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Speaker: We are on day six of our ADHD friendly advent study, so let's

Speaker: go ahead and dig in.

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

Speaker: I'm an ADHD and a Jesus follower and I help women with chaotic

Speaker: brains seek, find, and live the abundant life Jesus promises.

Speaker: This is a study that I am doing through the season of advent.

Speaker: You are not behind if you are just finding it.

Speaker: It's specifically designed to be low effort and high impact.

Speaker: There is a suggested schedule in

Speaker: the free workbook that's

Speaker: available at the link in the

Speaker: place where links typically

Speaker: live.

Speaker: Um, that is free.

Speaker: You can go grab that.

Speaker: That would be very, very helpful to you.

Speaker: So there is a suggested schedule in there.

Speaker: But if you prefer a little bit more free flowing of structure,

Speaker: if you're not a structure gal, that is totally fine.

Speaker: You can do it however you would like, but there is a suggested

Speaker: schedule if that is better for how your brain works.

Speaker: All right, let's go ahead and dive in.

Speaker: So we've got three items on the docket for today.

Speaker: We are rereading Luke one thirty seven, doing some listening

Speaker: prayer on that, which we will kind of talk through.

Speaker: Then we've got a journaling prompt.

Speaker: And finally there are some extra resources to go through.

Speaker: So the verse we are reading

Speaker: today is from yesterday's

Speaker: reading.

Speaker: We're still in Luke one, but we

Speaker: are in verse thirty seven, for

Speaker: nothing will be impossible with

Speaker: God.

Speaker: It is a short one.

Speaker: It is a sweet one, but it is

Speaker: also one that can bring up a lot

Speaker: for people.

Speaker: So what I would like for you to do now, and you can pause and

Speaker: take some time to do this and then come back.

Speaker: That is what I would recommend.

Speaker: Again, all of this is in the workbook.

Speaker: You can go download that at the

Speaker: link in the place where links

Speaker: live.

Speaker: Um, but we are going to do some listening prayer.

Speaker: If you are new to listening prayer that is a okay.

Speaker: Basically what I want you to do is grab your journal, grab your

Speaker: Bible, and find as quiet of a place as you can.

Speaker: This is not you know, this is

Speaker: not a place where you need

Speaker: perfection.

Speaker: You don't need a completely like

Speaker: stone quiet or stones quiet, I

Speaker: guess.

Speaker: So, uh, you don't need a

Speaker: completely silent room to sit

Speaker: in.

Speaker: Um, a lot of us have really busy, chaotic lives.

Speaker: Some of us have tiny little people running around screaming

Speaker: for our attention.

Speaker: Like whatever your specific situation is, find the most

Speaker: peaceful place possible.

Speaker: For me, that typically looks like somewhere in nature.

Speaker: This is my backyard, I love it.

Speaker: I love my backyard so much.

Speaker: Um, but it is just being

Speaker: surrounded by nature really

Speaker: helps me connect with God the

Speaker: best.

Speaker: So maybe there is a closet that

Speaker: you like to sit in when you need

Speaker: a moment.

Speaker: Honestly, maybe it's like sitting in the tub or on the

Speaker: bathroom floor with the door closed so the little people

Speaker: can't find you quite yet.

Speaker: Maybe it's in your car when you're coming home from work,

Speaker: and you do that thing where you kind of, like, sit in your car

Speaker: to decompress for a while.

Speaker: Don't get stuck.

Speaker: I get stuck there sometimes.

Speaker: But anyways, whatever realistic peace looks like for you today,

Speaker: whatever is going to be doable right now, I want you to go find

Speaker: that place and we're going to sit in silence.

Speaker: As much silence as we can manage.

Speaker: Again, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Speaker: And you're going to start with a prayer that essentially just

Speaker: opens your heart up to God.

Speaker: There I have my specific prayer that I use at the beginning of

Speaker: my listening prayer in the workbook, which I will pull up

Speaker: and read to you.

Speaker: Um, I pretty much just do some

Speaker: variation of this every time I'm

Speaker: going to do listening prayer,

Speaker: but it goes along the lines of

Speaker: Heavenly Father, I invite you

Speaker: in.

