The best I can figure out is this. I used to think or question the existence of God based on WHYS - why do children suffer? why do human beings starve? Why does a Tsunami wipe out a population and the like. For a kind God then its hard to compute that an entity that created and loves doesn't stop those things.
Secondly I would question when my prayers weren't answered. I think we all know that praying for a winning lotto ticket isn't going to happen - yet reasonable prayers such as "heal my parents", well why not? Why not a miracle?
Over the years I came to realize that I was thinking and praying all wrong, so my relationship with God was wrong. As to why bad things happen I concluded that I don't need to know why bad things happen, any more than I need to delve into why good things happen which no one ever questions, but is the same question. We are given free will to live which is a gift; therefore, the Yin and Yang is that both good and bad things will happen in our lives and the lives of others.
As for prayer and praying for needs - I stopped praying for specific needs to be met. I just don't think it works that way. I think its more like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz when the good witch tells her she always had the power to go home she just didn't know it. I believe we all have the power within ourselves to accomplish and survive what needs to be done. Now I pray for guidance rather than to wake up and everything be fixed (though I still fall into that pattern at times and have in the past year). I believe that God is gracious in giving us a fairly clear road map and signs of what we should be doing. The more we hand that over to him and open up to faith the better our lives become.
I had every sign in the world that my business partner needed to go pretty early in. I ignored it and tried to manage it. I prayed that God would fix it. God couldn't fix my business partner because he has free will to live his life however he chooses. What God did do is reveal to me what was happening. This cycle of praying for my business partner to change (and he got worse) only made me angry. I should have been praying for guidance toward accomplishment. Business partner was the problem in achieving it and God showed me that every-single-day, I just chose to ignore it.
Thank you for starting this thread Stung. I always go into a funk when my parents are hospitalized which happened for the past two weeks. What everyone has said here, and spending a little introspective time on where I am spiritually, has pulled me out of the negative zone. I appreciate it!