Trusting God with Children, Timing & Transitions

Hannah part 3

Bible, Women & Bathrobes Episode 16

Summary 

In this conversation, Tamara, Amy & Wendi shared their personal experiences and insights on trusting God's timing and promises despite challenges related to infertility and child loss. They emphasized the importance of faith and trust in God's abundance and timing, even when His blessings may not align with our expectations or timetables. They also shared their experiences on how to trust in God's care and provision when letting go of loved ones, particularly children, as they transition to new phases of life. They encouraged listeners to have hope in the promise of turning their children over to God and trusting in His goodness as well as cherishing the precious moments whenever we have them.

Main Takeaways

• From Amy, “What was the greatest desire of her heart? And I love the very end of verse 21 of chapter two, when it says, ‘The child Samuel grew before the Lord.” Because I have five kids. And all I want for them to do is hear the voice of the Lord and try their very best to do his well. That's all I want for them.”
• From Wendi, “We live in a world where keeping the faith is hard. . . Our kids don't always want to follow that pathway that a mom's heart may follow. But I think as Hannah kept her faith, she knew that Samuel would be taken care of, you know, and we talked about we didn't know what his experience was, but somehow he grew up to be a good righteous man. Because I think she gave him to the Lord. And sometimes I think as moms we have to do the same . . that by sending our children to the Lord, whatever that looks like, even if they may or may not choose that path of faith, right in their own lives, that we will receive them beyond and down through the ages of eternity.”
• From Tamara, “Cherish the small moments because you don't know how long you have. So, give the rest to God. He's a good God.”

Key Words

#hannah #Lord #Biblewomen #god #children #love #faith #samuel #blessed #promise #infertility #trust

Today’s Podcast Hosts & Guests

Tamara K. Anderson

Tamara, founder of Women Warriors of Light, is a dynamic speaker, award winning author, and a podcaster. She is driven by her Christian faith to inspire faith in Jesus Christ. Alongside her husband, Justin, she navigates the joys and challenges of parenting four children with autism, ADHD, and mental health hurdles. You can find out more about Tamara on her website: https://www.tamarakanderson.com/

Wendi Christensen, LCSW
Wendi is the co-founder of Women Warriors of Light. In addition to being a wife and mother, she is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 28 years of experience. Wendi is an intuitive counselor helping individuals release pain, renew hope, and restore light through forgiveness. You can find out more about Wendi on her website: https://wendichristensencounseling.com/

Amy Johnson

Amy is a member of our Women Warriors of Light Advisory Board. She is a leader of women, a homemaker, and a licensed cosmetologist. Amy enjoys nurturing women through betrayal trauma to becoming a beacon of support and inspiration.

Transcript 

Tamara Anderson  0:01 

Have you ever had something that you loved, that you had to give up? That is a very, very hard thing to do. And we're going to talk about that part of Hannah's story today from the Old Testament, so stay tuned.

Tamara Anderson  0:18 

Welcome to Bible, Women and Bathrobes, the podcast where faith meets comfort. Join us Tuesday and Thursday morning. As the gals from Women Warriors of Light and their guests, Don bathrobes and dive into the inspiring stories of women in the Bible, and the teachings of Jesus Christ. From Esther's bravery to the Sermon on the Mount. We explore it all with warmth, laughter, sisterhood, and maybe even a few sleepy eyed moments. tune in live or at your leisure as we learn lessons from scripture which empower women today.

Tamara Anderson  1:00 

Welcome to Bible, Women and Bathrobes. I'm your host Tamara K Anderson. And joining me today is my co founder when Wendi Christiensen, and she's co founder with Women Warriors of Light. Wendi, thanks for being here.

Wendi Christensen  1:15 

Thanks for having me on.

Tamara Anderson  1:16 

And I also have Amy Johnson on with us today. Welcome back, Amy. It's good to have you.

Amy Johnson  1:22 

Good morning. It's good to be here.

Tamara Anderson  1:24 

And today, we are continuing the story of Hannah. And let me kind of bring you up to speed of where we are in the story of Hannah. So Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah. And she could not have children. But she was loved by Elkanah. And Peninnah had children and was very jealous and very mean spirited, and picked on Hannah because she couldn't have children.

