Dear Hannah,

I am reading your story. God recorded the story of your life to be passed down through the generations – I am benefiting greatly from it!

I am intrigued by the way you carry yourself in the midst of trial. The story gives us only a peek into your family life, but it can’t have been easy to live with Peninah. I have met many people, men and women, who are like Peninah. I have not met many people, men or women, who are like you. Most people give up on God when His answers seem too long in coming.

I am seeking to do what you did when you set Samuel before the Lord to minister to Him. I have three little “Samuels” of my own. I feel the same holy resolve that you felt when you made your vow to the Lord – they belong to Him. I want them to experience and encounter Him while they are yet babes.

I am confident that the Lord has great things planned for them all of their days, but this is hard!  Quite frankly, some days it seems like all I do is change diapers and wipe noses. I can get lost in those days, thinking that nothing I do is impacting for eternity. It all seems so small. It can be such a hassle to try to pray with my children. It is much easier not to. It is easier to turn on Sesame Street than to make some attempt at “setting” them before the Lord, but your story is helping me.

So I thank you, Hannah. I thank you for your faithfulness before Him. I thank you for your legacy. I thank you that you lived a life that God remembered. Your story is proof that mothers can be intercessors who change history (your son was one of the greatest prophets in all of Israel). Your story gives me faith and courage to press on through the mundane with three preschoolers in tow. If you can ‘set’ Samuel, surely I can ‘set’ my children too.

Sincerely,

Racquel