When I was a young man, I would pray and ask God for certain favors. Like most people, I used prayer as a celestial wishing well and generally asked for very specific outcomes. More often than not, I'd get the result I desired and immediately forget about God. As I got older, the complexity and seriousness of my prayers intensified. More and more, I asked that my will be done, and protection be given to me throughout whatever dangerous, stupid idea I had taken up. Remarkably, I would come out the other side of danger, almost unscathed apart from the fear having to face the music. And still, I learned nothing. During the most trying time of my life, I was on the run from police and probation. Years of bad decisions had culminated in a hole that there was no talking my way out of. I was back in jail, facing 99 years in prison, again! All the letters, pleas and promises fell on deaf ears. Even I had come to the realization that I was lying...to everyone. At that moment, I stopped asking for what I wanted and asked for His will be manifested in my life. Immediately, things began to happen in my life that I did not want, AT ALL! Almost as quickly, I resorted back to asking for things I wanted in life. The seal was already broken. None of those prayers were answered and I would eventually turn my back on God and faith, altogether. I spent the next few years studying every other religion as if to make my God jealous. Because my prayers weren't answered to my liking, I went on a campaign to destroy the faith of any Christian I encountered. This would continue for over a decade. I gladly served the darkness in my actions, while doing the devil's work. I was rewarded for my service and my "success" blinded me to the truths that I was missing. I had turned my back on God for not giving me what I wanted. Little did I know the necessity of those denials. It wasn't until I was blessed with the vision to see what I had been given in place of what I so desperately begged Him for that I finally understood the power of "unanswered prayer."