God, the vending machine

About half a year ago I heard a sermon called something like "God, the vending machine". The topic was the answer to our prayers. Usually, I do not like to write about faith related subjects, because I feel like I am not "wise" enough to do so. However, especially during the last few weeks this sermon has been in my head. Many of my friends are Christians, though most of the world would describe us as very liberal. The most  distinctive charactersitic of a German Christian is that we like to keep our faith to ourselves. Makes for very funny conversations "You? You belive in God?"
Many of my friends struggle because they feel left alone by God. They ask themselves why God allowed certain things in their life to happen. Some of them believe that all you have to do is pray about something and God will make it happen. Like inserting a coin into a vending machine. If nothing happens they start questioning God. I do not have the answer, but I will never know why I got cancer, my best friend died or why he allowed Hendrik  to grow so desperate and   consequently allowed my life to fall apart. I will never know. All I know is that Gods plans are great and not necessarily our plans. Sometimes things make sense years later. And I am sure he listens and feels our pain. To be honest I sometimes get angry, because I feel like they want so much and take so much for granted. They never seem to see the families and friends they have got, their perfect health and good grades at university. They don't keep in mind that they could be of so much worse. I know it is hard to be thankful for such ordinary things. But maybe we could just try a little harder sometimes?!