Why Hannah?

I’ve been asked why Hannah so many times, and if I should answer simply it would be Hannah has always had a special place in my heart. See, Deborah is so heroic, the prophetess; Mary so perfect, the mother of Jesus; Esther so brave, queen of Persia; and the list can go on.

But Hannah is so relatable, she was deeply loved by her husband so there are areas in her life where she’s thriving… And then there are others where she’s barren, for some reason she can’t produce. The most shocking part, is the reason why she can’t produce… the Lord closed her womb! But why would the Lord close her womb, why would he keep her from producing? I found some pointers that may shed some light on this…

• The Lord didn’t close her womb permanently, because he allowed her to produce, eventually… she asked for a son and he gave her an overflowing quiver of seven! All in his timing…
• Sometimes we ignore the areas in which we are barren, by focusing on the areas in which we are thriving. And nothing is wrong with counting our blessings, it’s actually very good. But there comes a point when we must break the glass ceiling above us to get to purpose.
• Hannah needed to have Samuel, but had she given birth to him without the pain she went through, would she have given him back to the Lord? This is so important because it’s Samuel who anointed David to become the king of Israel… and we can extrapolate the data further, with Jesus coming from the lineage of king David.
• Hannah is the 1st account of a woman pouring out everything to the Lord, she poured out her pain before the Lord in such a way that her husband asked if he hadn’t been better to her than seven sons and the priest thought she was drunk. She allowed herself to experience her vulnerability and dealt with it according.
• Eli was the high priest and he couldn’t perceive Hannah’s pain, he thought she was drunk. This is so potent because sometimes even those called by God can not perceive your pain or understand where you are… it doesn’t mean that your experience is invalid.
• When Eli accused Hannah of being drunk, she could have gotten upset and left but with humility she stated her claim… and guess what? Eli blessed her! That’s a big deal because had Hannah not responded with humility, she would have missed a blessing from the man of God…  
• Hannah kept her word, she made a vow to the Lord that if he would bless her with a male child, she would give him back all his days and she did just that.

You see, images are so important as are role models. I’ve had a few role models; they didn’t truly epitomize what I needed, as most seemed to have it together. So, I simply took from each what I admired most and that which I thought would be beneficial to me. And then one day, I was reading and Hannah came to life for me. She showed me what to do when some things are working well and others are not. I now have a mental image of a woman whose life had not gone the way she planned, she had some things going for her and some falling apart… yet she crossed over into purpose!

So yes Hannah, and yes Hannah Moments… because in those moments, suddenly you realize you are so much more.

#hannahmoments #daretodreamagain #daretoliveagain #andsuddenlyyourealizeyouaresomuchmore #zerotohero

Written by Vanesia Bowden