Fuel for the Journey: Doing the opposite of the usual Christian "code"

Let's face it folks, the Christian life can be hard.  To be really honest, all of life can be hard.  For sake of illustration I'd like to compare it to a road trip across a rough terrain.  The day we accept Christ we start at point "A" and we are supposed to finish our journey with the words "well done, though good and faithful servant." Unfortunately many of us get weary on the journey and somewhere along the trip we get "derailed" or we simply run out of fuel and decide to just set up camp somewhere along the road.  It goes something like this: I'm serving the Lord and headed down this Christian life and all is going well. Then something difficult arises: a trial, an illness, a heartbreak, you name it.  At this point we do what we "think" we are supposed to do as believers.  We "pull over" long enough to catch our breath and then we decide we are going to Trust God! After all, isn't this the "Christian Code"? Trust God, then Believe that He has a plan, then after you've completed those 2 things then you are rewarded with Experiencing God.  This sounds all well and good, but what nobody tells you is it's really hard.  The "fuel" that drives us forward is actually the final step in this process, Experiencing God.  So only those who have incredible stamina make it to the Experiencing God phase which fuels them to keep on.  What's wrong with this, is that the vast majority of believers can't get through step one and two and so they give up.  It's so hard for them that they just decide to be content with where they are and forget about moving forward.  To make matters worse, the "elite few" who make it to the final step then turn back to judge and or motivate the rest to push through.  Those left behind look at the few that made it through as unattainable or impossible to reach.  This creates a huge gap between Christians and each side ends up judging the other and finding fault in the ones on the other side. 
Well, in my study of Samuel, I stumbled on a really profound truth that I think could end this cycle.  I have been studying the actions of Hannah, Samuel's mother.  She suffered much anguish because she wanted a child and could not have one.  Then, when God gave her a son, she then turned around and gave him back to the work of the Lord when he was just a small child.  Right after she has given away her precious little boy, who she prayed for for so long, the Bible records a song that she sang to the Lord.  Here was Hannah, on her Christian journey, who just faced something very hard and the first thing she does is:
Experience God (1 Samuel 2:1-5) 
Hannah's FIRST action is to experience the Joy of the Lord.  She smiled as she faced her enemies.  She felt that amazing elation of being in the presence of the Almighty God and she gave all glory back to God for that joy.
Ok, hold the mustard, you mean that Hannah did first what we tell Christians they should do last in their trial? YEP
Because Hannah first experienced God, she then was "fueled" for her journey and NOW she could
Believe God (1 Samuel 2:3-5)
I know what you are thinking, this is really backwards. Is it? Or is it really the right way all along, and we turned it all around? Hannah, after experiencing the Joy of the Lord, now believed that He would set all things right.  She believed that God would keep His promises to her and bless her for her faithfulness.  So, now that she had experienced God, and believed God for her trial, she was at the place to trust Him. 
Trust God (1 Samuel 2:6-11)
Hannah now trusted in the strength of God to sustain her, to set all things right.  Hannah would need the strength of the Lord in order to give her firstborn and much loved son to the priesthood.
Because we as Christians get this process backwards, we run out of fuel before we ever experience God and therefore we fall short and exhausted.  We end up as Christians who NEVER have that amazing joy of the Lord because we stop trying.  Hannah had the right strategy.  She FIRST experienced the presence of God which fueled her journey through believing Him and then finally to trusting Him. Trusting God isn't easy, especially if you have never experienced Him. Maybe our problem isn't that we have a bunch of lazy Christians and a bunch of arrogant elite Christians.  Maybe the real problem is we have been doing this thing backwards all along?