90. The Woman Who Waited
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Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the LORD....
There is no one holy like the LORD;... there is no Rock like our God.”
1 Samuel 2:1–2
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HEREwere no over-the-counter pregnancy tests in my day. You went
to the doctor’s office, took a blood test, and waited for a phone call.
We had already done a lot of waiting. We had been married for
nearly six years, longing all the while for a child. Once a month,
when I realized that good news was not coming, I spent the day cry-
ing. Then one happy day I realized that I did have reason to hope,
and I made a doctor’s appointment.
Needless to say, there was great rejoicing when the phone rang
and my doctor announced, “Claire, you and Spike are going to be
parents!” I threw the phone down and began to scream at the top of
my lungs, jumping and shouting with joy through the house!
Hannah’s story in 1 Samuel is very different from mine, but it is
also the story of a woman who had longed for a child. Hannah’s hus-