He will bring you himself

What do we say about prayer? We say things like, "I prayed, but the answer was no." "I prayed, but God didn't answer me." "I'm not good at praying."

Do we think prayer is magic? Do we think that we ought to be able to say the prayer and then have the world change around us? Is that attitude enhanced when we pray and what we have prayed for happens? Sure it is.

But I would counter the ideas that our prayers are answered with a "no" or that our prayers are unanswered with this quote from Frederick Buechner:

...keep on beating the path to God's door,m because the one thing you can be sure of is that down the path you beat with even your most half-cocked and halting prayer, the God you call upon will finally come, and even if he does not bring you the answer you want, he will bring you himself."

He will bring you himself.  How can we ever say that a prayer is unanswered or that the answer is no. He will bring you himself.