Sometimes answers to prayer come through friends or family members or in a sunrise or through a coincidence that you know IS NOT a coincidence, but many times answers to prayer come directly out of GOD'S WORD.  I have been in a really hard circumstance for a while...,maybe you have been in a place where it really does feel like OUCH, that's a rock....EEEK, that's a hard place....and you keep hurting on all sides.  Those times are the best for showing us some circumstances are totally beyond us and we have to be utterly dependent on GOD for the outcome and for our own spiritual, emotional and physical health too.  Through this tough time I have been asking God to show me what it means to surrender, but not to give up...where is that place, GOD?

Today I was reading about Hannah and how earnestly she prayed in her place of barrenness.  I am not praying for another child :P but, I have been feeling barren in ways that I have been desiring to see fruitfulness, growth, and healing in a circumstance which seems dry and even desolate.

We can be barren even if we love God, but we do not have to accept that.  I praise God for reminding me of Hannah today because I feel like she is the right example for me of surrender....but, don't give up.  I can acknowledge that my current situation and efforts seem fruitless...I open my hands to surrender the situation, but that does not mean I accept it as over because God heard and remembered Hannah!  I believe God hears Heather too :)

This encouragement came from my reading:

"Hannah reminds us that although we have stumbled, and none of us are what we should be, God can arm us with His strength.  And if we are hungry, dissatisfied, and frustrated, He can provide fulfillment."

AMEN.