"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7
All through the Bible God repeatedly seeks after us after we have turned away from Him. I remember hearing that statement at a Conference. All we have to do is say the name, "Jesus" and He is right there, waiting on our next word.
We pray with a lot of people for various needs. God always answers sincere prayer. God answers with an immediate "yes", as the time Sister was driving down the road and there was a log lying across it. Her quick prayer of "Lord, Help!" was immediately answered and the angels moved the log to the side of the road. Sometimes, God answers "wait", and Sister gives as an example the healing of her own back. Her back was injured when she was six years old and as she grew her back became an "s" with two disks down to nothing. She wore a back brace and one leg became shorter than the other. On the 25th anniversary of her being a nun, she went on a retreat in Minnesota and the prayer group prayed over her for the healing of her back. During the night she kept waking her roommate, Sister Marie Exner, "Something is happening to my back!" Sister Marie told me.
In the morning when Sister Matthew got up, there was no more pain, her back was perfectly straight and both legs were of the same length. Sometimes God says '"no", but when He says no, He always has something better. When Sister was in Alaska a woman brought her to her house to pray for her dying father. The next day she came to Sister and reported that her father had died during the night, a very peaceful death. Interiorly Sister said, "Lord, we prayed that he would live." And the Lord spoke to her heart, "I wanted to heal him in Heaven."
We pray with a lot of people, as I said. We don't do anything but lift their requests to the Lord - "Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them" Matthew 18:20. We can't do anything - but we know the divine Healer who can. We know the prayer that is gladly answered is a prayer asking for a deeper faith and love. It may not come immediately, and you might not even notice at first that it has been answered. God's ways are not ours. Faith does not usually spring full blown into existence, although St. Paul's story of his conversion is one showing that it can happen. But growing in faith and love is a lifelong process that requires patience and perseverance.