When you were four and twelve, your prayers were sincere. Who are you, in your supposedly enlightened state, to decide that there was not some lurking electrical problem in your childhood house that might have caused a fire, had not you been led by the Holy Spirit to pray for divine intervention? Sunburn does cause melanoma, often on noses. As you prayed for God to spare you from that particular malady, who is to say that there were not pre-cancerous cells present that would have later caused disfigurement or even death, had you not appealed to God for deliverance? On the other hand, your current "more enlightened" prayers may not be nearly so sincere!

I agree that the primary purpose of prayer is for fellowship and communion, not just to get things from God. On the other hand, God will do things in answer to prayer that He would not do if we didn't ask. God listens to more than just the words. He looks beyond what we think we need to what we really need, and He looks beyond our surface request to the desire behind the request. The desire is always answered, even though the details may vary.

Given that truth, there's no doubt that your childish prayers were answered. You were seeking peace and divine protection. You got it. You felt uneasy. You decided that fire and nose cancer were the dangers. Perhaps there were dangers you never dreamed of that God—in the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan—was able to protect you from, simply because you appealed your case to Him as best you understood. Even the kid who wanted St. Louis to be the capitol of Missouri, if his prayer was sincere, may have been really asking that God help him to pass his test or succeed in school. So even that prayer may have been answered.

True, not all prayers are answered at the time or in the way we expect. The Bible abounds with examples of sincere prayers (Mary and Martha's prayers for the healing of Lazarus, for example) that were not answered in the way the petitioners expected. But the Bible does not have a single example of a sincere prayer, no matter how awkwardly or foolishly expressed, to which God did not respond.

What is a sincere prayer? It is a prayer that rises from a heart that seeks God and His help. What is an insincere prayer? That would be like the formal prayers of the Pharisees, recited at the appropriate times and places, but with no heart desire backing up the words.

Sincere prayer gets answered. It's just that simple. True, God may not instantly send us the very thing for which we plead, any more than we always give our children exactly what they ask for. But He always answers. I memorized a poem when I was in grade school. It expresses well the reality of prayer:

Three ways God has to answer prayer
Sometimes He sayeth Yes.
Always 'tis joy for God to bless
His children in the way that brings them happiness.
And when He sendeth in accord,
We well may know it pleased the Lord
To answer this request.

But sometimes God says No.
He sees ahead, and so
He knows 'tis best that He deny
The thing for which we plead.
Not all we want, but what we need
He's promised to supply.

And then again, God speaketh low
Saying, Wait awhile, I must be slow
In answering thee this time.
Seest thou the stars that nightly burn?
Knowest thou the seasons that return?
These come when they are due
And so, my child, I'll answer you
Not now, but in a little while
And thou shalt see
Thy Father sent it when twas best for thee.

God answers prayer I know.
His ways I may not see, nor always understand.
But if I wait, or if I am denied
God sends the best, and all my needs are well supplied."