I just got Emily Freeman's book Written on our Hearts from the library and figured I would start with the section based on 1 and 2 Samuel.  Because maybe she includes Bathsheba and that's who we are reading about in the Multiply Goodness Bible Study right now.  

 I have read only one story so far...the story of Hannah and how she waits and waits for a son and then dedicates him to the Lord.  That would be so incredibly hard.  To finally have that son, that baby and then give him to Eli, the prophet.  But there are some beautiful things in Hannah's story.  When she is promised that she will have a son, the scriptures say, "the Lord remembered her."  But these sentences by Emily stopped me in my tracks:  "But have you ever considered that the answer to her prayer that day in the temple might not have been the greatest blessing Hannah received? Maybe, after all, Hannah's greatest blessing was what came as a result of the waiting, The petitioning, the grief-because through the process the Savior had become her rock.Could that have been the greater blessing?"  I mean I guess I know that about trials... but it can feel like receiving whatever you have longed for and pleaded for--getting your happy ending--feels like the miracle you need and want.  But I can see that in my case I would not be who I am and would not have learned what I have learned without the years of pleading and hoping and praying for my miracle.  I have long known that I will appreciate my miracle more when I receive it because I have waited and yearned and prayed and hoped.  But I love the thought that maybe the greatest miracle and blessing won't be the miracle itself...but the miracle of my changed life through the waiting and hoping and trusting.

Emily Freeman also includes this oft quoted promise by Elder Holland, “Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.” (from An High Priest of Good Things To Come")

LESSONS LEARNED:  Perhaps the greatest miracle is not the answer to your prayer...but the things you learn as you wait for the answer to your prayer.  The trust and faith that grow within you as you come to see that the "Lord remembered" you.  

(I have a feeling that I am going to have a bunch of things to include from this book by Emily.)