Hannah's Answered Prayer

I Samuel

The story of Hannah in I Samuel is very special to me because I can relate so much to the answered prayer. Hannah grieved because she wanted a child and could not conceive. Her husband Elkanah tried to console her. She prayed for a child and made a promise to God. If He would give her a child, she would give that child back to God to serve in the temple. In time, God answered her prayer. Hannah and her husband Elkanah were blessed with a baby boy they named Samuel.

Hannah kept her promise. While Samuel was still very young, she took him to the temple to serve the Lord at Shiloh where he lived with Eli the priest. Every year, Hannah came to the temple with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice and every year brought Samuel a new robe. The Lord further blessed Hannah with three more sons and two daughters. What a wonderful example of answered prayer!

When my husband and I were ready to start a family, I was very impatient. It was eighteen long months before I was pregnant. During that waiting time, which seemed like forever to me, I became worried that there was something wrong and that I would not be able to have children. I remembered the story of Hannah, and it was a an inspiration to me. Like Hannah I prayed for a baby. I promised God that if he would give us children, I would do my very best to have those children in Sunday School every Sunday that was humanly possible.

In God's own time, not mine, He blessed us with five beautiful children. I kept my promise and took them to Sunday School. Our prayers are always answered, but I realize they are not always as we want them to be. However, this answered prayer was an awesome blessing to me. God is good all the time!