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Speaker: We are on day five of our ADHD

Speaker: friendly advent study, so let's

Speaker: dive in.

Speaker: But first, if you are new here, my name is Rachel.

Speaker: I'm an ADHD and a Jesus lover

Speaker: and I help other women with

Speaker: chaotic brains seek, find and

Speaker: live the abundant life that

Speaker: Jesus offers.

Speaker: This is a free advent study I'm doing.

Speaker: There is a workbook that also is free.

Speaker: You can download that at the link in my bio.

Speaker: And again while I am doing this for free, if you would like to

Speaker: support the study and support me by buying me a coffee, you can

Speaker: do that in my bio as well.

Speaker: Okay, let's get into it for the day.

Speaker: Oh, and last thing, if you are just finding me right now, you

Speaker: are not behind.

Speaker: No one is ever behind here.

Speaker: This is intentionally designed to be low effort, high impact

Speaker: for my fellow ADHD girlies or girlies with chaotic brains.

Speaker: So for those of you who are just

Speaker: joining us, we are doing a song

Speaker: every single week leading up to

Speaker: Christmas.

Speaker: So this week's song is oh come oh Come Emmanuel.

Speaker: If you haven't listened to it in a while, go listen to it.

Speaker: Skillet just released a fantastic version, and then we

Speaker: have a scripture passage for today, as well as a journaling

Speaker: prompt for today, and all of this is in the workbook.

Speaker: Very nicely laid out.

Speaker: There is a suggested schedule for how to complete the study.

Speaker: If you know a little more structure is your jam that is in

Speaker: there, or you can just complete it however your heart desires.

Speaker: So I will stop saying, let's get

Speaker: into it, let's actually get into

Speaker: it.

Speaker: And if you hear wild squawking,

Speaker: one of my chickens is laying an

Speaker: egg right now, so please ignore

Speaker: that.

Speaker: So we are reading Luke one twenty six through thirty eight

Speaker: today in the sixth month.

Speaker: Oh, I'm in the ESV, by the way.

Speaker: In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a

Speaker: city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man

Speaker: whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.

Speaker: And the virgin's name was Mary.

Speaker: And he came to her and said, greetings, O favored one, the

Speaker: Lord is with you.

Speaker: But she was greatly troubled at

Speaker: the saying, and tried to discern

Speaker: what sort of greeting this might

Speaker: be.

Speaker: And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you

Speaker: have found favor with God.

Speaker: And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and

Speaker: you shall call his name Jesus.

Speaker: And he will be great, and will

Speaker: be called the son of the Most

Speaker: High.

Speaker: And the Lord your God will give

Speaker: to him the throne of his father

Speaker: David, and he will reign over

Speaker: the house of Jacob forever, and

Speaker: of his kingdom there will be no

Speaker: end.

Speaker: And Mary said to the angel, how

Speaker: will this be, since I am a

Speaker: virgin?

Speaker: And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

Speaker: and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Speaker: Therefore the child to be born

Speaker: will be called holy, the Son of

Speaker: God.

Speaker: And behold, your relative Elizabeth, in her old age also

Speaker: has conceived a son.

Speaker: And this is an.

Speaker: And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

Speaker: For nothing will be impossible with God.

Speaker: And Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord.

Speaker: Let it be to me according to your word.

Speaker: And the angel departed from her.

Speaker: Now, before we get into the journaling prompt for the day, I

Speaker: want to talk a little bit because this response that Mary

Speaker: has seems very, very similar to the one that Zechariah gives

Speaker: just a few verses before Zechariah is told, hey, your

Speaker: wife is going to have a baby, and he's like, ah, how is that

Speaker: going to happen?

Speaker: My wife and I are old.

Speaker: And he then is rendered unable

Speaker: to speak until the child is

Speaker: born.

Speaker: Meanwhile we say, Mary, Here we see Mary saying, how will this

Speaker: be since I am a virgin?

Speaker: They seem like very, very similar responses.

Speaker: So it kind of seems like God is

Speaker: giving an inconsistent response

Speaker: when given the same prompt,

Speaker: essentially.

Speaker: But there's a really important

Speaker: distinction here that I want to

Speaker: look at.

Speaker: So looking at the verse, Zachariah says in verse

Speaker: eighteen, we're still in chapter one, verse eighteen.

Speaker: And Zechariah said to the angel, how shall I know this?

Speaker: For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.

Speaker: Zechariah, there's kind of an arguing back.

Speaker: And we know this by looking at the word here for.

Speaker: No, he says, how shall I know this?

Speaker: And the word here is ginosko, which means to know for sure.

Speaker: So he basically is going, okay,

Speaker: and how am I supposed to trust

Speaker: you?

Speaker: Whereas when we look at what Mary says, she says, and the

Speaker: angel said to Mary.

Speaker: And Mary said to the angel, how

Speaker: will this be, since I am a

Speaker: virgin?

Speaker: And what we see from how Mary phrases her question.

Speaker: I'm going to post a screenshot of the words up here, because

Speaker: there's several and I won't.

