The best analogy I've heard about God since becoming a parent was recently... and it goes something like this. If God gave us everything we asked for the world would be much worse than it is now. Think of your relationship with God as your relationship with your child. If you gave your child everything he asked for, his teeth would probably have fallen out of his mouth long ago and he would have so many things we wanted, but not much of what he needs. God sees the bigger picture, we can't. Just like, as parents, we see the bigger picture. If we gave our children candy every night their teeth would be rotten and they would be extremely unhealthy. So we force them to eat fruits and vegetables because we know it's good for them. So when God says no to a prayer request, I need to remind myself that He sees the bigger picture and is doing everything for His glory, not my selfish desires.