Category Archives: ADHD

ADHD, Comeback

Making a Comeback

I’ll be honest. I have not been consistent with this devotional. Before I started posting again, my last post was almost three years ago. During that time I went through some life changes. Two of my kids got married, and one of them now has a kid and the other is pregnant. I experienced a couple of job changes and a season of unemployment. During the lockdown, I found myself without a job, stuck at home, and sitting on my backside most of the day playing video games. I slipped into a funk. I heard the phrase, “failure to thrive,” and that’s how I felt. I was just kind of there for a while. Existing. I’m not complaining or making excuses. That’s just how things were at the time, and I know I’m not alone in anything I experienced.

But the Lord is good and faithful. I have a good steady job and I am back to doing many of the things I did before the lockdown. And now, I’ve been thinking about what I’ve been doing with my life. I’m well into my middle years, and there are things I want to do…things I feel that the Lord is leading me to do. One of them is to bring back this blog. Despite my negligence, it is still getting visited. And while it’s not huge, the numbers tell me that there are ADHDers who need spiritual encouragement. Most of the sermons and Bible studies out there are aimed at neurotypical Christians. I want to encourage other ADHDers that Jesus loves us, understands us, and is on our side by sharing insights from the Bible that apply to us.

What about you? Have you had setbacks? Have you had failures? It’s not too late to make a comeback. If there one thing I know about ADHDers, it’s that we are a persistent lot. We may stumble, but we get up again, and again, and again. Don’t give up because God hasn’t given up on you.

While this verse doesn’t apply directly to what I just said, it is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. I hope you find it encouraging too.

Ecclesiates 3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (NIV)

Standard
ADHD, Encouragement

Little Things for a New Year

A verse that I have used to beat myself up over is Luke 16:10. In it, Jesus says,

If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.
Luke 16:10 NLT

That accusing voice that all ADHDers are familiar with says, “Aha! That’s why you haven’t achieved anything! You’ve been faithless in the little things, so God hasn’t blessed you.”

However, I want to challenge you to turn that thought on it’s head. This verse is made for ADHDers. When the problems of life and it’s responsibilities seem overwhelming, Jesus tells us to be faithful in little things.

Little things.

We can do little things. We can handle a small task. Little things aren’t overwhelming.

The next time you feel overwhelmed with a thousand things you need to get done, pick one. Just one little thing. Just one.

You never know. Your hyperfocus might just kick in, and before you know it, you’ve completed a dozen little things. But don’t make that your goal. Do that one small thing today. That’s all that’s expected of you.

This year, pray about the one thing to do, ask the Lord for the strength, and you’ll do it. You’ve got this!

One. Little. Thing.

Standard
ADHD, Disappointment, Encouragement

Our Weakness, His Strength

Special thanks to Hadijah for your recent comment. You’ve helped me see that God is still using this blog to encourage people.

As ADHDers, we often feel powerless to control the many problems in our lives. And unfortunately, most of these problems come from our own brains.

Right now, we may feel helpless in the face of COVID-19. Some of us have lost our jobs and incomes because of the virus. Others fear losing our health, our loved ones, or have already lost both.

I’m not going to lie to you and say everything is going to work out the way you want. I don’t have all the answers. However, I know that while we are weak, God is strong. And while we cannot rely on our strength, we can rely on His to get us through.

I have seen God come through for me many times in my life. Though the outcomes haven’t always been what I wanted, in retrospect, I see His strong hand holding mine, even when my problems were my fault. And especially when they weren’t.

When we are weak, He is strong

2 Corinthians 12:8-9.  Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” (NLT)

Standard
ADHD, Plans, Uncategorized

No New Year’s Resolutions this Year

No New Year resolutions this year. Instead, I’m doing a plan. Plans are achievable, measurable, and have a due date. For me, I’m going to lose 1 pound a week for 30 weeks by keeping my total caloric intake to 1800 calories a day. I’m going to do that by keeping track of my calories in My Fitness App.

All of that external input, including seeing your calories in the app, recording your weight, using photographs of your weight loss (which no one but me, my wife, and God will ever see), are very important motivators to the ADHD brain. We need all that stimulus to keep our interest in our goals.

Also, for one more motivation, I’m going to figure out a reward to give myself, both little ones for losing a pound each week, and one large one for attaining my goal. Rewards are also an important motivator for the ADHD brain. It gives us something to look forward to and keeps our interest in our goals.

I believe everybody, especially ADHDers are hard-wired to be motivated by rewards. Even God will give us a reward in heaven for what we did and didn’t do (1 Cor 3:13-14 and many other verses).

A reward is external to the benefits of meeting a goal. Benefits of losing weight are lowering blood pressure, having more energy, and looking better in your summer clothes. A reward is buying yourself that dress or suit you’ve been looking at (probably best not to reward yourself with a chocolate binge).

There’s nothing wrong with rewarding yourself with meeting your goals. This may feel weird if you’ve grown up with authority figures who believed that an appropriate reward is to not get punished. But that is a horrible motivator, especially if you have ADHD.

So this year, do away with vague resolutions and give yourself some ADHD friendly goals.

Have an awesome and blessed new year.

Standard
ADHD, Encouragement, Forgiveness, Uncategorized

New year, new start!

