When I ask you to listen to me and you start to give me advice, you have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn't feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem, you have failed me, strange as that may seem.
Listen!
All I asked was that you listen.
Not talk or do – just hear me.
I can do for myself, I'm not helpless.
I maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.
When you do something for me that I can, and need, to do for myself, you contribute to my fear and weakness.
But, when you accept as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational, then I can stop trying to convince you and get on with understanding what is behind this irrational feeling.
And when that is clear, the answers are obvious and I don't need advice.
The irrational feelings make sense when we understand what is behind them.
Perhaps that is why prayer works for some people.
God is silent, and He doesn't give advice or try to fix things. He just listens and lets you work it out for yourself.
So, please listen and just hear me.
And if you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn, and I'll listen to you.