Tamara Anderson  1:52 

And we talked about that in our first episode on Hannah. And then we talked about how Hannah poured out her soul to God. And that the priest Eli saw her. And after discussion, they he told her that, "go in peace, the God of Israel grant thee thy petition." And so she went away joyfully. And that's kind of the point of the story we're at. We're like, well, now what happens?

Tamara Anderson  2:23 

So we're going to pick this up in First Samuel chapter one, verse 19. And so Hannah and her family had to go every year. They're very faithful and worshiping, and come every year to give sacrifice to the Lord. So they went back home. And it says at the end of verse 19, "Elkanah, knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her." And that she in verse 20, it says, "And she bear a son and called his name Samuel, Samuel saying, because I have asked him of the Lord." And so we see this final, oh my goodness, joyful fulfillment, how she had waited years and years and years to be able to have a child and she finally got the desire of her heart. And, Wendi, I know you struggled with infertility, how was it when you finally had your first baby? You had a girl, right?

Wendi Christensen  3:20 

I did. I did. It was I waited seven years to have her and when I was able to hold her, it was such a beautiful, wonderful blessing. You just can't describe the joy when you have put forth so much effort and so much work and mental toil, like, like Hannah did, right? described that earlier. And then finally, being able to hold that little girl, you feel like she's just such a precious gift from God.

Wendi Christensen  3:50 

And I love that the scripture says that God remembered Hannah. And, and that's how I felt when I felt when I got to hold my baby for the first time that he was blessing me. Not that he didn't remember me. But I think what what they meant by that is, it was a fulfillment of that promise. And that's exactly how I felt like the Lord had remembered me by blessing me with this beautiful baby.

Tamara Anderson  4:20 

Amy any thoughts there?

Amy Johnson  4:22 

I just I just thought it was kind of neat that we don't know the actual timeline. But Eli says you're gonna you're gonna have your wish, right? Your your desire your petition. And it seems like it was pretty quick. There's been times in my life where I've had someone I trusted or even felt the confirming of the Lord that it's going to be okay, you're going to have what you're asking for and it still took--years more. Right. So I think that's kind of an interesting thing that that sometimes we do We pray and pray and pray and we feel the confirming it's gonna be good. And then it's still years and years later.

Amy Johnson  5:11 

And I think we, I think Hannah is an excellent, I don't know, she's just such a beautiful symbol and example of trusting in God, trusting in the Lord, that I, I'll just keep being uh, just keep being faithful until, until you see me, so to speak. Because sometimes when we don't get what we want, we feel unseen. And that's a hard feeling to have. But she just says, I'm just gonna, I'm upset, I'm bitter, but I'm gonna keep being faithful. Until I, just trusting that the Lord sees me. And that he will see.

Tamara Anderson  5:55 

Yeah. Love that. And then we pick it up again in verse 21, how Eli and his family, they they went up every year to sacrifice and Hannah said, I'm going to stay here with the baby until he is weaned, and then I will bring him to the house of the Lord, you know, bring him to the Lord. Because she had promised she had vowed a vow to God that if, if he gave her a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord and give him to him. And so yeah, this is what it says in verse 22. "I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him that he may appear before the Lord and there abide forever."

Tamara Anderson  6:48 

And oh, my goodness, you guys, I can't even imagine how hard that would have been for her to have prayed and prayed and prayed for a child. And then knowing that you're going to have to give him up now that you got him. That would be so hard. I feel it's almost like the story of Abraham and God asking Him to sacrifice his son Isaac, you know, it's kind of like that. Because she didn't live right by there, you know, they had to go and visit Shiloh every time they did sacrifices. And so it wasn't like she was going to be able to be there. And mother him for the rest of his life. She had him while he was a little baby. And then she gave him to God. Any thoughts on that process? Amy, why don't we start with you?

Amy Johnson  7:38 

I actually have thought about this a lot. Before I even had children when I was engaged, I remember thinking I wanted 12. Bless me. But I also remember the feeling of, I want 12 So that I can raise them up unto the Lord. And I think in many ways, there's not a lot of ways that we can really relate to Hannah, as far as giving our child away. But for me, that moment in time, made it so that I actually don't hover over my children. Because God, they're God's first.

