Hannah,wife of Elkanah, a man who would ‘travel each year to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies at the Tabernacle’,lived with a broken heart.She was ‘reduced to tears and would not even eat’.She had a sincere desire yet it did not manifest immediately because the ‘Lord had given her no children’.She was ‘downhearted’,’in deep anguish’ and she cried ‘bitterly as she prayed to the Lord.

She was discouraged and wounded. The taunting and mockery from her husband’s other wife,Peninnah aggravated her injury. It wasn’t just enough that she had no son but someone in her life stood to remind her of her desperate situation because ‘the Lord had kept her from having children’ for years.

Through this dilemma,Hannah didn’t lose her sanity but found comfort in the God who is the Mender of broken hearts. Once,after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh,she got up and went to pray. She made her request known to God through prayer and supplication and consoled herself in the One who miraculously provided a lamb as sacrifice for Abraham in the stead of Isaac.She even vowed that if God looked ‘upon her sorrow and answered her prayer and gave her a son,she was going to give him back to Him. For a moment,even the high priest at the tabernacle,Eli thought she was drunk because her lips moved but there was no sound. Hannah poured her heart to the Lord and prayed ‘out of great anguish and sorrow’.In spite of her broken heart, she and her family continued to ‘worship the Lord’ once more and left for home. God in His infinite mercy remembered her plea and in ‘due time,she gave birth to a son’ and named him Samuel for she said ‘I asked the Lord for him’.

What is your heart cry and plea of anguish and sorrow to God today? What is it folks are making a mockery of and even say it’s late and over for you?Who is the Peninah making fun of you and stealing away your God-given peace of mind and heart? God is the mender of broken hearts. As deep and sore as the wound is,He is able to wash and clean it,heal it,dry it up and bring a closure to it like He did for Hannah.
You don’t have to look far.The Mender of broken hearts is right where you are.He’s waiting for you to expose you broken heart to him so He can restore it to its original form. There’s no wound he can’t heal. There’s no broken bones he can’t rattle and put back together again. He’s the Mender of broken hearts. He’s willing to give you joy and make you strong.You may be starving but he wants to make you full;raise and lift you up from the dust and garbage dump,make you rich and set you up among princes,increase your strength and place you in seats of honour for the earth is His.

Open up your heart and do like Hannah did :
*Invite Him into the situation.
*Don’t spend time and energy to respond to the critic.Year after year,the taunting went on but nowhere in the book of Samuel have we been told Hannah verbally responded to or physically fought Penninah.
*Pray God’s will and leave behind the sad countenance. Hannah prayed and she was no longer sad.
*Worship the Lord and be of good cheer even if He has not given you yet and is keeping you from having your desire.
*Thank Him for you may not have now,but that is no guarantee that you will never have. If you ask with the right motive and it is according to God’s will,He will not withhold any good thing from you.
*Praise God for the testimony.
He’s the Mender of broken hearts. ~~~

References: 1 Samuel 1 and 2

With love
Adja Amy…

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