“And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.” (1Samuel1:10)

The above passage of Scripture refers to a woman named Hannah who grieved over her inability to have a child.  Today I related to Hannah in her bitterness of soul as I prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.  While my circumstances may differ from Hannah’s, in that my sadness has nothing to do with not being able to bear a child, I can certainly relate to her heart.  When I turned my pain over to the Lord today, my question was “How long is this going to hurt?” In trying to understand my pain, and why I was hurting so much, I realized that I was grieving a loss.  Nobody physically died, but I did lose someone that I had invested a great deal of myself in, and suddenly this person is gone from my life.  It hurt a lot! But thank God for His precious love for me.  God is so faithful! As I was in prayer, the Lord led me to a scripture in my bible: “And she said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.” (1Samuel1:18) The life lessons note in my bible regarding this specific Scripture says the following: “Hannah left behind her grief, not when her circumstances changed – they hadn’t – but after she poured out her soul to the Lord.  Because of her grief, she connected with the Lord on a level she had never known.” ~Charles Stanley. This was a huge act of faith on the part of Hannah! She had stopped eating because of her grief and sadness but here in this Scripture she went away after her prayer and ate and was no longer sad.  She had placed her faith in God and trusted that He would grant her the desire of her heart.  In Hannah’s prayer for a son, she also vowed to dedicate her son to the service of the Lord which was a selfless act on her part.  That was her sacrifice onto the Lord.  Later Hannah conceived and bore a son!

I was so encouraged by this today and I hope that you will be too.  Nothing is too big for God and He can certainly make your dreams come to pass when you put your trust in Him.  Let your fear become your fuel for faith.  Turn to God in prayer and pour your soul out to Him.  This isn’t the first time I’ve turned to God and in the past He has always been faithful even when the answer wasn’t what I expected.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart; Lean not on your own understandings.  Acknowledge the Lord in all that you do and He will direct your paths.”