Okay, here's my take on it. I may get shouted down...aaaaaaagh I've just read this through; it's a bit long. I do apologise!
We christians tend to believe that God does intervene in our lives, in all sorts of ways. Sometimes when we pray, we really need a bit of wisdom so that we know how to handle situations, or a better sense of perspective, or sometimes we want God to do a miracle (like in the case of someone with terminal cancer). And speaking for myself, when I pray I do expect God to listen and answer, even though He is under no obligation to give me whatever I ask for. i could tell you loads of stories of the ways in which I believe God has answered prayer in my life. Of course if you don't believe in God you could say that these were co-incidences, so obviously the way in which you interpret "answers to prayer" depends on your perspective, i.e. your beliefs.
So there have been times when I have prayed and things have "come to me", snippets of wisdom that are way beyond the level of my normal thoughts. Sometimes I have thought of someone and felt moved to pray for them, then phoned them to say hi and seen that at just that time they were really low or in need.
One of the most striking examples in my life of "God speaking" is that I went to a christian camping week a year ago - dh stayed home to look after the dc and during that week I really felt that God was leading me towards exploring becoming a CofE vicar (as to how I felt God leading me, that's another long story!) Anyway I didn't tell anyone about this and when I got home I said to dh "This week I feel like God has given me some real direction for the future" and dh replied "Yes, I know, you're going to be a vicar" We have been married for over 10 years and have never even mentioned becming a vicar until this point When I asked dh how he knew, he just said "Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" But the thing is, it wasn't obvious at all. He didn't say "God told me" but I think God must have had something to do with it!
Sometimes people can get a bit fixated on "hearing God speak" or praying for miracles to the point that if they don't see the miracle, they no longer believe in God, and IMO that's sad. IMO it's perfectly valid for christians to pray genuinely (i.e. fully expecting God to intervene) but there has to be that thing that Jesus taught his people to pray - "Your will be done" (i.e. not what we want, but what God wants).
And life has to go on as well - as well as praying, christians are taught to live their everyday, noraml lives in such a way to reflect Jesus (by being kind, loving, etc etc). And to expect that often God answers prayers through other people, or even through us. IME withdrawing from life's demands and only ever praying does indicate an inability to cope with life. (which may be like your friend; I don't know as I don't know her).