Excerpt from HOLY HANDS, Chapter 1...

"Jesus prayed three times - each time saying the same thing - in the garden of Gethsemane. He was preparing to face the greatest ordeal of His life. After praying for the third time, He was ready for the Father's will to be done (Matthew 26:46). The apostle Paul prayed three times concerning his "thorn in the flesh" until he came to the point where he accepted the Lord's will (2 Corinthians 12:8). God's response shifted his focus from seeing the situation as a problem to discerning the Lord's strength perfected in his weakness. Sometimes, it takes praying repeatedly to get us to the point where we can receive and accept God's answer."