My stress resulted from not knowing God, not trusting him with my whole heart, seeking peace and purpose from the world instead of from him, and from being so afraid of change that I would rather suffer than obey.

Hannah's faith was the answer to her stress. And, through that faith, she found peace, even though her life remained far from peaceful. Her faith resulted in God working on her behalf. Hannah did not find peace because she left a stressful situation – she found peace because she had learned to depend on God’s strength to rise above her stress.

What we view as God’s absence or lack of quickness to change our circumstances or fix our problems is really God waiting for the proper time to act on our behalf, while simultaneously waiting for us to acknowledge our need for rescue.

Unbelief puts our circumstances between us and God; faith puts God between us and our circumstances.