How to Wait Well: Faith, Prayer, and Worship in Silent Seasons

Waiting is one of the hardest parts of the Christian life—especially when heaven feels silent and prayers seem unanswered.

In this episode of The Bible Made Real, Kathy Abraham walks through the biblical story of Hannah to show us how God forms faith, obedience, and worship in seasons of waiting. Through Hannah’s journey, we see how pain can turn into prayer, bitterness into surrender, and waiting into worship.

This episode explores the emotional and spiritual tension of delayed answers, reminding us that waiting is not punishment—and silence does not mean God is absent. You’ll learn how honest prayer, faithful presence, and worship before breakthrough can transform both your heart and your future.

Kathy also shares practical steps for waiting well, including keeping open hands before God, pouring out your heart in prayer, and staying rooted in community even when waiting feels lonely.

Scripture referenced: 1 Samuel 1

If you’re in a season of waiting, this episode will encourage you to stay close to God, trust His timing, and believe that what you surrender in faith can become a legacy of blessing.

Welcome to The Bible Made Real.

Be sure to follow or subscribe so you don’t miss upcoming episodes.

You can connect with Kathy on Instagram @kathyabidinglight and learn more at kathyabraham.com.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Bible Made Real podcast where scripture transforms your everyday life. I'm your host, Kathy Abraham, and I'm here to help you fall in love with scripture like never before. Not in a confusing or overwhelming way, but in a simple, accessible, everyday life kind of way. If you've ever felt intimidated by the Bible, unsure where to start or wondered how God's word actually connects to your everyday life and your struggles, this podcast is for you.

Each week, we break down scripture in a way that brings clarity, depth, and transformation. We talk about anxiety, purpose, identity, spiritual habits, relationships, and what it means to walk closely with Jesus in your everyday life. Expect biblical truth, real life wisdom, and practical steps that you can use right away. If you're ready to grow spiritually, think biblically, and let the Word of God shape every part of your life. Hit follow and join me for this journey.

Welcome to the Bible Made Real.

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Welcome back to The Bible Made Real, where scripture transforms your everyday life. Today we're talking about something every woman knows far too well, the silent seasons of waiting. That season where you're praying but heaven feels quiet. You're showing up but nothing seems to change. You're believing but the timeline keeps stretching. You're exhausted from crying the same tears over the same prayer. You feel overlooked, forgotten, or even punished. And the waiting makes you wonder.

if you're doing something wrong. Waiting tests your faith. It tests your identity. It tests your trust in God's goodness. And the truth is, it's easy to worship when life is moving, when doors are opening and prayers are being answered, but it's hard to worship when all you hear is silence. But scripture gives us a woman who teaches us to do exactly that. What to do in the seasons of waiting.

In this episode, we look at a girl named Hannah whose story is a master class in worshiping God while you wait. Hannah was a woman living in the time when a woman's worth was measured by her ability to have children. The culture and society that Hannah had lived in only valued a woman if she had children. Her pain wasn't just in her infertility and her inability to conceive. It was a public shame. It affected her marriage, her social standing, her identity, and the way others viewed her relationship with God.

See, if you were barren in ancient Israel, people believed that God withheld his favor from you and that something was wrong with you spiritually and that your life had failed its purpose. It's the same pain that Sarah carried for 25 years before she had Isaac and the same ache Elizabeth carried until her old age until Gabriel told her that your prayer is heard. Women wore their barrenness like a label and people assumed that God withheld his favor from you. It felt like a failure stamped across your life.

So Hannah isn't just waiting for a baby. She is wrestling with her identity, with shame, comparison, rejection, disappointment, humiliation, and deep spiritual confusion. In other words, she is every woman who's ever felt forgotten by God. And yet Hannah's story doesn't end in pain. It becomes a story of prayer, surrender, and worship, and breakthrough. In Hannah's story, we see that waiting begins with pain, but it doesn't end there.

