Hannah is a person I can readily identify with from God’s Word.   She overcame great anxiety, deep sorrow, and present-day turmoil to still find reason to praise God.  Today, I would like to lift my praise to God for the beautiful gift of children He gives to us & also consider the way Hannah was able to overcome despite her present barrenness.
God is so very Good!
God is amazingly Great!
God provides all that we need!
God loves us beyond our deepest need and our ugliest sin!
Let’s lay down those truths right from the start.

Thank YOU, GOD, for being YOU, even before we knew we needed YOU.

Great Anxiety.  Hannah knew she should have become pregnant, but something was wrong.  Her body (month after month after month) was NOT becoming with child.  “What is wrong with me,” she may have thought, but we must remember, the glory of God is all about God and never about me, never about us.
Deep Sorrow.  Hannah felt the sorrow, the pain every month when her cycle came to her body.  Buckets of anguish cannot describe the anguish she felt as she faced the other women, happy and excited with new-found pregnancies and the numerous babies Hannah was privileged to hold; yet still those babies were not her baby!  “What’s wrong with me, God, that You would punish me so, that You would choose to withhold Your blessing of childbirth from my life.”  Yes, the anguish was so personally real, and this pain can be felt deep with a woman’s soul, but we must still remember that our greatest anguish felt will NEVER SUPERSEDE the anguish Jesus Christ experienced upon the cross when He gave His life for me, when He gave His life for you.
Present-Day Turmoil. Hannah knew what the others thought.  She may have even said the same words about others BEFORE she fully knew and experienced the barrenness of her own womb.  Yes, she may have said, “I wonder why she does not want children, how can she (the others within her circle) be so self-centered to not wish to share her life with a precious child,” but that was BEFORE Hannah knew the depth of her present condition as she gave up hope of ever conceiving.  God’s goodness is NEVER about me or about you; the goodness of God is ALWAYS about HIM!

God is amazingly Good & Overwhelmingly Great & He ALONE Provides ALL we will ever need at the EXACT MOMENT we SEE, Really SEE the beautiful truth about our Almighty God.

Hannah made a vow, a promise, a dedicated and heart-focused promise that she was 100% willing to keep—-When she asked God for a child, God was Amazingly Good in that not only did He bless her, but He blessed the entire world through her child.

Not only does God bless us but He blesses us in abundance. Thank You God for my sweet baby girl Sydney—even when I truly believed there was no hope for a child.   I am so amazed by the intervention of God that He would place my baby girl in Germany and then surround her not with one dear friend named Hannah, but two. Oh, how amazing our God is….EVERY SINGLE DAY. Help me (help us) never forget my vow, my promise to God but help me lift my hands and praise my LORD with all my being.

Overwhelmingly Good.
Overwhelmingly Awesome in His Greatness. 
God of Today; God of Tomorrow, & God of Yesterday! 

Thank You God for beautiful Marieke who You brought to my classroom door, who You placed deep within my heart, who You have blessed me with during the past few years.  I was not expecting a blessing from God, and I even attempted to push away this young one seeking a home. Who Knew!!! GOD DID! GOD KNEW! God knows—ALWAYS—What we need even WHEN, even BEFORE we ask, & even WITHIN our smallness of thought.  God knows & God Foresees & God Proclaims His Vastness and Grandeur!!! Oh, how amazing our God is….EVERY SINGLE DAY. Help me (help us) never forget the grandeur and vastness and goodness of God, even when we cannot fathom the Almighty Greatness within our minds.

All of these thoughts reveal how I can personally identify with a girl found within the pages of God’s Word, with a girl named Hannah, with a girl who made a vow to God (and who KEPT her vow to Almighty God).
Do not believe how I see Hannah, how I proclaim God but read God’s Word with me.

A Vow Made.
A Promise.
A Gift Only God Can Provide—A Child Is Given.

JOY COMES IN THE MORNING!!
JOY COMES EVERY SINGLE DAY WE CHOOSE TO WALK WITH OUR LORD!!
THANK YOU—-GOD!