Image of man leaping in front of a sunrise

On January 1, I began my annual attempt to read through the Bible in a year. This is something I fail at more often than not. But nevertheless, I try every year even if the previous year was unsuccessful. So why do I keep trying? Because it’s a new year. A new opportunity.

If you have ADD/ADHD  you probably feel like your past is riddle with failures. I know I do. The great news is that whatever your failures are, they are in your past and covered by the grace of God. Let’s leave the past where it belongs. Behind us. Let’s go forward.

Lamentations 3:22-23

The faithful love of the lord never ends! His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. (NLT)

1 John 1:8

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (NLT)

Standard
ADHD, Laziness, Tasks

When you feel like the lazy person in Proverbs

proverbs25pct

ADHD isn’t the same as laziness. But when I’ve tried all day to accomplish something and just can’t stay focused, all the verses from Proverbs that talk about the lazy person come to mind. And try as I might, it’s hard to avoid comparing the inability to focus to the sin of laziness. After all, how are they different if the outcome is the same?

The difference is in the attitude your heart. ADHD is a disability. Laziness, however, is the attitude that you don’t care about a task, so you’re giving it a half-hearted effort. God knows your heart. He knows you’re fighting against your own brain to get the job done. So be encouraged that struggling to stay on task is not the same as laziness.

I have found that practical actions, such as writing my tasks down, breaking tasks into small chunks, and taking breaks go a long way to help me get the job done. Whatever you do, don’t give up. Keep up the good fight and leave the rest up to God. In context, the following verse refers to prayer more than staying on-task. But I think the principle is the same.

Matthew 7:7-8

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (NLT)

Standard
ADHD, Disappointment, Forgiveness, Mercy, Regret

When you can’t take it back

Person feeling shame
There are some things you can’t take back–a word spoken in anger, an impulsive action, the consequence of procrastination. No matter how much we apologize, no matter how many reparations we make, we have many debts we simply cannot repay. What’s worse, we ADHDers are more prone to flashes of anger, slips of the tongue, and impulsive actions. We tend to do or say things we later regret more than other people do.

So what do we do when we can’t take it back?

Sometimes, the only thing we can do is run straight into the arms of God. Even so-called minor sins pile debts on ourselves we cannot repay. That’s why we must rely on the redemption that Christ gave us on the cross. God’s grace is big enough to cover our deepest sins and regrets. While there are consequences for our actions, God’s grace is still there in the midst of those consequences. So when you can’t take it back, when you can’t undo it, take it to God and let his grace cover it.

Lamentations 3:22-23 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (KJV)

Standard
ADHD, Disappointment, Forgiveness, Mercy, Sins

Looking Back

A few weeks ago, I was looking for some old homeschooling documentation that I needed for one of my kids. As I was sifting through the boxes, I found reminder after reminder of the mistakes, sins, and missteps I had made throughout my life.

I got depressed and angry about them because I’m still living with the consequences of many of them. I’d love to say they were all a result of undiagnosed ADHD, but that would be a lie. What’s important to remember is that God has forgiven me for them all. He has separated them from me as far “as the east is from the west.” So I need to stop looking back at my sins and mistakes because they are covered by the grace of God.

What about you? Are you still looking back? It’s time to stop. Jesus died so that God could forgive you. If you’ve asked for forgiveness, rest assured that He gave it to you.

Psalms 103:12 NLT

He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

Standard
ADHD, Procrastination, Rewards

Rewards

I blogged earlier about playing zombie games. I had to ask myself what I like about them. Was it the bodies splattering? Was it the flying guts? Actually, it was neither. I noticed those games all had several things in common. First, they give you goals to achieve. Second, as you achieve those goals, you are rewarded with things like upgrades, coins, or the privilege to move to a harder level. That combination is perfect for motivating the ADHD mind.
The next time you’re having trouble keeping on task, write down what it is you want to accomplish. What do you want to do? Read the Bible in a year? Complete that essay? Write a memo? Sell so many widgets? Write it down so that it is real to you. Next, write down what the reward will be. It can be a tangible reward (I’ll get an increased chance of promotion) or an intangible one (I’ll have a sense of accomplishment).
If you are going to do this to achieve your goals, I suggest you start off small, otherwise, you’ll get discouraged and start the whole procrastination cycle over again.
Phillipians 3:14 (NLT)
I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Standard
ADHD, Procrastination

Obsessive Procrastination

One of the reasons I started this blog is to help myself get over something I call obsessive procrastination. I think of obsessive procrastination as the reluctance to do now something I should have done yesterday. Or last week. Or three years ago.
Yeah.
Procrastination is a classic symptom of ADHD. Everyone procrastinates, but ADDers can make it an art form.
It’s weird. Anything that I love or want to do, I catch myself doing all the time, especially when I shouldn’t. But the moment that activity becomes something I should do, a mental barrier to doing it forms in my mind.
That’s what happened to Attention Defecit Devotional. I was loving it. I had a very small, but loyal readership. And then, the blog became something that I should do. But before I realized it, a month, then two months passed, and I had made no entries. That’s an eternity in cyberspace.
I can relate to the Apostle Paul when he writes, “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. (Romans 7:19 NLT)”
I wish I could tell you that I’ve conquered procrastination and will now share my secret.
I can’t.
What I can encourage you to do is to constantly surrender that area of your life to Christ. When you stumble, take responsibility for your actions (or inactions), then trust in His grace and forgiveness.

Standard