Who Hears Our Prayers?

I've been thinking a lot about prayer lately.  Recently, my wife and I have been praying for a family friend who went into a coma due to carbon monoxide poisoning.  After two weeks in a coma and all the doctors having given up, he awoke (!).  He continues his long road to recovery (full recovery is still far from certain), so prayer continues as the doctors rejoin the effort.

It makes me think: Was our praying effectual?  How so?  Did God hear our prayer?  I came across this quote by Kierkegaard today:

 "the true relation in prayer is not when God hears what is prayed for, but when the person praying continues to pray until he is the one who hears, who hears what God wills."  (Journals, 154).

Donald Bloesch tells us that the "give me" prayer should always be subordinated to the "make me" prayer, as prayer isn't always "driven by need" but rather "kindled by grace" (The Struggle of Prayer, 75-76).  Anne Lamott says there are really only two kinds of prayers: "Please, please, please" and "thank you, thank you, thank you."

I agree with all of them and would summarize that prayer has to do with molding our hearts to the very will and heart of God.  For the ancients in the Mediterranean, the heart was the "seat of intention."  May we dwell at the seat of God's intention in prayer, whatever form it takes.

What are your thoughts on prayer?  What do you pray for?  What does prayer mean for you in your life?

May we all hear the prayers of our heart and the hearts of others, and in so doing hear the very heartbeat of God in this raucous world.