Speaker: Please silence any voices that are not yours and bind the enemy

Speaker: so he's unable to interfere.

Speaker: I ask for you to open my eyes and my mind and my heart to see,

Speaker: hear and obey your word as you would have me do it.

Speaker: Please bring anything to the surface, known or unknown, that

Speaker: is keeping me from being fully connected to you.

Speaker: That's pretty much it.

Speaker: So we're inviting God in.

Speaker: We're asking him to speak.

Speaker: We're asking him to open our hearts and our minds, and we are

Speaker: asking him to get things out of the way that need to be moved.

Speaker: That part can be painful, but

Speaker: that's another story for another

Speaker: time.

Speaker: So once you have taken some time to settle, then we're going to

Speaker: write out the verse.

Speaker: I just writing the word really helps me connect to it.

Speaker: Writing anything we know.

Speaker: Research tells us that writing

Speaker: things helps it connect with our

Speaker: brain.

Speaker: It helps us understand.

Speaker: It helps us learn.

Speaker: So personally, I like to write the verse in cursive and then

Speaker: everything else in print.

Speaker: That's just like a fun little

Speaker: thing for me, and it feels like

Speaker: a little bit more of like an

Speaker: elevation.

Speaker: Since we're writing scripture, it's like, oh, it's fancy.

Speaker: It's it's cursive.

Speaker: You do not have to do that.

Speaker: That's just what I do.

Speaker: And from there, the question I always start with is, what do

Speaker: you want me to know today?

Speaker: And then you just sit.

Speaker: You allow the spirit to bring to

Speaker: the surface, whatever that may

Speaker: be.

Speaker: Now, there's a lot of questions that go into listening.

Speaker: Prayer.

Speaker: One of the biggest is, okay, how

Speaker: do I know if I'm just hearing my

Speaker: own thoughts, or if I'm hearing

Speaker: God's voice?

Speaker: And I'm going to make the argument that if you know God's

Speaker: Word, it doesn't really matter.

Speaker: Now, that might sound a little bit crazy.

Speaker: I do very much believe that I

Speaker: hear God's voice when I am doing

Speaker: listening prayer.

Speaker: But even if you are not sure

Speaker: about that, when you are

Speaker: operating from a place of

Speaker: authenticity, when you are

Speaker: engaging in God's Word, in good

Speaker: faith, when you are genuinely

Speaker: trying to get to know him, it's

Speaker: kind of like any friend that you

Speaker: have, right?

Speaker: If you know your friend really,

Speaker: really well, you can kind of

Speaker: know what their response to

Speaker: something would be or what they

Speaker: might say.

Speaker: For example, my mom's opinion of a lot of the things that I do is

Speaker: that it's fabulous.

Speaker: That's her favorite word.

Speaker: She's like, oh, that's fabulous.

Speaker: Oh, this bread is fabulous.

Speaker: Oh, this this is fabulous.

Speaker: And so if I do something that I know that my mom would have a

Speaker: positive reaction to, I can basically already know what

Speaker: she's gonna say, right?

Speaker: She's gonna go, oh, Rachel, that's fabulous.

Speaker: It's kind of the same concept with God when we know the word,

Speaker: when we are taking his Word in, when we are learning His word

Speaker: and studying his precepts, and genuinely trying to understand

Speaker: and know and learn his heart and imitate his heart.

Speaker: A lot of times we can know what he would say about something.

Speaker: And so especially if you are

Speaker: skeptical about this and it's

Speaker: totally fine if you are

Speaker: skeptical.

Speaker: The first time I heard of the concept of listening prayer, I

Speaker: was like, oh, oh, it's a cult.

Speaker: It's not a cult.

Speaker: I absolutely promise you, even

Speaker: if this is something that is

Speaker: really difficult for you to wrap

Speaker: your brain around, I want you to

Speaker: just think about it as a

Speaker: journaling exercise, where you

Speaker: are thinking through your

Speaker: knowledge of God and His Word

Speaker: and going, okay, what would

Speaker: God's response be in a situation

Speaker: like this?

