I often find myself asking God to give me patience or give me love or give me grace. I'm not about to say that's wrong to ask for, but I think that more often than not, God doesn't just POOF! give you the ability to be patience. It's not a superpower that some day He's just going to magically give you. These are things that are more likely learned. So when we ask Him to give us these qualities that we need and that we lack, we should really open our eyes to where He could be teach us those things throughout the day.
Maybe the answer to your prayer isn't that I just suddenly have patience or love or grace. Maybe the answer is that He's allowed me to be placed in a frustrating situation today. That punk user that calls me about something so ridiculous could be the answer to my prayer because it gives me an opportunity to learn the patience I've asked for. So I need to keep my eyes open for my prayers being answered in a less-conventional way that I'd think, and in a harder way than I'd prefer.
It also teaches me to thank God in all situations because the annoyances are most likely things that He's using to refine us. Some times a whiny customer isn't just a whiny customer. Some times it's a gift. a blessing.

As always, i know these are pretty elementary thoughts, but apparently I seem to lose sight of the simple things. I always seem to find myself asking for Him to give me these qualities without stopping to think what I'm really asking for or how He could be answering my prayers. Do we really look for His answers when we pray? or do we just expect stuff to happen? i don't know. that's what i'm thinking about this morning.