Tuesday 27 September 2011

Hannah’s dilemma

 Photo credit: PinkStock Photos

Sometimes the Bible seems far removed from the reality of our daily lives. I’ve just read Ezekiel and it made me feel a bit like I was swimming through treacle at times.

But the more I read the more relevant it becomes. The story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1, for example, is interesting and helpful to any woman.

So what’s the story?

Well Hanna is married to Elkanah, but has to share him with his other wife Peninnah. To add insult to injury, Peninnah has a brood of kids – often considered a mark of God’s blessing – while Hannah is unable to conceive.

There is one consolation for poor Hannah; her husband seems to really love her (1 Samuel 1:4 and 8). But this isn’t enough to fill the void of childlessness, particularly with Peninnah continually rubbing her face in it (1 Samuel 1:6). She often wept and went without food because she was so downhearted (1 Samuel 1:7).

But life changes for Hannah following a ‘chance’ encounter with Eli the priest. Eli initially thinks the weeping woman has had a few too many, but soon realises she is just overcome with grief and is silently crying out to God. The priest tells her to go in peace, saying “may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him” (1 Samuel 1:17).

And God does exactly that. It’s not long before she’s holding her very own son Samuel (meaning ‘God has heard’) in her arms. But the story doesn’t end there. Hannah had made a vow to God that if she should be blessed with a much longed for son she would “give him to the Lord for all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11). And that’s exactly what she does.

So what does this tell us about God?
  1. He hears our prayers (Psalm 28:6)
  2. He gives us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4)
  3. He sometimes allows us to suffer for a period so that we draw nearer to him and give our lives and futures into his hands
  4. He brings important people in to our lives at just the right time
  5. He is gracious – Hannah went on to have three sons and two daughters (1 Samuel 2:21)
What does it tell us about Hannah?
  1. She is a normal woman who desperately wants a thriving family
  2. She persists in prayer, even though she is barren “year after year” (1 Samuel 1:7)
  3. She believes what Eli tells her and stands on his word in faith (1 Samuel 1:18)
  4. She fulfils her vow to God and gives him great thanks and praise for answering her prayers (1 Samuel 1:24-28; 1 Samuel 2:1-10)
  5. Her faithfulness results in the ascendancy of an awesome man of God who powerfully influences Israel’s history (1 Samuel 2:26). He goes on to become a great prophet and judge, and is tasked by God to anoint both Saul and David as kings
So what can we learn from this?
  1. God’s timing isn’t always the same as ours. We need to keep pressing in until we get an answer to prayer
  2. We should surround ourselves with wise people who can reassure us with the Word and bolster our faith (Proverbs 13:20)
  3. If we make a promise to God we should fulfil it (Deuteronomy 23:21; Ecclesiastes 5:4)
  4. We should be extremely thankful for everything God has done in our lives, and for the things we believe he is going to do (Psalm 100:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
  5. We should expect great things – Samuel far exceeded Hannah’s expectations
If you don’t know what your ‘Samuel’ is, what your heart is really yearning for, ask God to reveal it to you. Then keep your eye on the prize and wait patiently for God to bring it about. And when he does, make sure you pass on the good news.

The power and impact of our testimonies – however insignificant they might seem to us – is often much greater than we think. If we just keep what God in our lives to ourselves, we are potentially robbing others of similar blessings. Part of our thanksgiving should be telling people just how incredible he is (Isaiah 12:5).

Read more about powerful women of God - some from the Bible and others who are alive today - in the next issue of Liberti magazine.

Friday 23 September 2011

Trying it on

Do you try on every stitch of clothing you own before heading out for the evening… and then end up wearing the very first thing you tried on?

I’ve done this more times than I care to remember. And worst of all, I tend to scatter the discarded items all over the floor to be dealt with when I get home. (Don’t tell my mum!)

But interviewing a very special designer for Liberti changed the way I think about clothes altogether. This designer, Lavinia Brennan, recently co-founded Beulah London with her friend (Lady) Natasha Rufus Isaac.

So why did this news have such an impact on me?

Well, firstly, the company designs the prettiest dresses imaginable using the most exquisite materials available. It made me realise that, rather than nipping to Primark and picking up 30 items I don’t need, it might be worth investing in a few really special pieces that stand out from the crowd.

Now the dresses don’t come cheap – prices range from £150 to £600 – but if I owned one of them I don’t think I’d need to try anything else on. And I certainly wouldn’t be throwing one on the floor.

I’ve always prided myself on buying clothes at rock bottom prices, and making sure I tell people how cheap I got them. But I’ve started to understand the toll the ‘fast fashion’ industry is taking on the environment and workers in the developing world.

