The sefer Ki Ata Imadi writes, a man came over to him one year a few days after Purim with a complaint. He said he had some issues with one of his children and after he learned all about the segulot of the day of Purim, he spent hours in heartfelt tefila , both on Ta'anit Esther and on Purim. He shed tears and begged Hashem to fix the problems with his child. Now, a few days later, he didn't see any change. "If Hashem answers everyone who asks Him on Purim, why wasn't I answered?" he asked. The rabbi thought about it and then told him, "You used the day of Purim properly. You prayed the way you are supposed to. You believed Hashem was going to help. There is no question that you were helped, but that doesn't mean you will necessarily see the results immediately." The rabbi gave him a mashal . When a child tells his father on the night of the Seder, "I'll give you the afikoman for a bicycle," and the father agrees, that doesn't mean the child is going to have a bicycle the next day. The father might feel that waiting a few months until the summer would be more beneficial for his child to have the bike then. The child accomplished on the night of the Seder, but it doesn't necessarily mean he's going to see the immediate results of that accomplishment. So, too, a person's tefillah on Purim for sure accomplished, but that doesn't mean that he'll necessarily see those results right away. The wheels might be in motion, things are happening behind the scenes, we're just not able to see them. There are so many things which happen that we can't see. Whenever we do a mitzvah or learn a word of Torah, so much goes on in the spiritual realms. Our souls become purified and blessings come down from Shamayim . We don't know which blessings stem from which mitzvah. We don't see when those blessings are being produced, but we know mitzvot produce goodness. We trust that Hashem knows how to apply them the way He sees fit. There are individuals with so much emunah. They know when they act l'shem Shamayim Hashem is proud of them and brings blessing to their efforts. They are so confident about it that they are even willing to act upon that emunah. Rabbi Noach Weinberg, z"l , the founder of Aish HaTorah, once met a Jew at the Kotel who was very distanced from Torah and mitzvot. He spoke to him for a while and then he invited him to his home to eat. The young man was very impressed with what the Rabbi was saying and he actually agreed to come learn in his yeshiva for some time. The boy was very smart and quickly advanced in his learning. After two solid weeks there, he told the Rabbi, "Thank you very much, butI have to leave now." The Rabbi asked why, since he was doing so well. The young man said, "I'm a master chess player and I have to go to play in the World Chess Championship that is being held in America." The Rabbi knew once this boy left he was never returning. He felt bad for him, for his neshama , not to mention that he had so much potential. At that moment, Rabbi Weinberg made a tefila to Hashem to please put the words in his mouth that could convince this boy to stay. Then the Rabbi got an idea. He told the boy, "Before you go, let me make you a deal. I will play you one game of chess. If you win the game, I'll pay for your flight to America. But if I win, then you agree to stay here and learn more." The boy happily agreed and shook the Rabbi's hand on it. They sat and played and, astonishingly, the Rabbi beat this world expert in chess. The boy had no choice but to stay and, baruch Hashem, he eventually grew to become a true ben Torah . Some months after that, the boy asked the Rabbi a question. He said, "I agreed to the chess game because I was confident I would beat you, but please tell me, what were you thinking? How could you make a deal like that, knowing how good I was?" The Rabbi replied, "I wanted more than anything for you to continue your growth in Torah and mitzvot and get closer to Hashem. I had no ulterior motives. I was pure. So I prayed to Hashem to help me and I believe that He put that thought in my brain to offer you the chess match. I knew when someone is l'shem Shamayim , Hashem gives them extraordinary help. That having been said, I relied on Hashem to move my fingers and tell me where to put the pieces so I could defeat you. And that's what happened." Hashem helps us all the time. We are not always able to see it clearly. We should never second guess our emunah. Things are happening behind the scenes. Hashem is answering our tefilot and He is leading us in the directions that we need to go in.