her prayer, yet she took it on faith that God heard her cries and she rejoiced (1:18, 19). No longer did she wander around, downcast, taking the pain of loneliness into her heart. She believed, and what happened?

God blessed Hannah with a child.

You might know this story, but it highlights a very important aspect to prayer, one we've mentioned already. To pray, believing in the goodness of the Lord, is a very powerful thing, dear readers. To talk to Him and recognize that He loves you with the desperation of a father changes the entire landscape of our lives. This story also highlights the way God might choose to answer your prayers. Hannah didn't hear a voice from Heaven and she didn't feel His still, small voice in her heart. She heard the words of God's servant, the prophet Eli. God used another person to speak His truth and His love to her.

Is God using someone in your life to answer a prayer, to speak words of truth and love? Listen up! What a miraculous event, that He would not only speak to someone on your behalf, but that the person in your life would choose to listen and obey and send His message on to you.

That's the power of prayer.

Here's your assignment: Record in your prayer journal your own Hannah story, and keep your eyes and ears open for the one He might send with His answer. Don't give up on this thing you desperately desire, but take it to God and trust that He hears you and He loves you. You might be surprised at the change in the landscape of your life.

Leave a comment about your own Hannah story. We'd love to join you in prayer! And keep working on those New Year's changes. The year is young.


Shelley