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Let's open up our Bibles and read 1 Samuel chapter 1 verses 6 through 7.

And her rival also provoked her severely to make her miserable because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord that she provoked her. Therefore, she wept and did not eat. Hannah's waiting was not pretty. It was miserable. It was humiliating. It was that emotional, ugly breakdown kind of waiting. What does scripture say? It says year by year, not a few weeks.

Not a rough season, but year after year she was provoked and she felt pain. Just like Sarah when she waited 25 years, or Elizabeth waiting a lifetime, or Joseph waiting in a dark prison cell, the dreams with the dreams that God gave him. Like David waited anointed but not yet appointed until 15 years. We learn from these stories that delayed answers doesn't mean that God is punishing you, but that waiting is God's way of working in your life.

Like we see in Hannah's life, oftentimes waiting is the womb where God was really growing something in you. He's about to birth and bring something forth. The second thing we learn about Hannah's life is to show up even when it hurts. First Samuel 1, 7 says that when she went to the house of the Lord, she was provoked. This means year after year, every time she went to the house of Lord, this is church, this is God, this is God's place. It reminded her of everything she didn't have. It's supposed to be the place of blessings, but it was also a place of

pain for her, but she showed up anyways. Sometimes we have places that are painful for us. It could be our homes, our workplaces, even our church. These places can carry pain, but Hannah kept showing up despite the pain and rejection that she felt. So this reminds me even of the woman that was bleeding. She came into the public space despite her shame, the place where she was most mocked, most ridiculed, but she came up and showed up in that place of pain because she believed that

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place of pain was going to be where her healing start. So I believe that for us, we need to show up no matter what. And this is what Hannah is teaching us, that we have to keep walking into the presence of God to receive the breakthrough that's going to come from the hands of God. Because if you keep running away from him, he's not going to be able to help you. But you have to show up faithfully, even if there's tears in your eyes, just like Hannah. The third thing we learned about Hannah is that she poured out her heart in prayer honestly before God.

In 1 Samuel chapter 1 verses 10 through 11 it says, She is praying honestly, raw, not politely. She is battling with God in her prayers. She prayed more than she ate. She prayed more than anything else. Her soul knew how to cry and

and petitioned before the Lord. In fact, she prayed so much that at the end it says that she no longer even has words, right? Have you ever felt that way? So exhausted, so spent, so worn out that even all the prayers you've prayed, you literally have no voice left in you. And somehow you still lift your soul in silent prayer. We see in verse 16 when she's talking to Eli, Eli thinks she's drunk and she's saying, no, no, no, it's out of the abundance and grief and sorrow.

that I've spoken until now. She prayed until she had no more words left, only silent tears. So this is what I want to tell you, that when your words run out, God still hears your heart. It's the same kind of prayer that David prayed in the Psalms, right? And the same kind of raw honesty we see Joe praying when he said, though he slay me, yet I will trust in him. God is not moved by polished prayers or perfect prayers. He's moved by poured out prayers. Have confidence that your silent prayers

still shake heaven. The fourth thing we learned about Hannah is that she refused to be bitter while she waited. First Samuel 1 10 says, and she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Hannah had every reason to be bitter, right? Her rival mocked her. She wasn't seeing answers to her prayers yet. Her husband didn't even understand her. Bitterness is one of those greatest threats in our waiting season. It will always poison your worship and contaminate your joy.

