Laurie Hopkins

When reading this I get a picture of a nest of baby birds with their mouths wide open, waiting for the mama and papa birds to fill their mouths with needed sustenance.
The birds know that the parents will provide. 
They, in faith and dependence, open their mouths wide, expecting the food to come. 
The Lord wants us to be more like this. 
He has brought us through and out of so many “Egypt’s” in our life to date. 
He asks us to be dependent on Him, to move in His strength and not our own. 
And yet we strive. 
We strive to make doors open and to make events occur on our own behalf. 
Today the Lord is reminding us that He has been faithful in the past and will continue to be faithful in the present and in the future. 
Striving is not necessary. 
He has a plan and a path laid out for us. 
We just need to open our mouths wide and he will fill it!

Hannah prayed out of the depths of her sorrow and out of the depths of her belief in a God who was merciful and faithful.
Eli, the priest, in watching her, mistook her intensity for drunkenness.
When you go in deep with the Lord, there will be those around you who will mistake the intensity that comes from the depths of your sorrow and faith, as something inappropriate and untoward.
Hannah offered up a defense of herself and Eli blessed her.
Sometimes once people understand where we’ve been and the journey you are wading through, they will turn and bless you.
But some pasts and some journeys are more difficult for others to understand.
In those times, you need to be OK with their questioning and understand that not everyone will understand your suffering, your prayers and/or your worship.
The only one that really matters will always hear you and will always understand you.

Hannah prayed out of the depths of her sorrow and out of the depths of her belief in a God who was merciful and faithful.
Eli, the priest, in watching her, mistook her intensity for drunkenness.
When you go in deep with the Lord, there will be those around you who will mistake the intensity that comes from the depths of your sorrow and faith, as something inappropriate and untoward.
Hannah offered up a defense of herself and Eli blessed her.
Sometimes once people understand where we’ve been and the journey you are wading through, they will turn and bless you.
But some pasts and some journeys are more difficult for others to understand.
In those times, you need to be OK with their questioning and understand that not everyone will understand your suffering, your prayers and/or your worship.
The only one that really matters will always hear you and will always understand you.