Speaker: I don't want to take too much time going through them, but

Speaker: essentially what we gather from the words, the original words

Speaker: that build up how Mary phrased her question is, how is this

Speaker: going to happen?

Speaker: It's not asking to be convinced.

Speaker: It's asking about the mechanics, which, when you think about it,

Speaker: makes perfect sense because she is think about it.

Speaker: She is a young girl who has who

Speaker: is a virgin being told, hey,

Speaker: you're going to have a baby in

Speaker: you.

Speaker: And as far as she knows, there is one way for that to happen.

Speaker: So she very much has a spirit of

Speaker: like, all right, give me the

Speaker: details.

Speaker: Whereas Zachariah is going, oh yeah, prove it.

Speaker: So that kind of section has

Speaker: always bugged me because I'm

Speaker: like, they basically did the

Speaker: same thing, like Cain and Abel,

Speaker: right?

Speaker: They both brought offerings to the Lord, but they got very,

Speaker: very, very different results.

Speaker: It comes down to the heart and we can tell a little bit more

Speaker: about where their hearts were at and the questions they were

Speaker: actually answering by going back to the original text.

Speaker: But let's go ahead and proceed with today's journaling prompt.

Speaker: Again, all of this is in the workbook that you can get for

Speaker: free at the link in my bio.

Speaker: Otherwise I will read out the prompt to you.

Speaker: You can pause it, go answer it,

Speaker: and then we'll keep talking

Speaker: about it.

Speaker: So today we are on Scripture journaling prompt number four.

Speaker: Has God ever asked something of

Speaker: you that you felt completely

Speaker: unprepared for?

Speaker: How did his plan for your good

Speaker: become clear as that situation

Speaker: played out?

Speaker: Or if you're still in that season, how do you see his

Speaker: goodness even in the darkness?

Speaker: So before we talk about it, pause this video, go do some

Speaker: journaling on this prompt, and then come back to me for me.

Speaker: A couple years ago, I and I've

Speaker: talked quite a bit about this,

Speaker: but I became a single mom quite

Speaker: literally.

Speaker: Overnight.

Speaker: I went from planning for my

Speaker: second baby to being served

Speaker: divorce papers, no longer living

Speaker: in the home that I absolutely

Speaker: loved, having to figure out how

Speaker: to provide for myself and this

Speaker: little baby that I had while

Speaker: learning how to be a mom for the

Speaker: first time.

Speaker: And at first blush, I look back

Speaker: and I'm like, wow, I was

Speaker: completely unprepared for that

Speaker: situation.

Speaker: But when I look closer and what I want to encourage you to do,

Speaker: if you haven't done the prompt, please go do it, because I'm

Speaker: going somewhere with this.

Speaker: But what I want to encourage you to do is look back and see how

Speaker: God actually had been preparing you for that situation.

Speaker: So in my case, I have always

Speaker: really struggled with female

Speaker: friendships.

Speaker: I was primarily just friends with guys growing up.

Speaker: I always had a really awkward dynamic with other women, with

Speaker: other girls when I was growing up, and I very much did the

Speaker: whole like, oh, guys are just like way easier.

Speaker: There's so much less drama when

Speaker: really it's that I did not

Speaker: understand how female

Speaker: friendships worked.

Speaker: And once I started to really

Speaker: take my faith seriously

Speaker: throughout that process, a

Speaker: friend of mine invited me to a

Speaker: Bible study that she had been

Speaker: part of.

Speaker: And literally the moment I walked through the door that

Speaker: first night, I got the sense that something was different.

Speaker: I felt welcome, I felt connected, and that group over

Speaker: time became my circle, my tribe.

Speaker: They were my people, and that

Speaker: those relationships I cultivated

Speaker: and cultivated, for I believe I

Speaker: was in that group for about

Speaker: three years before I got

Speaker: divorced.

Speaker: And hold on.

Speaker: Between building that group of

Speaker: women around me and digging into

Speaker: my faith and deepening my faith

Speaker: and relying more and more on

Speaker: God, the best way I can describe

Speaker: it is so, you know, when they're

Speaker: working on historical buildings

Speaker: and they have to build up these

Speaker: supports and scaffolds to make

Speaker: sure that the structure is

Speaker: supported while they do work on

Speaker: it.

Speaker: The best way I can describe what happened is God built up these

Speaker: supports in my life so that when my entire life imploded and

Speaker: everything I knew crumbled, I was still left standing.

Speaker: God did such a gentle, beautiful

Speaker: job of building a support,

Speaker: building a community around me

Speaker: so that when everything I had

Speaker: ever known pretty much

Speaker: disintegrated into thin air when

Speaker: the future I had honestly really

Speaker: pridefully thought I had secured

Speaker: for myself.

Speaker: When that was completely gone and my life had really no

Speaker: forward trajectory at that point, it was all uncertain.

Speaker: God helped me pick up the pieces.

Speaker: I was not completely broken.

Speaker: It was incredibly difficult.

Speaker: Yeah, but I had the community.

Speaker: I had the supports.

Speaker: I had the resources to be able

Speaker: to move forward instead of being

Speaker: completely crushed.

