Recently, I read about an overseas missionary who received a letter from a little girl whose Sunday school class had been writing to foreign missionaries. Evidently their Sunday school teacher had told them real live missionaries were very busy and they might not have time to answer their letters, because the one he received said simply: “Dear Rev. Smith. We are praying for you. We are not expecting an answer.” Without realising it, that little girl summed up the prayer life of many Christians. ‘We are praying for you. We are not expecting an answer.’ The truth is, most of us aren’t surprised when our prayers aren’t answered – we’re surprised when they are. The opposite should be true.

Source: Ron Dunn, Don’t Just Stand There… Pray Something, p.161