Seeing the Light

Although William Donohue's Catholic League has the following statement:

The miraculous rescue of all 33 Chilean miners is difficult to understand from a purely secular perspective. In this day and age of militant atheism, coupled with relentless assaults on Roman Catholicism, it is refreshing to read about the central role that Catholicism played in helping these courageous men survive, and of their enormous gratitude to God. -NO ATHEISTS IN [CHILEAN] MINES

One miner said "We always knew that we would be rescued, we never lost faith." Does such belief have an effect on the outcome. Not hope I'm talking about here, I mean feeling positive (knowing) that the outcome will be a good one. Let me give you an example from my own life. I know that Bret "Ginx" Alan will someday come to his senses, and I'm never going to lose faith that he'll eventually see the light.

In the meantime, I still puzzle over things like the Chilean miner ordeal. Why are we always grateful to God for getting us out of a mess, when as an all-powerful being, he could have prevented us getting into it in the first place?