Hannah – A Passionate Hope

Are you looking for something to read this weekend?  I may have just the book for you!

I know I’ve shared with you before how reading fiction is out of the box for me.  I love reading non-fiction and I can probably count on one hand how many fiction books I have on my shelf right now.

As a teen someone gave me a book called “Two From Galilee” by Marjorie Holmes.  I was new to the Christian reading world. I fell in love with the story of Mary and Joseph after reading this book.  Of course, I always loved the story form God’s Word, but, this book helped me to see how life was for Mary and Joseph and how the world was operating at that time.  It put everything in  perspective for me.

When I discovered the author, Jill Eileen Smith, I thought that I may have found another Marjorie Holmes type book.  I was thrilled that she wrote specifically about the women of the Bible in her stories.  I’ve always had a fascination for the women of the Bible.  I love reading and learning how God used all types of women in so many different ways to make a difference in the world.

Once I began reading,  A Passionate Hope, I had a hard time putting it down.  If you are like me, you might struggle with things in the Bible days such as men who had multiple wives, slaves, animal sacrifices and the wickedness of men and women.  This is what I love about reading this type of book; it helps me understand the culture in those days and it also shows me the consequences of practices that God warned us about.

I don’t want to spoil the story line for you, so I’m not going to give you details of the book.  I’ll try to share enough to hopefully entice you to get the book and read it for yourself.  If you do, I would love to hear your take on it.

When I read, I try my best to focus in on the lesson, whether it be fiction or non-fiction.  I learn from everything I read.  So many lessons to learn from women who walked many years ago.  I guess we could even think of them as our mentors.

While reading, A Passionate Hope, one main thought kept screaming out at me.

“Stop thinking life will be better if only it were different than what it is now.”  Hannah wanted a child so desperately from the moment she married.  Her every moment was filled with wanting a child so badly that she would do anything to have a child of her own.  She probably missed out on a whole lot of life by being miserable, jealous, bitter and dissatisfied each day. That dissatisfaction spilled over to her husband.

How thankful I am for a forgiving God, who is right there waiting for me to get my act together.  Even when we don’t trust or our faith starts wavering; He is right there waiting to walk through whatever it is that has been set for us to walk through.  We are stronger and our faith is stronger.

As I was reading, I thought of my own life.  What is it that I’m always worried about, always fretting about and playing over and over in my mind?

Have you ever had this thought?

“Well, God must not love me like I thought, because He isn’t answering my prayer just like I want Him to.”

Doubting God is the first big thing that will put you on a path of dissatisfaction.  When we are disatstistfied, we become ungrateful and we can lose our joy.  Once we lose our joy, we become bitter.

Oh me, I don’t want to be a bitter old joyless woman!  Yikes!  I have a feeling you don’t either.

God has a plan for our life, just like He had a plan for Hannah.  Let’s don’t spend our days fretting about what isn’t perfect.  We have so many blessings around us.  It’s time to count those blessings instead of count what we wish were different and always being dissatisfied with where God wants us at this time.  We can’t afford to miss the grand plan….it could be something as grand as changing the world as we know it or change the direction of your life or someone in your family.

I could tell you some crazy stories of some places I’ve been in the past 58 years.  Even when I’ve gone through some things and didn’t understand why….I did my best to put all my trust and faith in my God.  He saw me through, even when I thought my heart was going to break right in two.  Instead, I chose to learn some serious lessons that only made me stronger.

We all have a choice.

We can either listen to the voice of the enemy and think we are worthless or we can listen to what God has to say about us and become a Mighty Woman of Faith!

Just like Hannah…..

It’s a Giveaway!!!!

For every comment, your name will go into a drawing for a copy of the book, A Passionate Hope-Hannah’s Story by Jill Eileen Smith.

If you haven’t subscribed to my blog and you do so today, your name will go in a second time and you will double your chances of winning a copy of, A Passionate Hope-Hannah’s Story.  You may already be a subscriber and if you are, let me know and I’ll put your name in the drawing as well.