Amy Johnson  8:25 

And so that that moment in time, where I decided that I was going to raise children up to God. And I got better at it as they became teenagers, and they started having really their own will. But you, you have to, if they if you're really, truly going to give your children to God, you have to not, you have to trust him enough that you're not trying to live their life for them. And I think that's probably the closest we can really come to that. I mean, save obviously, people who give up their children to go on missions for their churches, or right now I've got a son who's going to be moving to Australia and starting his life down there.

Tamara Anderson  9:18 

Yeah, that would be hard.

Amy Johnson  9:20 

It's as far as we can come. So. But I think that the really important thing is to realize that they are God's first and trust him enough that he he's got them and that you're really not doing much as a parent anyways, unless you're following God and then you're just hopefully not getting in his way.

Tamara Anderson  9:46 

I love that. Wendi.

Wendi Christensen  9:49 

You know, I was thinking and trying to relate to Hannah because we want to relate the scriptures to our own lives and having waited for my daughter for so long and nursing her. I know not everybody does. But I loved nursing. And I felt such a strong bond. I mean, those moments to me were so precious. And I can only think that, you know, Hannah knows that she's just going to nurse this baby. And then when he's weaned, it's time for her to go deliver him, right.

Wendi Christensen  10:19 

And I can only picture in my mind, just her cleaning to those precious moments of nursing him, and just loving Samuel and just, you know, wanting to spend every precious moment and I'm really, I'm, I'm in awe of Hannah's faith, because she didn't want to go. Her husband, you know wanted to, he was going, every year they would go to Shiloh like you were saying, and she didn't want to go until he was weaned. And I think it's because that vow she made, she didn't, she knew she couldn't fulfill it until he was weaned. And she actually delivered the child. Right. And, and her fate, as she's going through and imagining, you know, I know that there.

Wendi Christensen  10:59 

I've never placed a baby for adoption, but I have worked with many women who have, and it's it's heart wrenching to place a child for adoption, that's kind of what she's doing in a way, you know, because she only gets to see him like once a year after this. And so it's kind of similar to, to being able to place this child for adoption, and just that heart wrenching. She knows she's going to be giving him over to the Lord soon, and how much she must have just cherished every single moment. But so much faith that she wanted to fulfill her vow to the Lord, that she was going to turn him over.

Wendi Christensen  11:34 

And I found if you're okay with me reading it a quote. There was a gentleman he's he was in the church, his name was Matthew Cowley. And he was giving a talk on Hannah. And he said a quote, and I think this is something that must have helped Hannah, through this quote, because even though Hannah promised or sent to the Lord, it talks about, she's lending him right, she lent him to the Lord.

Wendi Christensen  12:03 

And Matthew Cowley said, how well the mothers know that life is eternal, how well she knew, [speaking of Hannah,] that in lending this child to the Lord for this life, that beyond and down through the ages of eternity, he would be her child, and she would be his mother." And Eli, blessed Elkanah. He's saying, The Lord give the seed of this woman for the loan, which is lent to the Lord. That's in First Samuel 2: 20. And I think, Hannah must have clung to the fact that he is mine, but I'm lending him to the Lord. And the Lord really has lent him to her, right, but, but in I think in her getting through it, she must have leaned upon that, that promise that he will be mine. And that I will get to see him and be with him. But how difficult that must have been.

Wendi Christensen  12:57 

And I'm sure she just loved every year, she got to go and just cling and visit to with him, and be with him. And just remember and hold on to that vow that she had with the Lord with faith, she must have had to just hold on to that through all those years, having having bonded with him and loved him through that waiting period in time.

Tamara Anderson  13:17 

Oh, I love that. I love I've loved what you mentioned about cherish the moments because honestly, it's true with any person that you interact with. You never know how long any of us are going to be on earth. You know, we don't know when God's going to call us home. And so I love that theme of cherish the time you have. Because it may be long, it may be short, we don't know.

