Hannah & Mary: Purpose Through Surrender & Waiting
Some women in Scripture carried their calling for years before seeing fruit. Others received theirs suddenly, ready or not. But both kinds of women share the same heartbeat:
Surrender. Trust. & a willingness to let God write the story.
Hannah and Mary lived in different centuries, under different circumstances, facing completely different challenges. Yet their stories echo one another in a way that reveals something deep about how God works through women.
One waits for a child she longs for. One receives a child she never expected. One cries through unanswered prayers. One trembles through an angelic announcement. One vows her son to God before he’s conceived. One releases her son to God’s mission even before He’s born. Both women walk through surrender and God uses both to bring forth sons who would change the world.
Let’s walk through their stories with clarity, tenderness, and the weight they deserve.
Hannah: The Woman Who Prayed Her Pain Into Purpose
We meet Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 — a woman in deep sorrow. She is one of two wives of Elkanah, and Scripture tells us:
“The Lord had closed her womb.”
(1 Samuel 1:5)
This wasn’t punishment. This wasn’t rejection. This was preparation though she didn’t know it yet. Peninnah, the other wife, taunts her relentlessly. Year after year Hannah goes to the temple and weeps. This is not gentle weeping; this is soul-level anguish.
The Bible says:
“She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly.”
(1 Samuel 1:10)
Hannah’s story begins with ache, the kind that only women who have longed for something deeply can understand. But here’s what sets Hannah apart:
**She doesn’t turn her pain into bitterness. She turns her pain into prayer.**
And not a polite, well-phrased prayer. A desperate, vulnerable, trembling prayer, the kind that shakes heaven.
There, in the temple, she makes a vow:
“If You will give Your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life.”
(1 Samuel 1:11)
This is astonishing. She surrenders the very thing she longs for. She releases the blessing before she receives it. She offers the gift before it exists. This is faith that doesn’t bargain, it yields.
God hears her. Eli the priest affirms her. And the barren woman conceives. She names him Samuel, meaning “heard by God.”
And then, astonishingly, she keeps her vow. Once the child is weaned, she brings him to the temple and releases him permanently into God’s service. Most of us struggle to give God what we already have. Hannah gave God what she had waited years for.
But here’s the beautiful part:
**The moment she turned her longing into surrender, God turned her pain into purpose.**
Samuel becomes:
• the last judge of Israel
• the prophet who anoints Saul
• the prophet who anoints David
• a pivotal figure in biblical history
And all of it began with a woman in anguish whispering, “Lord, I give him back to You.”
Mary: The Woman Who Said Yes Before She Saw the Whole Picture
Now we move to Luke 1, a very different story, yet connected at the root.
Mary is young, poor, obscure, unmarried, and living in Nazareth, a town people mock (“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” John 1:46). She is not trying to conceive. She is not asking for a child. She is preparing for a simple life with Joseph. Then Gabriel appears and everything changes.
“Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.”
(Luke 1:28)
Mary is terrified. She does not understand what is happening. Her entire world is being rearranged in seconds. Gabriel tells her she will conceive a Son, not just any son, but the Son of the Most High, the long-awaited Messiah. And Mary, overwhelmed, confused, and unsure of the practical implications, asks a single question:
“How will this be…?”
(Luke 1:34)
Not “Why me?” Not “Choose someone else.” Just “How?”
Gabriel answers. Mary listens. And then she speaks the most surrendered words in Scripture:
“I am the Lord’s servant. May Your word to me be fulfilled.”
(Luke 1:38)
That’s it. No negotiating. No timeline requests. No assurances. No backup plan.
Mary says yes to a calling that will cost her reputation, her comfort, her expectations, and her safety. She says yes knowing people will misunderstand her. She says yes without knowing how Joseph will respond. She says yes without knowing where she will give birth. She says yes without knowing the future pain she will endure. Mary’s surrender is immediate. Hannah’s surrender comes after years of longing.
Both are holy. Both are worship. Both lead to destinies bigger than their own lives.
Two Women, Two Callings, One God Who Sees
**Hannah’s story teaches us: Sometimes God allows a season of waiting because the calling is weighty.**
Hannah wasn’t just birthing a son. She was birthing a prophet. A spiritual leader. A man who would shape Israel for generations. Her waiting was not punishment, but it was preparation.
**Mary’s story teaches us: Sometimes God interrupts your life suddenly because His timing is perfect.**
Mary didn’t have time to prepare for her calling. She didn’t have time to process it. She simply received it. Her obedience was not gradual, it was immediate.
**Hannah shows us faith through aching surrender. Mary shows us faith through instantaneous surrender.**
One pours her longing out to God. One receives God’s longing poured into her. Both are pictures of holy womanhood.
The Echoes in Their Stories
Both women birthed sons who would shift history.
Hannah → Samuel
Mary → Jesus
Both gave their sons back to God.
Hannah left Samuel in the temple. Mary released Jesus into His ministry and ultimately into sacrifice.
Both women were misunderstood.
Hannah was accused of being drunk. Mary faced rumors and suspicion.
Both women worshiped in the middle of their surrender.
Hannah sang a prayer (1 Samuel 2). Mary sang the Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55). Their songs still echo across Scripture today.
Their Message for Us Today
Hannah and Mary show us that womanhood is not one expression; it is a spectrum of surrender:
• the surrender that waits
• the surrender that releases
• the surrender that accepts the unexpected
• the surrender that holds things loosely
• the surrender that trusts God more than certainty
• the surrender that says, “Lord, it’s Yours.”
Your story may look like Hannah’s; long seasons of longing, tears that feel unanswered, prayers prayed through clenched hands until release finally comes. Or it may look like Mary’s; unexpected assignments, sudden shifts, roles you never felt ready for but God entrusted to you anyway.
God is in both. God honors both. God uses both.
**Waiting is not wasted. And surrender is never ignored.**
God writes purpose into both kinds of stories.
Scripture for Reflection
1 Samuel 1–2
Luke 1:26–56
1 Samuel 1:10–11
Luke 1:38
1 Samuel 2:1–10
Luke 1:46–55
Final Encouragement
Hannah teaches you to pour your sorrow into God until it becomes surrender. Mary teaches you to yield to God before you understand the outcome.
Both women show us: “Lord, have Your way in me.”
looks different in every season, but it always leads to purpose.
Your waiting matters. Your yes matters. Your trust matters. And God is writing a story in your surrender that is bigger than anything you can imagine.
