Hannah needed a child. Her heart bled for a child. Nothing else could comfort her. Nothing else could make her laugh. Give her a thousand gifts, she wanted none. Her husband tried, but he wasted time. Wasted gifts. Wasted words. All rejected.
“Hannah!” Elkanah called to her one day. “Look at me, please. Am I not better to you than ten sons?” he whispered into her ear.
There was no response. Echoes of unanswered questions remained.
She must have turned away from him, flinching with guilt. Red-faced. Sullen. Angry — not at him, but at herself. She did not know why she had these feelings.
Every day, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her rival Peninah, who not only had sons but daughters. She saw her laughter. She craved her joy. She was jealous of her fullness. And when she thought about herself, what did she have? Only gifts from her husband. No children.
So she prayed, and she prayed…and she prayed some more.
“God, please answer me,” she cried. She did not eat food before praying. “Why are you treating me this way?” she asked, with emptiness in her stomach. “If you can only give me the desire of my heart, I will dedicate him to You all the days of his life. I want a child.”
Eventually, she bore a son (1 Samuel 2). His name was Samuel. And she fulfilled her promise and dedicated him to God as a priest.
And by the way, guess what? Some years later, she also gave birth to three sons and two daughters.
3 Things to Know When You Desire One Thing (A child or anything)
1. Nothing you desire so much should make you sad.
Dear Proverbs 31 woman, there should be nothing you desire so much that should make you so sad. It’s okay to desire something so genuinely, but it’s even better to trust God and leave it up to Him. Please rejoice in God daily. For He has already seen the desires of your heart.
When you pray for something, commit your prayers into His hands and tell him, “I know that you’ve heard me.” This is the prayer of faith and trust. And if you trust in someone, then you won’t be worried or sad that He doesn’t have your best interest at heart. All those years Hannah spent being sad could have been utilized in something more joyful and fruitful.
2. God is not random. He is strategic.
What if God was just waiting for Hannah to realize the destiny of Samuel? It wasn’t that she was not capable of bearing children, but this child God would give her would be His priest. Maybe she just needed time to figure it out. To say, “Lord, He will be yours.” Maybe she needed to prepare her heart first. I don’t know, but God works in mysterious ways.
So in the period of your waiting, what should you do? You need to prepare your heart. You need to prepare yourself for what’s coming. Don’t just sit there and do nothing. No! You want something? Then before you get your heart’s desire, you need to get the skills to maintain the desire when it shows up at your door.
3. Nothing is Impossible with God.
If you are reading this and you think there are just some things that can never happen to you, you’re wrong. With the God I serve, nothing (absolutely nothing) is impossible with Him. Even when He tells you “no,” it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. He just has your best interest at heart. If you persist with your heart’s desires, He may give it to you. But on your part, only know that He is a good God, He is a strategic God, and He loves you dearly.
I would like to hear from you. What do you do when you need just one thing from God?
Need someone to pray with you? Just tell me in the comments. “For nothing is impossible with God.”
Till the next post, XOXO!
Loved by my Father 
Nothing is impossible with God.
I just relish saying this. He’s the God to whom everything is possible.
I just for a brief moment forgot who I was dealing with.
Thank you.
Thank You, God for who You are to me.
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He is above all things, sees all things, hears all things, knows all things…and indeed nothing is impossible with Him. Love you, Tessa. He will continue to reveal Himself to you in deeper ways. Amen.
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Amen
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Thanks a lot for sharing this, Erere. Yes, God is indeed very strategic. His ways are not our ways, and he definitely does not operate according to our schedule. His timing is always perfect!
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Praise God that we serve a living God who sees from a vantage point everything we haven’t seen yet. Thank you so much Yewande for sharing your comment. Amen to His perfect timing 🙂
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This encouraged me. Still learning, still growing. Thank God for his wisdom upon you,
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Tischionimoore, I thank God for your life. That you’ve read this and God has spoken to you through it is worth celebrating. 🙂
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I love point 2! He is indeed strategic, the things we go through only make sense when we are on the other side of our struggle. He is always Faithful.
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He is very, very strategic. He can see from a vantage point when we only have a limited view. Praise God. I really appreciate your comment, Dami, and I love what I’ve seen on your website. 🙂
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While waiting, what if we’ve done everything that needs to be done already or we’ve exhausted all the thoughts of things we should be doing? And when we pray to God to ask for direction we hear nothing
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Hi Oluchee dear,
As I read your comment, a smile came to my lips. In all my experiences with the Lord, I’ve found Him to be faithful. There have been times when I asked Him for something and I got no answer, but indeed after waiting for a while (days, months, or years) it turned out that the actual plans He had for me were by FAR better than what I had asked Him for. So when you hear nothing, Oluchee, still trust Him. Let me share these verses from the Bible:
In Isaiah 55:8-12, God Himself tells us His children,
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”
So Oluchee, it’s an ongoing daily walk to trust in the Lord. He wants us to ask in faith, and then leave it up to His goodness. There is nothing that He cannot do for us– He only wants to give us the BEST gifts (Luke 11:11-13, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”) Whatever we ask from Him, He won’t give us less, He will give us more than we expected or could have ever imagined.
The tough part, just like in any relationship, is the “trust.” Do we really trust that He will do it? Or if He doesn’t do it, do we trust that He will surprise us in a greater way?
God bless you for your thoughts, and I pray that the best gift, the Holy Spirit Himself, will continue to teach you more about this principle in a deeper way. ❤
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Amen. I pray so too. Patience and perseverance is what I should lead myself on to hold on to. Thank you so much. Thank you for the Bible passages. My heart just got lighter. Thank You
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Amen. Yes, patience and perseverance definitely. It also helps when you know like-minded people who trust God as well, because none of us were ever created to do this alone. Sending lots of love your way (shoot me a message anytime too) 🙂
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Yes Yes. Most definitely! Thanks!
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Just got to know about your blog.
I actually woke up this morning with so many thoughts on my mind. When expectations are high and one is being shaken in faith, like will God do this in time for me? If he does not I will miss my goal or my deadline and I started praying for his word and found this page. Its spot on for what I needed this morning. My expectation shall not be cut down and I only need to trust him. Than I you
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God is so GOOD. You woke up and never knew you’d read this. I thank God that a message that was just for you was hidden in these pages so that you’d find it right when you needed it. I thank God with you, Oluwatosin. 🙂
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