Tamara Anderson  13:45 

And so bless Hannah, we we follow this through and we we see that finally she weaned Samuel and she went up with her husband and family to Shiloh and took sacrifice. And then she comes to Eli, that same priest who promised her that she would have the desire of her heart and this is what she says in verse 26. And she said, "Oh my Lord, as thy soul liveth My Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here praying unto the Lord. For this child, I prayed. And the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord and he worshiped the Lord there."

Tamara Anderson  14:37 

And there you go. She fulfilled her vow. I mean, that is courageous. Hard. Oh, so, so hard. But, but I think we all reach that point with parents where you have to trust that God has them, you know, at some point you're not going to be able to To be with them at all times. I know every time my kids leave home to go to college, I kind of have that moment like, do they know enough? Did I teach them enough? Before I send them off into the big bad world? To? Do they know what they need to know? And here, you know, this is tricky, because obviously, she's leaving him with a priest and the priest's sons aren't the best examples. So, you know, she's really trusting God that he's going to take care of Samuel. And and, anyway, any thoughts on that? Wendi?

Wendi Christensen  15:37 

No, just like we were saying, I'm sure she had to just cling to that fact that he's mine as I'm turning him over. And as you were saying, you know, with your kids, Tamara sending them off to college, in my mind, I'm thinking as a mother of infertility, it's almost like I cling to every single teeny tiny thing like I just like I was saying earlier, you cherish every single moment, right? When they go to school, I just cherish that when they have they go to they went to kindergarten, I think we send our kids off a lot. And are they going to be okay, especially your first one, you know, are they going to be okay, and then you have the next milestone, you send them to elementary, and then you send them to junior high, and then you send them to high school yesterday, I was in the halls of the high school. And I just looked at my daughter, and I said, I can't believe you deal with this every day. Bless your heart. Like, it is not easy.

Wendi Christensen  16:29 

And just in my mind, I was thinking the same thing. Have I prepared her enough? Does she have everything the same daughter that took me you know, years to have? Does she have everything she needs as you send them off on to college or, you know, or other places like Amy were saying, sending your son to Australia or, you know, if they serve a mission or something like that you're there's these milestones where you say goodbye, and you wonder, are they going to be okay? And are they going to be taken care of, and to just put your tender mama heart in the hands of the Lord and say, Okay, I'm just trusting that you're going to watch them and you're going to take care of them.

Wendi Christensen  17:07 

And I know, for me, I pray for angels, just to be with my kids every single day, because I can't be with them all the time. But I know that God can, and how Hannah must have just that. Okay, he's in God's hands. Now. I'm just entrusting him over into God's hands. Just again, that faith that it takes to do that, because I know for me, I have to exercise that faith every day, that these these beautiful kids, I'm just trusting them to the Lord that they're going to be okay and have the experiences and make it through the challenges and the trials that they need to and just trusting that he will take care of them that they are truly in his hands.

Tamara Anderson  17:46 

Amy,

Amy Johnson  17:47 

I have a couple of instances, I have a sister who lost her first child, he didn't live. And and I thought about Hannah, and she had to have lived in a time when they were kind of surrounded by that. There was a lot of children dying and even mother's dying in childbirth and different things. And and I probably if I were to venture a guess I would guess my sister would have loved to have the opportunity to see her son once a year. Right.

Amy Johnson  18:18 

So Hannah, I don't know what perspective Hannah was coming from on that. Was she just grateful to have a son she could see once a year was she just so grateful to be have a son and not be shamed anymore because having a son and passing on the family line was I mean. There's so much gratitude and so much walking with the Lord would obviously happened during the infertility, that she literally, I just love that. She says, "I am the woman that stood by thee here." And I think a lot about affirmations  Because affirmations have pulled me out of some pretty dark spots in my life From the time I was about 21.

Amy Johnson  19:03 

But this "I am" the other day I heard somebody say when you say "I am" and then the positive things about you. You're literally using the name of Christ. He is the great I AM. And so I just I think that's a beautiful prayer. She says "I am the woman that stood by thee." And that's an affirmation for me. I say that all the time. I am the girl who's here standing with thee. And so her gratitude is almost overwhelming to me.