Speaker: And then from there, when you have a prompt or when you have

Speaker: something that you are writing down, when you have an answer,

Speaker: then you can go back and pray over it and go, okay, God, I

Speaker: need you to direct me.

Speaker: Is this your voice that I'm hearing?

Speaker: You know, is this true?

Speaker: Is this what your response would be to something?

Speaker: And we've all experienced little nudges in our spirit, right.

Speaker: Whether you want to call that your conscience, whether you

Speaker: want to call that the Holy Spirit, whatever the case may

Speaker: be, we've all experienced a little nudge before, and it

Speaker: takes a lot of practice.

Speaker: But listening to those nudges while informing them with

Speaker: Scripture listening prayer is not in any way, shape or form a

Speaker: substitute for Scripture.

Speaker: It will never contradict scripture anything.

Speaker: If you hear something that's like completely contrary to

Speaker: Scripture and the nature of God and the nature of Jesus, that is

Speaker: not God talking to you.

Speaker: Um, but when you are genuinely operating in good faith, taking

Speaker: in the word, digging into God's Spirit and who he is, getting to

Speaker: know him, this can be a really wonderful way, even if it is

Speaker: just a thought exercise for you.

Speaker: Even if it is purely theoretical for you to go, okay, what would

Speaker: God say about this?

Speaker: There is so much value that can be found here.

Speaker: So I want you to take some time and do what we just described

Speaker: with Luke one thirty seven.

Speaker: You can use whatever version you would like.

Speaker: I always recommend looking at a couple different versions.

Speaker: There is no perfect version of the Bible.

Speaker: The Bible is a translation

Speaker: that's it's never going to be

Speaker: perfect.

Speaker: So looking at multiple translations and digging into

Speaker: the original text and the historical context is crucially

Speaker: important for understanding what Scripture actually says.

Speaker: There are plenty of examples of verses that, when looked at in

Speaker: plain English, seem very clearly to mean one thing.

Speaker: But when you look at them with

Speaker: the context, with the original

Speaker: language, all of that good

Speaker: stuff.

Speaker: It is a completely different meaning.

Speaker: So take some time.

Speaker: Pause.

Speaker: Go do some listening prayer on Luke one thirty seven and then

Speaker: we will move on.

Speaker: Once you're back.

Speaker: Go do it.

Speaker: I'm serious.

Speaker: Go do it.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Did you do it?

Speaker: If not, here's one more chance to pause.

Speaker: Go do some listening prayer or some journaling, if that's what

Speaker: you want to call it.

Speaker: Whatever you want to do to

Speaker: engage with this verse on a

Speaker: deeper level.

Speaker: Go do that and then come back.

Speaker: Okay, let's move on for real this time.

Speaker: There are a couple extra resources that I pulled for you

Speaker: while you're going through this process, while you're going

Speaker: through this study.

Speaker: Those links are available in the workbook, which again is at the

Speaker: link in the place where go over to my profile.

Speaker: You'll see it.

Speaker: Um, but those links are in there.

Speaker: There is an article from the Bible Project.

Speaker: I'm a huge fan of the Bible Project.

Speaker: They are fantastic.

Speaker: They.

Speaker: Their hearts are so beautiful.

Speaker: They have such an intense, deep knowledge of the Word of God and

Speaker: of the original context and of the original language.

Speaker: It's phenomenal.

Speaker: And everything over there is free.

Speaker: So definitely go check out the Bible Project, go support them.

Speaker: But they have a really fantastic article that outlines and dives

Speaker: deep on what is advent and what can we learn from it.

Speaker: There are a couple highlights that I pulled from it that I

Speaker: will be sending out.

Speaker: I do a weekly newsletter called The Sabbath Edit that gets sent

Speaker: out on Sundays.

Speaker: You can probably guess.

Speaker: Um, but if you want to sign up for that and receive that

Speaker: newsletter every week, that'll have kind of what I'm learning

Speaker: that week, some podcast episodes or some articles or things that

Speaker: I found really interesting, a couple things that I'm really

Speaker: enjoying that week and that gets sent out on Sunday.

