We can't pray that God will make our lives free of problems; this won't happen, and it is probably just as well…. But people who pray for courage, for strength to bear the unbearable, for the grace to remember what they have left instead of what they have lost, very often find their prayers answered. They discover they have more strength, more courage than they ever knew themselves to have. Where did they get it? I would like to think that their prayers helped them find that strength. Their prayers helped them tap reserves of faith and courage which were not available to them before.

- Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People - Anniversary Edition (Shocken, 2001), p. 168.