Hannah's Prayer...

I love the story of Hannah in the Bible. Although I cannot relate to what it's like for my husband to have a second wife, or what it feels like to be taunted by that second wife about not having children while she boasts of the ones she has, I feel her pain as I read her cries to God. I can relate to that. So many of us can relate. But Hannah's story is one of triumph. God gave her a son, Samuel. And in the midst of her rejoicing, she poured out this prayer of thanks to God:

I Samuel 2:
"Hannah prayed:
I'm bursting with God-news!
I'm walking on air. I'm laughing at my rivals. I'm dancing my salvation."

"Nothing and no one is holy like God, no rock mountain like our God.
Don't dare talk pretentiously - not a word of boasting, ever!
For God knows what is going on. He takes the measure of everything that happens.
The weapons of the strong are smashed to pieces, while the weak are infused with fresh strength.
The well-fed are out begging in the streets for crusts, while the hungry are getting second helpings.
The barren woman has a houseful of children, while the mother of many is bereft."

"God brings death and God brings life, brings down to the grave and raises up.
God brings poverty and God brings wealth; he lowers, he also lifts up.
He puts poor people on their feet again;
he rekindles burned-out lives with fresh hope,
Restoring dignity and respect to their lives - a place in the sun!
For the very structures of earth are God's; he has laid out his operations on a firm foundation.
He protectively cares for his faithful friends, step by step, but leaves the wicked to stumble in the dark.
No one makes it in this life by sheer muscle!
God's enemies will be blasted out of the sky, crashed in a heap and burned.
God will set things right all over the earth, he'll give strength to his king,
He'll set his anointed on top of the world!"




In this season of waiting, I feel like I'm being prepped by God. It's like He is completely taking over my heart, my mind, and He's making this story into what He's always meant for it to be. This isn't my story to write. One day, when I stand with my child, it will be a testament to the fact that God is always faithful. My child will be a living testament of a miraculous, and Living God. He never stops being faithful, even in our waiting. He didn't stop being faithful to Hannah, or Sarah, or Rebekah, or Rachel, or Samson's mother, or Elizabeth, or the Shunammite woman...He remained true to who He always said He was. Who He still is!
When God decides to bless us with a child, I pray I am bursting with God-news like Hannah did! I pray I am bursting at the seams with even just an ounce of the gratefulness she had towards God. And in my waiting, I will cry out to Him, and I will wait expectantly for what I know He is going to do. I will let Him fill me and be the substance that makes who I am.


"He gives childless couples a family, gives them joy as the parents of children."
Psalm 113:9