Week #1: When You Can’t Stop Crying
Blog Series Intention Recap
Our thoughts and emotions shape the way we see God, ourselves, and others. Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow, but that’s easier said than done. Anger, anxiety, and discouragement often seem to have the upper hand—especially in a world full of injustice and uncertainty. This four-week series examines what Scripture teaches about managing our inner life with God’s help. We’ll learn to take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Cor. 10:5), embracing mental and emotional health as vital to our spiritual walk.
In this blog series, I am not attempting to counsel anyone. Depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues are real. Please find a biblical counselor or therapist who can help you process the very real and serious emotions we are discussing. This blog is meant to be a starting point, not an end point.
This page is a post in the series “Mindset: Take Every Thought Captive.” Click here to see the rest of the posts.
Let’s jump into Week #1:
God Listens When We Cry… God cares about our emotional pain and invites us to pour out our hearts before Him. He does not dismiss our sorrow or silence our grief but meets us in the middle of it. When life feels barren and our prayers seem unanswered, God remains attentive and compassionate. Bringing our thoughts and emotions honestly before Him is not a sign of weakness—it is the beginning of healing and hope.
Why it Matters:
Real faith feels deeply: Hannah's grief shows us godly sorrow.
Prayer is emotional health care: She brought her burden to the Lord.
God meets us in our mess: He heard her prayer and answered.
Honesty is strength: Taking thoughts captive starts with open confession.
Go Deeper:
Tears That Teach Us
Most of us have felt what Hannah felt—desperate, discouraged, emotionally drained. You wake up with a pit in your stomach and go to sleep hoping the ache fades by morning. And yet the Bible doesn’t gloss over that kind of pain. It highlights it. In 1 Samuel 1, Hannah’s anguish leads to a turning point—not only in her life but in the life of Israel.
When we think about taking every thought captive, we often imagine stopping bad thoughts. But Scripture begins somewhere different: not with suppression but with surrender. Hannah’s story reminds us that taking our thoughts captive starts by bringing them—raw and real—before God.
1. Real Faith Feels Deeply
“She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly.” (1 Samuel 1:10, ESV)
Faith is not the absence of emotion. Hannah’s deep pain was tied to unfulfilled hope. She longed for a child, but year after year, the Lord had not opened her womb. Add to that her rival’s (Peninnah) constant provocation and her husband Elkanah’s well-meaning but clueless comfort, and you have the perfect storm of grief, shame, and frustration.
In ancient Israel, children were seen as a sign of God’s favor. Hannah’s barrenness was not just sad; it felt like divine rejection. Yet, she didn’t numb herself. She wept. She prayed. She engaged God in her pain.
This is where mental and emotional health begins—acknowledging how we actually feel. Not pretending. Not performing. But showing up, vulnerable and real.
Faith doesn’t pretend everything’s fine. Faith says, “God, I need You because nothing is fine.”
2. Prayer Is Emotional Health Care
“She continued praying before the LORD…” (v. 12)
Hannah’s approach to emotional overwhelm wasn’t distraction or avoidance. It was prayer. Not polished, recited prayer—but deeply personal intercession. She prayed “in bitterness of soul” and made a vow to God, pouring out her heart like water before Him (cf. Lamentations 2:19).
She didn’t just talk about God. She talked to Him. Her lips moved, but no sound came out—just the desperate rhythm of grief and hope colliding. Eli the priest misunderstood her; others might too. But God did not.
Here’s the key: Taking every thought captive doesn’t mean stifling emotion—it means directing it to the right place.
We aren’t called to control our thoughts before we carry them to God. We’re called to carry them so He can bring them into obedience to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5)
3. God Meets Us in Our Mess
“Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition…” (v. 17)
“Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.” (v. 18)
Something happened after Hannah prayed. Before her circumstances changed, her countenance did. She wasn’t pregnant yet. Her rival hadn’t stopped mocking her. But she ate. She smiled. Her burden had shifted.
Why? Because she had unburdened herself before the Lord. There is power in releasing our emotions into God’s hands. Prayer doesn’t always fix our situation immediately, but it changes us.
The change in Hannah shows us the transforming power of prayerful trust. She left the temple with the same problems but a different posture. Peace came—not from a guarantee of outcome, but from a God who listens.
And God did more than listen. He responded. “And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son…” (v. 20). God gave her Samuel—whose name means “God has heard.”
4. Honesty Is Strength
“I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD.” (v. 15)
When we think of spiritual strength, we often imagine unshakable joy and constant positivity. But Hannah shows us that godly strength includes honesty. She told Eli the truth. She wasn’t drunk—she was devastated. And she didn’t hide it.
There is nothing weak about bringing your emotions to God. In fact, that is the very act of strength. Real strength is not found in pushing through alone, but in bringing your thoughts, fears, and feelings to the One who can redeem them.
Taking every thought captive starts here: not by suppressing emotion, but by surrendering it.
How does this help me understand, “Mindset: Take Every Thought Captive?”
God Is Near to the Brokenhearted
God heard Hannah. He hears you. Psalm 22:24 says, “For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.” The first step in taking every thought captive is letting God have access to the ones that hurt. He doesn’t turn away from your anguish—He draws near.
You don’t need to clean yourself up to be heard. Just come like Hannah did—broken, honest, expectant. And like her, you can leave changed.
Hannah’s story points us to a greater truth. There is One greater than Hannah who poured out His soul in anguish—Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane. He wept. He sweat drops of blood. He said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matt. 26:38).
Why does this matter? Because Jesus understands emotional suffering. He carried ours to the cross (Isaiah 53:4). When we weep, we do not cry alone. When we pour out our heart, we do so to a Savior who listens and loves.
In Christ, we have a High Priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15). And because of Him, our cries reach the Father’s heart.
What are some practical steps I can take?
Pray specifically: Name your emotions in prayer—fear, sorrow, shame. Don’t sanitize it. Surrender it.
Journal your Hannah prayers: Write out raw prayers. Pour your heart on paper as she did before the Lord.
Practice release, not repression: Give God the mental space your worry has taken up. Visualize placing it in His hands.
Repeat daily: Taking thoughts captive is a daily rhythm, not a one-time fix. Keep praying through the tears.
