In a lecture series on prayer, I once heard a priest say, “God never says ‘no’ to our prayers and supplications. Sometimes he immediately says yes. Sometimes he says ‘not quite yet.’ And sometimes he says, ‘I’ve got something better for you entirely.’” God always hears our prayers. God always desires our highest possible, good, happiness and fulfillment. And God always acts for that good.
Sometimes we get so locked in and hung up on desires for things that aren't actually good for us. I can think of so many times in my own life when I prayed for things I thought I wanted. Years later, I look back and realize what a mercy it was that I didn’t actually get what I asked for. In other cases, I clearly recognize that I did indeed receive precisely what I asked for, but in ways and forms that I could never have foreseen. In so many instances, God has fulfilled the desires of my heart in higher, better, and more lasting ways that I could ever have known to even ask for.
God knows us better than we know ourselves. He intentionally, lovingly holds us in existence at each moment of each and every day. He knows every thought we have, every intention we have, and every need and desire that we have. The deepest desires of our hearts have been planted there by a God who desires to fulfill them, and who desperately desires relationship with us. God desperately desires our love, and always acts for our ultimate good. So pray with confidence and persistence, because every movement of your heart is intimately known by the God who lovingly sustains you in existence and desires your greatest possible good at every moment of your life.