Clinging to a Dream...

Selections from 1 Samuel 1

With a grieved soul Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. Making a vow she pleased, "O Lord of Hosts, it You will take notice of Your handmaid's affliction and remember me and not forget me and give Your handmaid a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life"...Although her lips were moving, her voice couldn't be heard, so Eli concluded that she was drunk..."Oh no, my lord," Hannah replied..."I've been pouring my soul before the Lord."...

Eli responded, "Go in peace and may the God of Israel grant the petition that you've requested of Him."

Never dream without a prayer When we talk to others about the dreams in our lives, we often get blind stares of disinterested discouragement--roadblocks, rejection. But when we take our dreams to God, we begin an adventurous journey of faith. It may mean being broken along the way, but only to let our dream escape. It may mean going through seasons of searching, but only to determine how much of our dream is selfish--and to prove how badly we really want God's way. Prayer keeps holy dreams alive.

Hannah was tested. Her rival-as-wife, Peninnah, taunted her relentlessly. Hannah was further upset each time she went to the temple at Shiloh. There, in the midst of families going to offer their worship and their sacrifices, she felt all alone without a child.

When his two wives were at each other's throats, Elkanah would try to smooth things over by asking, "Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" What she needed and longed to hear from him was that she meant more to him than ten sons. God was using everyone in this woman's life to test her.

We are tested so our character will match our dreams. Christian character is a work in progress for us believers. When God gives you a dream, we may need a lot of work on and in our lives to enable us to handle the dream. Our sufficiency and strength will always be in God-and God alone. As with Hannah, it usually is a pretty good clue that the test or the dream is from God when things don't work out easily. The greater the dream, the greater the testing.

Do you have a dream that feels like it's dying in your life? Don't give up. Take it to God in prayer today. And trust Him to do more with your dream than you could ever do yourself.

Exert from "Women of Character" by Jim Henry