Amy Johnson  19:41 

That was the first thought the second thought is I have a friend who she's passed on now. She was my best friend after right after high school in a little bit in high school. And she ended up having to she, her husband left her and so she ended up having to send her two babies to him once a week. Every weekend or every other weekend. And he was not living, even close to the kind of godlike life that she was trying to live. And she just, I remember her just crying on the phone and saying, I sent them and I feel like I'm just sending them into the den of iniquity, so to speak.

Amy Johnson  20:18 

And she said, but I, and she was in a wheelchair, so she couldn't even get down on knees. But she said, I just lay in bed some nights when they're gone. And I just pray, "you'll watch over him, right? You've got them, right? It's going to be okay. Right. And nothing's unrecoverable. Right. And so I really think that that's kind of, you know, Hannah had to have gone back and forth between gratitude of getting to see a son once a year having the name passed on. And this, he's living with Eli. Who's nurturing him? Who's setting a positive example for him? What's going on over there?

Tamara Anderson  20:58 

Yeah. Oh, I love your insights here. Ladies, this is fantastic. And we see those parallels in our day. You know, it's interesting, because we do we have to trust God, in so many instances with children. And I've even talked to women who have lost a baby to SIDS, you know, or stillbirth, and trust that, you know, everything is going to work out there. That's hard, too. So I think a lot of faith is required of women, when we trust God with our babies at any stage of life, right? They're still our children, and we still love them and, and trust that God in His mercy will help us be able to bring them home. Eventually.

Tamara Anderson  21:54 

I thought we would wrap this up before we get into Hannah's Psalm, which we'll cover start covering next week. But in and when do you read a little bit of this and in First Samuel chapter two, that "Eli blessed Elkenah and Hannah, that the Lord gave the seed of this woman for the loan, which thou hast Lent unto the Lord." And then we see the beautiful conclusion of her story in verse 21, "and the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bear three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord."

Tamara Anderson  22:35 

So, God bless her for fulfilling her vow, she did what she had to do, it was super hard. And he blessed her with five more kids. You know, that's, that's pretty amazing to someone who is barren. And I'm just I'm amazed at how God fulfills His promises, maybe not in our timetable, but in his, in his wisdom, and all of that. And he thoughts on those verses. Amy?

Amy Johnson  23:10 

I have a sister, another sister, I have a lot of sisters, I have another sister who suffered with having children for a while. She had her first one right away, but then it took her a minute to have another one. And this, this being able to bear children after really, truly is miraculous. My sister ended up having seven children total, after she suffered with infertility for I think six years after her first.

Amy Johnson  23:40 

And so you, you look at this, and and God is such a good God. He's such a God of abundance and love and goodness, that whatever is in our best interest, he will, he will send blessings that are different than the ones we want. Sometimes I think about There's a song I know that talks about loving, he'll love you through the middle, right? He'll love you through the middle, but then just hang on through the middle and then but then he's so abundant in the end. And that's I love that he's so abundant in the end and nobody knows what that abundance is going to look like. And he's even abundant in the middle I think.

Amy Johnson  24:31 

Because how many of us have walked around and then can look back and go Oh, he did really have me otherwise, I wouldn't be even here because he's, he's really abundant. But I love that that she continued on to have the three sons in the two daughters and, and yet, I keep hearing in my head. I am the woman that stood by thee. And then he is abundant with her and he says, I know and you got closer and Closer and closer to me and now you see what I can do. Look what I've done.

Tamara Anderson  25:06 

Beautiful! Wendi?

Wendi Christensen  25:08 

Yeah, just it's a beautiful, beautiful promise I remember, many times, I can picture myself in the rocking chair, holding my, my little girl and nursing her. And wondering, Will I ever have any more, I don't know if I'll have any more. So I just have to remember, like trying to force myself you just have to cherish every single moment with this little girl, every little teeny tiny milestone, because you may not have anymore, this may be it. And, and I just remember that over and over almost like a guilt, I would put on myself, like, you have to just love and enjoy every single second of having this little girl.