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and it will slowly convince you that God has turned against you. Of course, when he hasn't. But here is the part we often miss. Hannah didn't deny her bitterness, but, she didn't pretend that she was fine. What she did was she poured it out onto God, not onto people. See, that's the difference. She didn't lash out at her husband. She didn't lash out at Penena for mocking her. She didn't unload all this and she didn't shut down or isolate. But what she did is she took her bitterness,

to the one who could heal her, and she put it in the presence of God. All her bitterness and anguish came out in the times of prayer. We see the same posture in Joseph. He had every reason to be resentful. He was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, forgotten in prison, and yet the scripture still says, the Lord was with Joseph. Why? Because Joseph never let bitterness blind him to God's presence and purpose for his life. Because bitterness shuts your eyes to God's presence in your pain.

but surrendering the way Hannah did brings about healing because when we hold something in, we cannot heal. But anything you hand over to God can and will be healed. The fifth thing we learn about Hannah is that she didn't let misunderstanding push her away from God. First Samuel 1, 20, 12 to 14, we see this discourse between her and Eli. And this is what it says. It says, it happened as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli watched her mouth.

Now Hannah spoke in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, how long will you be drunk? Put away your wine from you. She was not drunk. She wasn't drinking. He was accusing her of being an alcoholic. And she wasn't bitter. She didn't get upset with him. He misunderstood her, but she corrected him, right? And this happens to us often. I mean, imagine this. You're already heartbroken, right? You're already pri...

praying silently, you're exhausted, you're misunderstood by your family and your community, and now the priest of God who's actually supposed to comfort you and help you is misjudging you? He totally accused Hannah of being an alcoholic, but Hannah stays humble, right? She explains herself respectfully. And if we read her explanation, this is what she says. She says,

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Do not consider your main servant a wicked woman only out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I've spoken until now. And do know what happens? Eli blesses her. She faithfully receives the blessing that he speaks over her life. She didn't let this flawed person in his weakness make her walk away from a perfect God. How many times do people misunderstand you? And more importantly, how many times do you really let other people's misunderstandings of you or opinions of you dictate in the direction of your life?

I know this has always been a struggle for mine, but I've learned that if I want to see the purpose in my waiting and if I want to see the other side of what God has planned for me, I cannot let other people's opinions, interpretations, or misunderstandings affect me in any way. If you want to see the purpose in your waiting and get to the other side of what God has planned for you, you cannot let people's opinions, interpretations, and misunderstanding affect you in any way, and you can't take it personal.

The sixth thing we learn about Hannah's story is that Hannah received the promise before she saw it. For Samuel chapter 1 verses 17 to 18, Eli tells her, in peace and God of Israel grant you your petition which you have asked of him. And she says, let your maid servant find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way. She ate and her face was no longer sad. What happened here? Absolutely nothing. Nothing changed in the physical realm. She was not pregnant.

There was no sign of her having a baby or having a baby. But yet she completely changed her entire demeanor. Something completely shifted in her when she heard this. It was her faith. It was so stirred up and set on fire from the confirmation she received from the priest that she took this as gold and she believed that it was done. Everything changed. Her face changed. Her appetite returned and she wouldn't eat. Her spirit was lifted up again. She was a different person now because the faith was stirred up and she responded to that.

See, faith shifts your posture before it even changes or touches your circumstances. The seventh thing we learn is that when God answers you, you have to obey, even when it costs you something. We see in verses 24 to 28, And now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bulls, one effa of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young, and they slaughtered a bull and brought the child to Eli. And she said, O my Lord, as your soul lives, my Lord, I am the woman who stood by you here.

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See, Hannah made her vow in the middle of her desperation, but she kept it in the middle of her blessing. This is where most people falter because people who make promises in pain, that's easy to do, but you forget them once the comfort comes back.

But Hannah didn't do that. She didn't cling to her miracle baby. She carried it with the open hands that she vowed to do from the beginning. She already settled in her heart that this was something she was going to do when the baby was here. She even tells her husband in verse 22, she says, I'm not taking him to Shiloh right now. I'm going to nurse him and nurture him. And when it's time is right and when he's weaned off, I will take him to the house of the Lord and he will remain there.

