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

A resolution to fall in love

Falling in love is great fun, isn't it? Your beloved spends all his or her time with you, surprises you with tokens of affection, tells you how wonderful you are, and makes you feel like the most important person in creation. Fun indeed.

And a lot of work. No wonder the fires of passion cool after a few months (years, if you're especially fortunate). It's not much different in our walk with God. As new believers, we read our Bibles and pray often. We spend time getting to know this Almighty One who fills a place in our hearts we never knew existed. We tell Him we love Him and we list all the reasons He is the most important thing in our lives.

And then we get busy. Kids come, work calls, distractions abound. Little by little, we stop spending time with Him. We forget to pray. We don't have time to read our Bibles. We grow distant and God grieves our absence. We mourn the relationship that once was so precious and important and seems to have taken a back seat to everything else in the world.

Maybe it's time to set another kind of resolution. A resolution to fall in love with your Creator again. Here are some of the many reasons to spend time enacting this change:

• God is love. (1 John 4:8)
• We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
• God loved you so much that He sent His only Son as your Savior from eternal death. (John 3:16)
• As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed your transgressions from you. (Psalm 103:12)
• He heals all your diseases, redeems your life from destruction, crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies. (Psalm 103:3-4)
• He is faithful even when we are faithless. (2 Timothy 2:13)
• He provides rest for our weary souls. (Matthew 11:28)
• He has redeemed you and called you His own. (Isaiah 43:1)
• He is patient and waits for you with mercy. (Isaiah 30:18)
• He is your rock, your fortress, and your deliverer. Your stronghold and your refuge. (2 Samuel 22:2-3)
• He is worthy. (Revelation 5:12)

Scripture is full of people who loved the Lord and followed His ways. They give us a solid foundation for loving Him, too. When you feel like you're slipping away, take a few minutes to catch up with some of those followers and see yourself in them. Use your prayer journal to record these and other reasons you have for loving the Lord.

Praying many blessings on you,
Shelley