S E49: Episode 49 | ADHD-Friendly Advent Day 26

It's day 26 of our ADHD Friendly Advent study.

Merry Christmas.

It is Christmas Day and I'm really proud that we made it this far, honestly.

So even if you are just finding this for the first time, you are not behind.

The entire purpose of this study is to be low effort and a high impact to enjoy and experience the sacredness of the Christmas season.

So we are going to be reading through Luke 2 today and then going through a journaling prompt and then I will set you free to enjoy your Christmas Day or whatever is left of it whenever you are seeing this video.

So we are reading Luke 2.

I am in the ESV.

But real quick if you have never seen my face before.

My name is Rachel.

I'm an ADHDER and a Jesus lover and I help women with chaotic brains seek, find and live the abundant life that Jesus offers us.

And I'm really glad you're here.

So let's go ahead and dig in.

We will read Luke 2.

You are also free to go listen to it on the YouVersion app or whatever you would prefer.

You can read it yourself, but in case you want to just kind of go with the flow and hear it here from my voice.

Let's go ahead and dig in.

I am reading out of the esv.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria, and all went to be registered, each to his own town.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, and Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.

And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them.

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.

And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.

And the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came in the Spirit into the temple.

And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

And his father and mother marveled at what was said about him.

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.

And there was a prophetess, Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.

She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin.

And then, as A widow until she was 84, she did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer night and day.

And coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.

And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom.

And the favor of God was upon him.

Now, his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of Passover.

And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom.

And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.

His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey, but then began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances.

And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for Him.

After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

And when his parents saw him, they were astonished.

And his mother said to him, son, why have you treated us so?

Behold, your Father and I have been searching for you in great distress.

And he said to them, why were you looking for me?

Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?

And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.

And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

All right, that is the Christmas story.

So what we have left for today is to go through today's journaling prompt.

Now I want to encourage you, whatever is going to be accessible for you today in terms of journaling is fine.

I encourage you to actually break out a physical journal.

Mine looks like this.

I have a little disc bound one, but the one that I have for next year is like an actual bound one because the disk system got a little unmanageable this year.

But anyways, if that is within your wheelhouse in terms of energy today, awesome.

I would recommend that.

Otherwise a couple other options.

You can type your answers either on a computer or in a text message.

Text messaging yourself is actually a fantastic ADHD hack by the way.

So typing voice, memo voice to text, or even if just sitting and thinking through the prompt is all you have the energy or the spoons for Today that is fine as well.

We just want to make sure we're engaging with the prompt in some way so that you can really reap the benefits of it.

So we are on.

Let's see.

I'm looking at the suggested schedule that is in the workbook.

The workbook again is free.

That's over at the link in my profile.

There is a suggested schedule in there if you would like to go back and complete the work.

There's a suggested schedule so you can really complete it however you want.

But in case structure is more your jam, there is that in there for you.

So we are now on Scripture journaling prompt number two.

Mary and Simeon stand out to me as showing incredible faith.

Waiting on God is difficult, but the joy that comes when we see his plan actually happen in a way we can grasp is wild.

What's an area or situation in your life right now where you're struggling to remain faithful?

How can you surround yourself with encouragement and accountability?

So I would like to encourage you to take some time now, even though it's Christmas.

I know there's probably a lot going on, you're probably pulled in many different directions, but I want to encourage you to protect your time with the Lord.

Even if it's just two minutes hiding in the bathroom while the little people scream at you or slipping away from the table full of relatives to go have a little bit of quiet time.

I want to encourage you to have that today, even if it's just a couple of minutes.

So take this prompt.

You can either rewind the video as many times as you need, or like I said, everything is right there in the workbook for you.

But make sure that you protect that time today.

It is Christmas.

It is a wonderful day of celebration and the relief of anticipation.

But there's also so much more that we get to anticipate and I would encourage you to join me.

I'm really glad you're here and I'm really glad that you spent this time with me today.

Make sure you follow so that you get all of my videos.

I would love if you subscribed to my podcast.

I upload most of my Bible study videos as podcast episodes, but there are also longer videos.

I'm sorry, longer podcast episodes that are not available on TikTok.

But yeah, I would love to have you and let me know your thoughts down in the comments and I'll see you in the next one.

Bye.