There was no hesitation at all. There was no second guessing. There was no backing out because the cost felt too high. Her heart was steady and she vowed to keep her word to God. This level of surrender reminds me of Abraham with Isaac. Abraham walked up to the mountain with his son that he waited decades for, fully prepared to obey God because he trusted the character of the one who gave him this promise. Hannah is doing the same thing here. She's releasing the child that she waited for for years.

because she trusts that the God who opened her womb would continue to bless her and care for her. And here is the secret sauce. These heroes of faith discovered and experienced. What you surrender to God never actually disappears. It actually multiplies into legacy. Abraham's obedience became the foundation of Israel. Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, Jacob had the 12 tribes of Israel, and ultimately Christ was born. Hannah's obedience resulted in Samuel, who was a great prophet, a reformer, a

priest in a nation shaper, a man whose words scripture says that God did not fall to the ground. And that's why multiplication followed her surrender. The eighth thing we learn about Hannah's story is that God turns silent prayers into songs of praise. When we move on to chapter two, it opens up with Hannah's prayer. It says, heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. No one is holy like the Lord.

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For there is none besides you, nor is there any rock like our God." What a beautiful transformation evolution. We see in chapter one, she's unable to even speak anymore because she's so tired and done. All she could offer was a silent prayer. And now in chapter two, she is bursting out with triumphant praise. The woman who had no words now has a strong song to sing. The woman who was weeping is now worshiping.

The woman who was waiting is now testifying. Do you see the transformation? Are you able to see that the waiting season in your life can bring about so much good and blessings? These same people whose face were tested in silence worship the Lord even when they were going through pain and the waiting season. Just like Mary's Magnificat in Luke chapter one, she says, soul magnifies the Lord, just like Moses's song after the Red Sea and like David dancing before the ark. This is exactly what God does.

He turns your silent seasons into a story of praise. Okay, so let's talk about how to wait well. The first thing is wait with open hands, not clenched fists. Surrender is not giving up, it's giving God room to move. Ask God, Lord, what am I still clenching onto that you're calling me to place on the altar? Number two, wait by showing up even when it hurts. Waiting well means staying faithful to the rhythms of grace in your life, even where the place feels painful. Keep praying.

Keep serving, keep obeying, keep showing up. Your consistency becomes the womb of your breakthrough. Number three, wait by pouring out, not by acting put together. Waiting well is not silent suffering. It's holy honesty. God can only heal what you reveal, but he won't fix what you conceal. Number four, wait by living like you trust him. Before the miracle or the breakthrough or whatever it is you're waiting on God for, act like you're loved.

You're chosen, you're held and secure because you are. So move forward, go to sleep, eat again, smile again. That is spiritual warfare. Number five, wait with expectation, not resignation. Waiting isn't passive. It's leaning forward into the God who moves. Psalm 27, 14 says, wait on the Lord and he shall strengthen your heart. Waiting increases your capacity. Every day you wait, your heart is being fortified for the calling that's ahead. Number six, wait with community, not isolation. Hannah had

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Eli as flawed as he was, even imperfect spiritual voices can confirm God's word in your life. So don't wait alone. Let others speak faith over your womb. Number seven, wait with the sacrifice ready. This is often the hardest one and the one we most forget. But Hannah didn't only ask, she vowed. She said, if you give me this child, I'll give him back to you. Waiting well says, Lord, I'm willing to offer you whatever you need, Lord, whatever you're asking of me. The blessing is never meant to terminate you, but it's meant to return to him.

If you're waiting, remember Hannah. Open hands, honest prayers, showing up when it hurts, trusting God before anything changes. That's waiting well. Waiting is worship and the God who heard Hannah hears you. He will turn your silence into a song.

Thanks for joining me on the Bible Made Real podcast. If today's episode encouraged you, make sure to hit follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode and leave us a review on Apple podcast. Your feedback helps us to reach more listeners. You can visit kathyabraham.com to access free Bible study tools and sign up to receive my free weekly devotionals straight into your inbox. You can also follow me on Instagram and TikTok at kathyabidinglight for daily encouragement and behind the scenes content and updates.

I'll see you in the next episode.