Speaker: So if you want to join that, you can head over to the link in my

Speaker: profile as well.

Speaker: Um, but I would very, very strongly encourage you to go

Speaker: read the article about advent from the Bible Project.

Speaker: And if you don't want to go pull the link from the workbook, you

Speaker: can just Google search it, Advent Bible Project and you

Speaker: should be good to go.

Speaker: The sun got real intense, so I pulled the shade down.

Speaker: I just have the workbook pulled up here on my iPad, which again

Speaker: go download it.

Speaker: It is free.

Speaker: Um, so journaling prompt number five for the scripture portion

Speaker: this week is Luke one thirty seven tells us nothing will be

Speaker: impossible with God.

Speaker: What feelings, thoughts,

Speaker: memories, or ideas rise to the

Speaker: surface when you read this

Speaker: verse?

Speaker: Now what I want you to do.

Speaker: This is another point where I'm going to tell you to pause.

Speaker: Go do some journaling on that particular question.

Speaker: You can rewind it as many times as you need to, but pause here,

Speaker: go do the journaling portion and then come back.

Speaker: Did you do it?

Speaker: Did you pause it?

Speaker: Did you go journal?

Speaker: If you didn't go do it and then we'll continue.

Speaker: Oh, cool.

Speaker: I recorded the entire rest of

Speaker: the video and then it got

Speaker: deleted.

Speaker: All right.

Speaker: Well, anyways, so what I would like to do, I am just going to

Speaker: go ahead and read what I got.

Speaker: Um, you know what came to my heart when I was doing this

Speaker: scripture prompt today?

Speaker: And now I'm trying to remember what I have already said that

Speaker: got recorded in the video.

Speaker: Um, and what didn't.

Speaker: So if I end up repeating myself,

Speaker: I'm sorry, but, you know, I try

Speaker: to be as authentic as I can on

Speaker: this channel.

Speaker: It's not published.

Speaker: My podcast episodes, uh, the long ones are quite a bit more

Speaker: polished, but especially here on this particular platform.

Speaker: I like to just keep it real.

Speaker: So, you know what?

Speaker: If I repeat myself, I repeat myself.

Speaker: Um, so be it.

Speaker: But I have been.

Speaker: I've tried to be as vulnerable as possible here on this

Speaker: channel, um, that it's been a very, very difficult season and

Speaker: a very long, difficult season.

Speaker: Um, even before my husband and I met, um, I've talked quite a bit

Speaker: about our story, but long story short, we both went through our

Speaker: own brutal divorces.

Speaker: Um, and then he was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Speaker: Actually, the brain cancer diagnosis happened earlier, but

Speaker: that's a whole thing.

Speaker: Um, and then when we found each

Speaker: other and got married less than

Speaker: two months into marriage, more

Speaker: cancer.

Speaker: Uh, he wasn't even finished with treatment for the first one yet.

Speaker: Then he ended up losing his job.

Speaker: Uh, which is a whole thing, which was a very, let's say, the

Speaker: word unfair situation.

Speaker: We'll just say it was an unfair situation.

Speaker: Um, and he has been looking for another job for quite a while

Speaker: now, and it's just been a very long season of uncertainty.

Speaker: There's still so much to be incredibly grateful for.

Speaker: We are still very privileged

Speaker: people to be in the position

Speaker: that we are, even with the stuff

Speaker: that we have dealt with, and

Speaker: there is so much to be grateful

Speaker: for.

Speaker: But it's also really freaking heavy sometimes.

Speaker: And so I just want to read to you the prompt, uh, or what came

Speaker: to my heart when I was journaling through this prompt.

Speaker: And there's, there's a point once we kind of get to the

Speaker: middle, that's what I really, really want to talk about.

Speaker: So it's a mix of trepidation.

Speaker: Well, let me read the question one more time.

Speaker: Sorry.

Speaker: We're a little it's a little chaotic today.

Speaker: But like I said, we're going with authentic over polished,

Speaker: particularly on this platform.