Speaker: And so journaling about that got me thinking that I wonder what

Speaker: Mary had had to overcome.

Speaker: I wonder what refinement had happened in her life.

Speaker: I wonder what fears and beliefs and thoughts she had about

Speaker: herself and about her life that God had to systematically break

Speaker: down in her in order for this to be her reaction.

Speaker: In order for this to be bringing

Speaker: Jesus into the world, to be

Speaker: something that she was equipped

Speaker: to do.

Speaker: So a thought that I had here was he is faithful to prepare and

Speaker: equip us if we allow ourselves to be prepared and equipped.

Speaker: I don't ever want to have to wonder how would this situation

Speaker: be different if I had listened.

Speaker: And so, moving forward in my life, I forever want to be on

Speaker: the path that God has for me.

Speaker: Not because it's the easiest

Speaker: path, not because it's the most

Speaker: prosperous path.

Speaker: Not because it's the most fun path.

Speaker: Because let's be real, following Jesus is hard, and a lot of

Speaker: times it doesn't feel like it makes sense right now.

Speaker: But I forever will strive to be on the path he has for me

Speaker: because I don't know what's coming ahead, and I don't ever

Speaker: want to miss his preparation because of my own selfishness or

Speaker: my own pride, I absolutely have.

Speaker: I spent so much of my life just

Speaker: feeling like I had all of the

Speaker: answers.

Speaker: I grew up in the church.

Speaker: I grew up going to Christian school.

Speaker: I very much felt like I had it figured out, well, you marry a

Speaker: nice Christian boy after you go to a nice Christian college and

Speaker: then you have a nice Christian life with some nice Christian

Speaker: kids going to your nice Christian church, maybe even

Speaker: your nice Christian Wednesday night Bible study.

Speaker: That's what I thought following Jesus boiled down to.

Speaker: And boy was I wrong.

Speaker: I wasted the vast majority of my life feeling that way.

Speaker: And so I am so dedicated to.

Speaker: And this is an ongoing process.

Speaker: I am by no means saying, hey, I've got it figured out.

Speaker: Follow me because I know what I'm doing, I don't.

Speaker: I absolutely don't, but I have lived the difference.

Speaker: And so I want to encourage you

Speaker: to join me in having a renewed

Speaker: focus on seeking Christ, seeking

Speaker: his path, seeking his direction

Speaker: not because of how it's going to

Speaker: affect our lives now, but

Speaker: because we do not see the path

Speaker: ahead.

Speaker: We do not know how he is

Speaker: planning to equip us and prepare

Speaker: us now for things that are

Speaker: ahead.

Speaker: And that can be really scary stuff like, you know, getting

Speaker: divorced from your high school sweetheart when you're a brand

Speaker: new mom and suddenly don't have your own place to live, or that

Speaker: can be really beautiful.

Speaker: God had the most incredible marriage for me, and it's

Speaker: because I was doing the work, working on myself, going to

Speaker: therapy, growing in my faith, working on my community,

Speaker: building into my life that when the incredible man I get to call

Speaker: my husband came along.

Speaker: He had been doing all of those things as well.

Speaker: And when God brought us

Speaker: together, we were ready for each

Speaker: other.

Speaker: And things are difficult.

Speaker: Absolutely.

Speaker: Life is not perfect or easy by any stretch of the imagination.

Speaker: But the marriage that we get to share, and the camaraderie that

Speaker: we have and the genuine partnership that we have and the

Speaker: love that we have is so incredibly worth it.

Speaker: So God is preparing and equipping us, yes, for scary

Speaker: things that are going to be really difficult to get through

Speaker: on our own.

Speaker: So we better prepare for them with him, but also so that we're

Speaker: ready to enjoy the fullness and the blessing that he has for us.

Speaker: So little bonus prompt for you today.

Speaker: This is actually not in the workbook.

Speaker: Maybe I'll go add it to the workbook, but I want to

Speaker: encourage you today, sit down with your journal and ask God to

Speaker: show you where in your life are you deviating from his plan?

Speaker: Not for your own prosperity, not so that your own life is easier,

Speaker: but so that you don't miss out on what he has for you.

Speaker: Ask him.

Speaker: He will show you.

Speaker: James is very clear that when we seek him with a whole heart, we

Speaker: will find him, and that he gives wisdom to those who ask.

Speaker: So I want to encourage you take some time today and seek his

Speaker: face on where you need to fine tune and find his path.

Speaker: Okay, that is all I have for you.

Speaker: These episodes are available as

Speaker: podcast episodes on my podcast,

Speaker: The True Grit Podcast with

Speaker: Rachel Grit.

Speaker: The link to that is in my bio.

Speaker: Make sure you go get the workbook that's in my bio.

Speaker: If you would like to support me and buy me a coffee that is also

Speaker: in my bio.

Speaker: Please share this video, share it with a friend, share it on

Speaker: your social media, whatever the case may be.

Speaker: It really helps not just me

Speaker: build my platform, but also

Speaker: reach more people and be able to

Speaker: have a bigger impact for people

Speaker: as well.

Speaker: So I will see you tomorrow.

Speaker: Bye.