Reaching for the Invisible God

Section 1 - Thirst: Our Longing for God
This was a quote Phil received from a friend when asked how a seeking person could understand that a Christian life was different than a moral one...this from a national radio host well known in Christian circles...
"I have no trouble believing God is good. My question is more, What good is he? I heard awhile back that Billy Graham's daughter was undergoing marriage problems, so the Grahams and the in-laws flew back to Europe to meet with them and pray for the couple. They ended up getting divorced anyway. If Billy Graham's prayers don't get answered, what's the use of my praying? I look at my life - the health problems, my own daughter's struggles, my marriage. I cry out for God to help, and it's hard to know just how he answers. Really, what can we count on God for?"

That is a pretty strong statement from a Christian...but hits a point that I think many of us understand. Prayer is difficult and seems worthless sometimes. Do we even know if our prayers are ever answered?
My thought, right or wrong, is that prayer is more about us wanting to communicate with God...about us setting aside time to engage with him on the things going on in our lives than about tallying the requests and the answers that we can discern. To be honest, I may never know that God answered a single prayer, and even if he didn't would that be a reason to not pray? If the reality of life is that we only have vision to the smallest areas of God's plan, what would make me think that he didn't answer it, just not in a way that I would ever recognize? More so, in the process of my prayers, I see myself changing and that, in and of itself, could be the very reason for prayer or the answer to my prayers...