Speaker: Uh, so the prompt one more time

Speaker: is Luke one thirty seven tells

Speaker: us nothing will be impossible

Speaker: with God.

Speaker: What feelings, thoughts,

Speaker: memories or ideas rise to the

Speaker: surface when you read this

Speaker: verse?

Speaker: And so here's my answer.

Speaker: It's a mix of trepidation, hope, excitement, and discomfort.

Speaker: I'm still struggling with how difficult it's felt in this

Speaker: season of refinement.

Speaker: And here's here's what I really want to get into.

Speaker: Perhaps the hesitation is

Speaker: actually contributing to

Speaker: Ungratefulness.

Speaker: These feelings are in the way of

Speaker: giving as much glory to God as I

Speaker: can.

Speaker: They're a distraction and I need to surrender them.

Speaker: I've talked quite a bit, even especially during this study,

Speaker: about how when God gives me a yes, when a prayer is answered,

Speaker: when I receive something I've been hoping and praying for, it

Speaker: almost causes an anxiety reaction in me.

Speaker: I start to kind of question, okay, this is great, but when is

Speaker: the other shoe going to drop?

Speaker: When is it going to come in?

Speaker: What the the lesson is, where is

Speaker: the refinement that's going to

Speaker: come?

Speaker: Because of course with anything

Speaker: good, there's also going to be

Speaker: bad.

Speaker: And I almost like brace for impact.

Speaker: And I didn't realize until I was

Speaker: journaling on this this morning

Speaker: that because I'm going through

Speaker: this as you are, I'm going

Speaker: through the study in real time

Speaker: alongside you.

Speaker: And I started to realize that maybe this bracing for impact,

Speaker: maybe this hesitation to just embrace what God is giving me

Speaker: with joy Is standing in the way of giving as much glory to God

Speaker: as I can, which then in turn is getting in the way of

Speaker: experiencing as much joy as possible from what God is giving

Speaker: me at any given time.

Speaker: And two things can be true at the same time, right?

Speaker: Something can be really hard, but also really good.

Speaker: That's actually something God

Speaker: said to me while I was doing

Speaker: listening prayer on Luke one

Speaker: thirty seven this morning, he

Speaker: said, good and hard are never

Speaker: mutually exclusive.

Speaker: What you think you want will always pale in comparison to

Speaker: what I have for you.

Speaker: When you trust me.

Speaker: Come deeper still, daughter.

Speaker: There's so much more to see, to experience, to taste, to grasp.

Speaker: And I think this morning is

Speaker: actually a perfect example of

Speaker: that.

Speaker: So for those who don't know, um, I co-parent my son with my

Speaker: ex-husband as well as, um, my husband's kiddos with his ex.

Speaker: And this morning I had to drop my little guy off.

Speaker: He's four.

Speaker: I dropped him off at school and we do exchanges at school.

Speaker: That's just easier for him.

Speaker: And so it's the end of my week

Speaker: with him, so I won't see him

Speaker: again until I pick him up next

Speaker: Friday.

Speaker: And being a co-parent is a really wild thing.

Speaker: Uh, because, you know, on one hand, tonight we are kid free.

Speaker: My husband and I are kid free.

Speaker: We get to eat what we want.

Speaker: We get to watch what we want.

Speaker: We get to do whatever we want.

Speaker: And that can be really exciting.

Speaker: You know, we've we've kind of trained ourselves to look at the

Speaker: time away from our kids as time to be just Rach and Cam instead

Speaker: of mom and dad.

Speaker: And so that was that's intentional.

Speaker: Like it especially in the early

Speaker: days, you know, giving my son

Speaker: over to my ex felt like losing

Speaker: part of my body for a little

Speaker: while.

Speaker: Um, and so this has been a very

Speaker: intentional mindset shift that

Speaker: we've made.

Speaker: So on one hand, we're like, okay, cool.

Speaker: We get just some us time tonight.

Speaker: We get a we get a break from kids, from being mom and dad.

Speaker: We get to just like be ourselves

Speaker: and not be responsible for

Speaker: anyone.

Speaker: But at the same time, you best believe every time I drop that

Speaker: little guy off on Fridays, I get in my car and I cry.

Speaker: And I've tried to be open with him.

Speaker: I'm like, wow, baby.

Speaker: Like, I'm so gonna miss you.

Speaker: I'm so glad you get to go see Daddy and Mommy.

Speaker: Cali, I'm so glad you get to go see your sisters.

Speaker: I'm gonna miss you, but I'm so glad you get to go and do that.

Speaker: And so for both of us, he gets to go see his other family who

Speaker: loves him so much, who he has so much fun with.

Speaker: He's the oldest over there, and he's the youngest over here, and

Speaker: sometimes the only child.

Speaker: It's like a whole thing.

Speaker: But for him, it's so good because he gets to see people

Speaker: he's been missing for a week.

Speaker: But it's also really difficult.

Speaker: He hates going back and forth,

Speaker: and he misses me when he's gone

Speaker: from me and he misses his dad

Speaker: and his mom, his other mom and

Speaker: his other sisters when he's not

Speaker: with them.

Speaker: And it's the same for me.

Speaker: I enjoy getting to spend one on

Speaker: one time with my husband, but I

Speaker: also miss my kids when they're

Speaker: not here.

Speaker: Um, and so something can be really difficult, but really

Speaker: good at the same time.

Speaker: And what I want to encourage you to focus on today along with me,

Speaker: like I said, I am doing this along with you.

Speaker: I'm doing this study along with you.

Speaker: I haven't, you know, gone through and done these before.

Speaker: I'm going through all of this material for the first time at

Speaker: the same time you are.

Speaker: And so this was the first time

Speaker: that I ever really thought about

Speaker: this.

Speaker: And I want to encourage you today to focus on this with me.

Speaker: Where could you be stealing joy from yourself and glory from God

Speaker: primarily glory from God?

Speaker: Where could you be stealing

Speaker: glory from God, but also in turn

Speaker: stealing joy from your own

Speaker: experience because you are

Speaker: focused on what is difficult

Speaker: about a situation instead of the

Speaker: good.

Speaker: Now I want to be super clear.

Speaker: That does not mean adopting a mindset of toxic positivity.

Speaker: Things are hard and it's okay

Speaker: that they're hard, and it's

Speaker: healthy to acknowledge that they

Speaker: are hard.

Speaker: But there is a difference between going, wow, this is

Speaker: incredibly challenging, and I would very strongly prefer not

Speaker: to be in this situation and just pretending it's not a bad

Speaker: situation at all.

Speaker: Those are two very, very different things, and it's a

Speaker: very important nuance to make.

Speaker: So we are being realistic about our circumstances, but we are

Speaker: also choosing to embrace the joy of what God is giving us.

Speaker: So that would be a great journal prompt.

Speaker: If you would like to break out your journal for a little more

Speaker: time today, or you can just think on it.

Speaker: Whatever the case may be, I would love to hear your thoughts

Speaker: in the comments.

Speaker: Uh, these videos also get uploaded on as podcast episodes

Speaker: on my podcast, The True Grit Podcast with Rachel Grit.

Speaker: You can find the link to that where the links live as well.

Speaker: Um, please make sure you like this video.

Speaker: Share it!

Speaker: You can tag a friend, email it to a friend, post it on social,

Speaker: whatever the case may be.

Speaker: Um, I am doing this for free, so

Speaker: if you would like to support me,

Speaker: support the study and buy me a

Speaker: coffee.

Speaker: You can do that at my link over in the link place as well.

Speaker: Um, make sure you download your workbook.

Speaker: Uh, there will be an updated

Speaker: version of the workbook this

Speaker: coming weekend.

Speaker: I am working on that today, and every week we'll be rolling out

Speaker: the content fresh for the next.

Speaker: This was week one.

Speaker: There will be three more weeks after this one.

Speaker: Um, and that will also, uh, get

Speaker: sent out in the Sabbath edit,

Speaker: which is the newsletter that I

Speaker: talked about.

Speaker: So. Okay, I will see you tomorrow.

Speaker: Bye.