Faith: Trusting God Through Prayer 1 Samuel 1:7-20

I feel like the story of Hannah is one I connect with. Not because she and I have suffered the exact same situation, but because I feel a connection to her heart, to her longing.  I get this image in my mind that we would have been friends if we lived in the same time and place.
Sooo.... Here's the passage (with Verse 6 included because it reads differently in the NIV than it does in the translation on the app):

6 And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" 9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the LORD's temple. 10 In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. 11 And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." 12 As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine." 15 "Not so, my lord," Hannah replied, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief." 17 Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him." 18 She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. 19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him."
 

I think the thing that sticks out to me the most is the attitude change that Hannah underwent after praying.  Before, she was bitter in her soul, filled with anguish and longing,so much so, that she wouldn't even eat the portions her husband gave her. She is so troubled in her spirit that the priest did not consider her behavior normal. :-) But after she poured her heart out to God,  Scripture says that she went away, ate something, and that her face was no longer downcast. 

That's the thing that just stuck out to me best.  Hannah's faith in God changed her attitude toward her circumstances.  She did not continue to dwell on what broke her heart, but instead walked away in good spirits, and she did so without a promise that she would recieve what she asked for. Perhaps there is a link between faith an attitude?

Part 2: Prayer

When I became a Christian Prayer seemed to come very naturally for me. Not in that I prayed well or anything, but in the fact that I prayed. It wasn't hard for me to remember to pray. I didn't always remember to read my Bible, but I never forgot to pray.
It was the biggest way for me to stay connected to God. I also couldn't sleep at night unless I prayed. I think part of that was because sometimes I would have aweful, haunting nightmares and praying often kept the dreams away.
It's weird, but for a little less than a year, praying became hard, uncomfortable... It was like I just could not find that connection to God through prayer. (Dark night of the soul? Probably not, but not impossible.) It was also at that point that I had started praying less for myself and more for others, but it was hard to know how to pray for others.
Recently I've been taking Prayer Walks. I'm not completely free from distractions, actually, I think I might even be putting more distractions in front of me, but as I walk and pray, I talk to God about Valpo, I pray for Him to reveal to me opportunities to be light, and I believe that He has done that. I have met so many people when I walk. I have prayed with one, I have invited one to church. I feel good to say that for about a 4 block radius, I know who most of my neighbors are.

On Saturday, Lance gave us Scriptures about praying as well. When I sat down and read them by myself, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 was one that I spent some time thinking about. The verse says very simply "pray without ceasing". While I was in college I heard this verse over and over again. I've heard people talk about it and question what it means and offer theories on how that works, but I've never quite heard it put the way I now understand it. When I think about this verse, I think about something I've heard people say several times:
"Prayer is 1/4 talking and 3/4 listening."
When I thought about prayer in this perspective, it answers the question for me about how it is possible to pray without ceasing. We can praise God, we can make our requests known to God, we can talk about our day, we can talk about friends, we ask look for his guidance, but honestly, it is really hard to keep conversations going sometimes. But even in conversations there are natural pauses and moments of silence. It is listening and hearing the other party. God wants to speak to us, so a part of our prayer, a big part, needs to be us listening to God. So how does that work out so that we can pray without ceasing? It is definitely talking to God, it is definitely praising Him, it is definitely bringing our needs and others needs before Him, but moreso, it is having a constant awareness of God in your life, always looking for and expecting Him to speak, to teach, to comfort, to love. Praying without ceasing is to put yourself always in a state of being that you can hear His voice if He chooses to speak.

The Thessalonians verse is the only one I felt like really getting into tonight, but these were the other verses given to us Saturday morning:

Matthew 21:22
Philippians 4:6
Luke 18:1
Luke 18:10-14
1 Peter 4:7
James 4:3