Hannah's Prayer and a Mother's Sacrificial Dedication

``She was desperate to have a child. She poured out her heart to the Lord. In his love and mercy, the Lord answered her prayer. And at the appropriate time, Hannah kept her vow to the lord, and she brought young Samuel back to the house of the lord to be raised there. A wonderful example of faithfulness, a wonderful example of a woman who keeps her word, a woman who pours out her heart in earnest to the Lord, a woman who loves her child and wants the best for him, but at the same time is willing to also be faithful to her vow to the Lord. [00:59:47] (51 seconds)  #HannahsFaith

Now some of you, as I know some people are prone to say, God, if you give me this one thing, you know where this is going? I will never ask you for anything else ever. That breaks God's heart. It's not like he's got a finite number of gifts to give to you or to anyone else. Jesus explains to us that our heavenly father is like a father and he wants us as children to come to him with our needs, to pour out our our lives to him and to ask him whether it's for, you know, big things or just for our daily bread. [00:49:44] (42 seconds)  #DontMakeDealsWithGod

Our mothers sacrifice so much, both big things and little things. Some of our mothers sacrifice their careers in order to stay home and raise us and bless us, not, out of a sense of duty, but out of a sense of love and commitment to giving us the best foundation for this life that they could. And so today, we not only thank our mothers, we give thanks to God for our mothers. We give thanks for their love and support, their care, and we give thanks to God for giving our mothers to us, for creating them to be the generous, loving, supportive women that they they were and are. [01:04:07] (48 seconds)  #MothersSacrifice

If you haven't experienced pouring out your heart to the lord in deep anguish, I would encourage you not to be afraid to do that if the situation arises. The lord loves you and and he knows what you're experiencing. And so you need to be honest with him about, your hopes and your dreams and and what you're going through, either yourself or a loved one, and don't hesitate to to pour out your heart to him. And that is exactly what Hannah is doing here at the entrance to the house of the Lord. [00:48:42] (34 seconds)  #PourOutYourHeart

Eli understands right away. I'm sure he went red in the face with embarrassment. I think we've all said things, you know, from time to time and and, they were not appropriate in the situation and we turn red. And so he realizes his mistake and then he gives her a blessing. Verse 17. Eli answered, go in peace. Or another way to translate that in the in the Hebrew is go into peace and may the God of Israel grant what you have asked of him. [00:56:38] (33 seconds)  #EliBlessesHannah

Much like Hannah, all of our parents, and today, we speak especially of our mothers, were willing to sacrifice for our sake. They were willing to to let us go just as Hannah was willing to to to give back her son to the lord's service. We know how our mothers were willing to to let go that we might experience the blessings of this life in this world. They they let us go to school when we were four or five. They let us learn how to drive and had to wave goodbye as we left in the car on our own. [01:02:08] (41 seconds)  #ParentsLetUsGo

I'm glad that he sort of stepped up and provided some some pastoral and spiritual support to Hannah as she poured out her heart, as she prayed earnestly, as she explained the situation to Eli, the priest. Now as we know, God answers prayer. He may not always answer the way we want. He may not always answer in the timing that we want, but God is the God who loves us, who hears our prayers, and who answers our prayers. [00:57:11] (34 seconds)  #GodHearsAndAnswers

And sometimes, in his wisdom, he answers them exactly as we ask for them. And the more we understand the heart of God and the will of God, the more likely it is that our prayers are going to be in line with what he wants to do in us and for us and for our loved ones. And so god answers Hannah's prayer. She becomes pregnant. She gives birth to a child. [00:57:45] (31 seconds)  #HannahsAnsweredPrayer