My earlier post actually neglected to answer the thread's question. The truth is that I did feel as a JW that God was answering my prayers as a youth when I would ask for help avoiding temptations -- for a while. The power of the prayer would soon wear off. I blamed myself for not praying more often and being a more studious, committed Witness, in which case God would keep the holy spirit with me longer. There were long years of guilt and self-doubt over this.
Later on I realized that I had no clear evidence that God was helping me in the first place. It occurred to me that I had probably just been reinforcing in my own mind something that I wanted to work on, like a form of meditation, which briefly boosted my willpower. I cannot prove that God wasn't answering my prayers for short periods of time, however I eventually realized that I would rather base my life on proof and not wishful thinking and guesswork, so I've stopped holding "conversations" with a person who never clearly responded to me.
I never asked for things, or for something concrete like help finding a job. So I never tested whether a prayer could have a specific material outcome.