And that brings me to the most important contribution Beulah London is making. The young designers have found a way of turning fashion—an industry in which sex clearly sells—on its head by helping victims of the sex trafficking industry. Their Christian faith has inspired them to create a business that isn’t just about profit and prestige.

You may be wondering how making a few pretty frocks will enable the girls to do this. Lavinia explains: “Natasha and myself spent two months working in the slums of Delhi in an aftercare home for women who had come out of the sex trade.

“Most afternoons we spent in a very small production unit teaching the girls sewing skills. This is what first inspired us. We saw that there was a need to provide the women with an alternative, sustainable income that would utilise these skills that so many of the women were being taught.”

In 2008, the UN estimated that nearly 2.5 million people from 127 different countries were being trafficked into 137 countries across the world. Many of these women are starved, confined, beaten, raped, forced to use drugs and threatened with violence towards their loved ones.

The London-based designers already employ women from human trafficking backgrounds in India to make the canvas bags the dresses are sold in. Ultimately, they hope they will be able to fund training schemes for the girls and one day open their own factory where the women can make the dresses themselves.

After talking to Lavinia I realised that cheaper isn’t always better. If I bag myself a bargain, who is really paying the price for it? Can I justify posing in front of the mirror in a £4 dress when I know that it was most likely made in some sweat shop that is probably mistreating its workers?

I’ve also realised that the choices we make can have a much greater influence than we think. If we knew that buying a Beulah dress would help rescue one trafficked woman, wouldn’t we all get one? (I know this is an oversimplification, but you get my point.) I guess what I’m asking is, are we more concerned about the way we look, or the way women across the globe are being treated?

Okay, so I can’t promise I’ll never buy cheap and cheerful again, or that my wardrobe will be exclusively populated by Beulah’s gorgeous gowns. But I can say that I will think much more carefully about what I buy (fashion and otherwise) in the future.

Find out more about Beulah and read the full story in the upcoming edition of Liberti magazine.

Thursday 15 September 2011

Are you living a lie?

Contrary to what we may think, us girls are worse fibbers than our male counterparts. Don’t believe me? Well The Truth Booth doesn’t lie…

Set up by eInsurance to find out what kind of porkies us Brits are telling, the ‘confessional booth’ probably surprised and shocked its designers. Who knew the nation’s lovely ladies could be so creative with the truth?

In case you still don’t believe me (and why should you, I’m a woman?), here are the top-ten corkers our fellow females came up with: 

Kirsten Lewis shared that she accidently smashed her neighbour’s window and blamed it on one of her children. 

Louise Fox confessed that her husband always keeps her waiting when they go out. So to get back at him, she pees in the bath water (which they share) before she gets out. 

Sandra Hahn admitted that she has three very boisterous children, so to calm them down she told them an evil ‘Mr White’ would turn up and snatch them if they didn’t behave. Then one day a stranger turned up asking for a Mr White, which absolutely terrified the children. She never set them straight and still uses it to keep them under control. 

Roz Newman revealed that she stole the expensive gift she gave her mum for Christmas from someone else’s doorstep. 

Helen Scott shared a story about waking up to see her cat standing over her neighbour’s dead rabbit. Panicking, Helen placed the beaten up bunny back into its hutch before heading off to work, hoping they would think it died naturally. The neighbour later revealed that the rabbit had died a few days earlier and had been buried, but that it had later reappeared in the hatch. The kids thought their parents had buried it alive and Helen didn’t set the record straight. 

Susan Ackroyd confessed that she once made her husband a dog-meat sandwich. He took it to work with him in his packed lunch and is still none the wiser. 

Emily Wood revealed that she once put rabbit toenails in her ex-boyfriend’s herbs and onion juice in his milk.

Rebecca Haselhurst admitted she is seeing nine men at the moment (Rebecca is clearly a glutton for punishment). 

Emma Hall explained that she was picked on by a girl at school. To get revenge, she took the girl’s toothbrush, wiped her ‘blessed assurance’ with it and then put it back ready for her arch nemesis to use. 

Hannah Kollar blurted out the fact that she slept with her own fiancĂ©s dad (apologies to Hannah’s fiancĂ© if this is how he found out).

Believe me now? I was taken aback by the booth’s findings. Shame on you ladies, I thought to myself.

But then two things occurred to me. First, the women were confessing these dark and deadly secrets because the 'best' lie would be rewarded with an iPad 2. So maybe they were actually lying about the lies they had told (and we all know two lies cancel each other, right?).

Secondly, I realised that us ladies might just be more honest about the lies we’ve told in the past than men are… 

Conclusion: men definitely lie more than us, they’re just not as good at it.

I should add, however, that honesty is ALWAYS the best policy and, while it may or may not earn you an iPad 2, it will definitely set you free! (John 8: 32).

Read more from Joy in the upcoming issue of Christian women’s magazine Liberti.