Wendi Christensen  25:47 

And as I think and read as I read Hannah's story and how she, she just fulfilled her promise, I just can only imagine her thinking the same thing. I don't know if I'm going to have more children. But I'm going to fulfill my promise with the Lord that just makes me admire her so much more that she could call on the Lord so strongly and then overcome the bitterness of soul. Like she just left her sadness there, and went home and got pregnant. And had this beautiful baby. I see in her, her face that determination to keep her commitment to the Lord. And as she did, the Lord blessed her with more, and how, how beautiful and how wonderful that was, I'm sure for her to know that she got to have more children that she could actually see grow up, not just visit them once a year, but she she gets to see them grow up.

Wendi Christensen  26:44 

And then also know that Samuel will still be hers that she's lent him to the Lord, but he'll still be hers for eternity. That that just, I don't know, to me, that's just so much faith and strength that that helps me to hold on to the moments that I go through. As a mom and a woman, I just hold on to the Lord with determination like she did that, I will see the fruits of that. I just keep grasping and holding on to him that that he will help me overcome my bitterness of soul or my it's never gonna happen or it did happen to so and so you know, it'll help me to stay think to have more faith in him just by her sweet example of not knowing but yet being blessed.

Tamara Anderson  27:29 

I love that. Wow. This is this has been so wonderful to be able to talk to you ladies about Hannah and her amazing faith and her courage. Any final thoughts before we wrap up? Final takeaways, Amy, then Wendi.

Amy Johnson  27:51 

I think my I think for me, the thing that just keeps replaying in my mind is what was the greatest desire of her heart? And I love the very end of verse 21 of chapter two, when it says the child Samuel grew before the Lord. Because I have five kids. And all I want for them to do is hear the voice of the Lord and try their very best to do his well. That's all I want for them.

Amy Johnson  28:21 

And so and there have been times where I've felt like I've said to the Lord, I will let go of this thing. That's hard for me to let go of, if you will just help me raise these kids up to the if you will really just help them be faithful. And or my husband, if you I will let go of this thing of my needing to have all of my concerns tucked out until my husband is literally glazed over. If you will just intervene, just intervene and help them. My children, my husband, me grow up before the Lord. I will give up anything for that, because I believe in eternity that much. I will give up anything.

Tamara Anderson  29:17 

Wow, that is powerful. Wendi.

Wendi Christensen  29:20 

Yeah, as Amy was just talking, I thought about, you know, all the moms that I talked to that, you know, we live in a world where keeping the faith is hard. Whatever that faith is, and and our kids don't always want to follow that pathway that a mom's heart may follow. But I think as Hannah kept her faith, she knew that Samuel would be taken care of, you know, and we talked about we didn't know what his experience was, but somehow he grew up to be a good righteous man. Because I think she gave him to the Lord. And sometimes I think as moms we have to do the same thing like Amy was talking about that by sending our children to the Lord, whether whatever that looks like even if they may or may not choose that path of faith, right in their own lives, that we will receive them beyond and down through the ages of eternity.

Wendi Christensen  30:13 

Because our our mother heart, our desires are strong we, we have put our faith in God that, that he will take care of them wherever they are in their journey, and that they will come back. And that we will have them down through the ages of eternity because we have turned them over to God. And that takes a lot of faith for us in this lifetime, because, you know, Hannah lived in some challenging times. We live in some challenging times. And I think we can really relate to we don't know what it's going to turn out but we can have hope in the promise of turning them over to God.

Tamara Anderson  30:50 

Yeah, but, and my biggest takeaway, honestly, was the cherish the small moments. So cherish the small moments because you don't know how long you have. So, give the rest to God. He's a good God. Awesome. Well, ladies, thanks for joining me this morning. On this episode of Bible, Women and Bathrobes and have a blessed day.

Tamara Anderson  31:15 

Thanks for tuning in to Bible, Women and Bathrobes hosted by Women Warriors of Light. We've loved exploring the stories of remarkable women are the teachings of the Savior today with you. If today's episode brought someone special to mind, be sure to spread the word. And don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a moment of inspiration and sisterhood. Just a friendly reminder, all opinions we share are entirely personal as we are trying to decipher and apply Bible teachings just like you are. Until next time, stay faithful. And may Your journey be blessed and illuminated by God's love.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai