Why does God answer other people's prayers but not mine?

Few things make unanswered prayer harder than hearing someone else say, "I prayed, and God came through."

It can make you wonder whether God prefers them, whether your faith is too weak, or whether anyone is listening at all.

Christianity does not promise that sincere prayer will produce the outcome requested. Jesus asked for the suffering ahead of him to be taken away. Paul repeatedly asked for his own affliction to be removed. Neither received the answer they wanted.

That means an unanswered prayer is not, by itself, evidence of spiritual failure.

Christians believe prayer matters, but not because it gives us control over God. Sometimes circumstances change; sometimes they do not. The difficult Christian claim is that God can still be present when the requested answer never comes.

That may not make the disappointment hurt less, but it does mean you are not uniquely failing at prayer.