Hello everyone,

This year is quite fast and I really love the pace at which things have been going. There are loads of things that I still need to do before this year ends and I’m very sure that I will come around to getting them done on time. I’ve recently been praying and worrying at the same time. The worst thing to mix with your prayer is worry. Something I also learned recently is that even though God really knows what we want, He wants us to ask HIm. I felt like if I prayed for the advancement of God’s kingdom, then He would give me everything that I want, even without me asking. Thank God for the Holy Spirit who reminded me of a verse in James 4:2. That brings me to today’s topic. Sometimes, our mindset needs to change when we want something from God. Our approach also has to change.

I’ve heard about the story of Hannah, and I’ve also read about her several times. However, reading her story again has caused me to ask some questions about her life. What changed in Hannah’s life that made her so determined to finally get answers to her prayers? It couldn’t be the fact that her husband’s other wife was taunting her because that had been going on for years. It also couldn’t be that her husband stopped loving her because he truly did. In short, he even asked why she was crying about not having a child. He asked if he wasn’t better than seven sons to her? (That man is funny tho). What then could have prompted her to pray the way she did when she went to Shiloh? She goes to that place every year with her family. It’s not like she was just told about a new place where her prayers could be answered.

Well, I guess what changed is her mindset. Her mind was renewed, and she got new knowledge of what she could do. This renewal, in turn, changed her mode of prayer. She decided to stop asking God as if He could not do it. Instead, she prayed with the assurance that she would get her child. In fact, she was so sure about getting an answer to her prayers that she told God exactly how the child will be raised. Isn’t it quite interesting that someone who really wants to have a child decides that the child would not live with her but in the house of God? Even Mary, that was told she was carrying the son of the Most High God, she was quite protective of her baby boy. How much more someone who has been waiting for years to have a child.

The way she was praying provoked a different kind of response from the priest who was used to seeing her weep and pray about not having a child. Eli must have been feeling sorry for her all those years that she prays at Shiloh, but he couldn’t feel sorry for her this time. At a point, he thought she was drunk. I guess it’s true that the wisdom of God is foolishness to men. She decided to have a heart t heart conversation with God that day, without thinking about her surrounding. I’m sure God Himself gave her special attention because she already had her child by the next Shiloh.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, we should continuously look for ways to improve our relationship with God. When we keep asking for things as we seem not to get an answer to those things, we need to change our approach. Find out what you need to change so that you get a response from God. We sometimes get so familiar with God that we forget who He truly is, and what He is capable of. We also sometimes forget that He’s not just a God that can do things for us, He is also our friend.