Unanswered Prayer and Predestination

Recently, on a message board I frequent, the question was brought up as to whether or not there is such a thing as "unanswered prayer".  The asker phrased it, "Unanswered prayer - does it exist?  Why?"  This to me seems an important question on so many levels, because it has the power to shake the very foundation of the beliefs so many people hold to.

I have always heard and been told / taught that God never leaves prayers unanswered - that there are three answers including, "yes", "no", and "wait".  I held to this belief for several years, but thinking about it now it seems so different.  Distant.

The discussion in and of itself immediately reminded me of a song by Rodney Atkins' called Angel's Hands.  One line of the song really made an impression on me:  "I bet it gets so quiet in Heaven sometimes, even God cries when an Angel's hands are tied..." It really struck me upon hearing this song that sometimes we as humans hurt ourselves badly enough that even God cannot "fix" it the way it should be.  It's almost like we've tied His hands and therefore, we tie the hands of the angels guarding us as well.  We hurt so many people with our most thoughtless actions, and yet, we have been given "free will" therefore, we are in charge of our own actions.  We are the guilty ones.  I do, however, believe that even when He cannot fully answer our prayers, God is still there.  He's that dependable deity that we cannot see standing there with us at our loneliest of times.

In my personal opinion, predestination somewhat ties into this because of the combination of prayers and free will given us.  I look back on my own life so far, and I recognize that there are so many different paths it could have taken.  What if I'd gone to public school instead of a Christian academy?  Would I have become the punk I long to be at times earlier?  How would my attitude have changed?  What if I'd married one of my old flames rather than Drew?  How would my entire life have been different?  Would I have ever met Drew at all?  Even if the other person and I had divorced?  Would I be living in a trailer?  Would I have been beaten, abused, cheated on regularly...?  I'm not going to answer these questions here and now.  But I will say that in looking back...there were and many destinies I could have chosen from.  That's not to say that I have arrived and my destiny fulfilled, however, the destiny which I am to live so far has been chosen.  I must say that I have fared quite well for the choices I've made in the past.

So what of predestination?  I believe that it exists.  But I believe that each and every one of us has several destinies we can choose from.  Our choices create the destiny that we weave for ourselves out of whatever yarn is behind door number x, y, or z.  God is still in control, having made the ultimate decision to give us the gift of free will.  Life truly is what you make of it...it is up to you whether the finished product will depict that of a blessing or a curse.  What will you do with the gift?