Hannah's Barreness

I finished the 1st Chapter of "Prophetic Evangelism" last night and one (of the many) eye opening point really caught my attention. Desperation. We need to be desperate for Jesus. And I don't mean wishy-washy only sometimes need Him desperate, I'm talkin hardcore desperate! The example the author used was from First Samuel 1. Hannah's (mother of Samuel) womb had been closed up by the Lord. Hannah was the wife of Elkanah, but he had another wife, Peninah, who was a baby making machine. This provoke Hannah and made her want children even more. Elkanah increased the amount of blessing he gave Hannah and even said "Am I not worth more than ten sons?". This whole bargain deal didn't slow Hannah down. So she got desperate and prayed and fasted before the Lord. She then made a covenant with the Lord, that if He opened her womb, she would dedicate Samuel's life to Him. So the Lord opened her womb and she bore Samuel.
I agree when the author says that God more than likely used Peninah's over-active baby maker to draw something out of Hannah. The same could be said about our possible spiritual barrenness! I know when I see someone else who is spiritually fruitful, I wonder if I'm doing something wrong and I feed of off that sort of thing. I think God let's certain things provoke us so that we get desperate and run to Him with questions and for help. Hannah was so determined!
The author suggests that there are 4 stages of desperation.
Stage 1) Awareness: This is when you first realize something is missing, but at this stage, you more than likely have little to no motivation to figure it out, let alone fix it.
Stage 2) Embarrassment: This stage is when we feel a slight negative feeling about what we are lacking. We see what other people have and are self-conscious about what we are not doing.
Stage 3) Frustration: When that nagging feeling is consistently present. You start to get more distressed about your situation, but many people who get to this stage do not push through and never make any change.
Stage 4) Intolerability: This is when the above feelings release an "momentous change". You get to the point where you can no longer go against the feelings. Desperation like this releases fresh intimacy, inspiration and a much needed impact. Change will not occur without a high sense of urgency! This desperation can be looked at as a divine way that Christ is trying to make you go one step further.

All of that makes a lot of sense to me and has shed some light on why I feel the way I do sometimes. This was only the last 4 pages of the chapter. There were so many other awesome and encouraging things in the first chapter, but this is one I though I should share and dive into deeper. :-)