Giving Thanks With All Your HeartНамуна

Day One — Hannah

We find ourselves in a special season that singularly focuses on the act of giving thanks. People hang banners across their mantles proclaiming “thanksgiving” and others share on Facebook something they are grateful for each day in November.

But Thanksgiving is more than a day or a month. Thanksgiving is something we are called to do every day. In the good and the bad, in the ups and downs, our natural response must be gratitude.

Good thing we have some great examples in the Bible! Many men and women we consider pillars of the faith represented an attitude of thanksgiving so well. In fact, there are so many that it was hard to narrow down the list. But in this plan, we will take a look at five people who uniquely gave thanks with all their heart.

Today, we’ll look at Hannah, one of my favorite people in the Bible and someone I’ve learned a lot from. There honestly isn’t a lot of information about her, but her mark in the Bible is significant.

Hannah was one of two wives to a man named Elkanah; Hannah was barren but the other wife had many children. The other wife, Peninnah, would taunt her regularly and Hannah’s misery was indeed immense. One night, while in the temple, Hannah prayed fervently for a child, so much so that the priest Eli thought she was drunk.

Hannah prayed that if God would give her a child, she would give that child back to Him. Eli blessed her request and soon after she conceived a boy named Samuel, who would become the great prophet of Israel (and my favorite person in the Bible!).

What’s beautiful about this story is that she did indeed give her son back to the Lord—she gave Samuel to Eli. Hannah’s praise wasn’t just the reflection of an answer to prayer, but it preceded giving up her son. With all her heart she praised God in the aftermath of turning over her biggest prayer request.

Does your praise and thanksgiving overflow from the good you've had to let go, even when your sacrifice was difficult?