Its amazing you guys can have a debate on two different subjects. Mike hes not talking in a personal sense in his last few posts, just a world wide sense. If all Christians are right then all atheists are wrong, if atheists are right then every religion is wrong. No matter which choice right the majority of the worlds population is wrong. Billions of people have the wrong beliefs, the wrong faith and can't tell it for themselves.
As for your prayers being answered its an often repeated statement and one that doesn't prove anything. Usually the things prayed for are possible (so no miracle required) so theres a chance these things would happen regardless. Then of course you've got people from mutually exclusive religions praying to different gods and yet they all claim to have their prayers answered. You have ancient cultures doing human sacrifice because the first time they tried it they had great crops, must have been their god, no other answer is there?
I've heard muslims say allah answered their prayers, buddists say buddah helped them out, and christians say it was christ. I'm sure we could have found people claiming Zeus answered their prayers if we had a chance to ask them.
The failure of god to answer prayer is one of the things that has turned people away from various religions. Usually the story goes that a family member becomes sick, prayer is attempted and fails as the person dies regardless. Then the questions, he/she was a good person why didn't god help? I've done everything god asked of me, why wouldn't he help me in my time of need?
Every religion prays for long life and happiness, but none can gaurantee those things. Christians suffer from the same diseases, have as many accidents, suffer as much hardship, and have the same life expectancy as any other human. There is no sign that faith or prayer has made any particular religious group better off than the others.