Waiting for God to Solve Your Child’s ADHD Issues

You are tired of waiting to solve your child’s issues with ADHD.

You try thing after thing.

Medication after medication.

Strategy after strategy.

Some work great….for a while.

Then things start to slide back to the beginning.

Sometimes it takes MONTHS to finally find something that will work for your child.

You’re worn out.

You’re tired.

You are sick of waiting for all of your child’s ADHD issues to be solved.

When will it end?

WILL it end?

“Oh, Dear Lord….we can’t keep going like this. HELP! PLEASE!”

You’ve prayed that prayer, haven’t you?

I have….more than once.

Why doesn’t God do something?

Doesn’t he see how hard this is for you and your child? Your family?

Doesn’t he see how these ADHD issues are affecting you all?

He does.

He sees you.

He sees all of it.

So, what’s the deal?

Why, after you’ve tried everything, prayed constantly, and done everything in your power to solve your child’s ADHD issues….WHY. ARE. THEY. STILL. THERE?

In this blog post, we will dig deeper into some of the possible WHYs.

Let’s talk about the waiting…..

You are WAITING for God to solve your child’s ADHD issues.

You have humbly petitioned the Lord for a solution.

Now, you are waiting.

The Bible talks A LOT about waiting.

It seems like in every book there is someone waiting for the Lord to do something, heal something, provide something, save something.

But it also seems like they all are waiting a long time.

• Noah waited for the flood waters to recede.

• Abraham & Sarah waited for Isaac.

• Jacob waited for Rachel.

• The Israelites waited for delivery from slavery in Egypt, then waited in the desert to receive their inheritance.

• Simeon waited for the birth of the Messiah.

• John the Baptist waited for the Messiah to come after him.

• John the disciple waited for delivery from the thorn in his flesh.

• We are all still waiting for Christ to come back and bring his church home.

God is kind of known for making you wait.

It is not necessarily a punishment.

More often than not, it’s an opportunity and a time to grow.

When you are waiting for God to solve your child’s ADHD issues, don’t try to force a solution.

When we wait for the Lord we are trusting our fate to his timing and wisdom.

When we try to force a solution, it usually doesn’t go so well.

Take Abraham and Sarah for example.

In Genesis Ch. 17 God promises Abraham (Abram at that moment) than he will become the father of many nations even though he and Sarah are old and, at this point, childless.

Abraham believes him.

And...he waits.

God reminds him again of his promise.

And...they wait.

In Genesis CH. 18, Sarah starts to get impatient and starts to second guess the logistics of the plan. So...she improvises and tries to “hurry things along.”

She tries to force a solution by giving Abraham her maidservant Hagar as a second wife to build a family through her.

That was not the plan God intended. Sarah’s plan actually ended up backfiring.

Now she is jealous.

• She resents her husband.

• She resents her maidservant.

• She resents Ishmael (who was supposed to be the solution).

And God said...no.

“That’s not what I meant…..you need to wait.”

They waited another 13 years before Isaac was born.

Now, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try different solutions to help your child with issues.

But it does mean you should take your time and seek his guidance in prayer before plowing through dozens of options.

Many families run from medication to medication, doctor to doctor, therapist to therapist, diet to diet, thing to thing to thing trying to find a FIX.

This is a bad idea for several reasons.

1. You need to research each new option thoroughly before trying it out. Don’t just take someone’s word for it that it is a good fit for your child or your family.

2. You need to allow time for your child to adjust to new meds, a new therapist, a new strategy or system. It takes time for the body and mind to recognize change and make the needed adjustments to adapt to those changes. This is even more true with ADHD.

3. You will wear yourself out and wear your child out with never ending changes. It will backfire on you and you will go backwards rather than make progress.

Waiting for God to solve your child’s ADHD issues can be an opportunity to develop strength and stamina.

Isaiah 40:31

But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Developing strength and stamina in waiting for the Lord is much like developing physical strength and stamina.

You don’t just wake up one day and say, “I’m going to climb a mountain.”

• You train for it.

• You work slowly to build up your muscles.

• You work out a little longer and a little harder each time.

What happens when you try to do too much too fast?

It backfires, right?

You end up getting injured and having to WAIT for your body to heal...then you have to start over.

(Hmm...this sounds familiar…)

But when you take your time…

When you let your muscles adapt…

When you give your brain a chance to realize that it CAN do more…

What happens?

You MAKE PROGRESS!

YES!

Same thing with finding solutions for your child’s ADHD issues.

• You need to have patience.

• You need to slowly build up strength - give the strategy time to start working.

• You need to slowly develop stamina - give your child’s body and brain a chance to recognize that it CAN work a little differently.

This also works for YOU as the parent.

• You slowly build up strength to work through the different issues and learn how to cope with the stress and changes that come with ADHD.

• You slowly build up stamina to let your mind realize that you CAN get through this (or anything) with the Lord’s help.

But...if you jump from option to option…..

You will wear yourselves out ….and quit…..before anything has a chance to work.

Waiting for God to solve your child’s ADHD issues is an opportunity to learn and grow.

God allows all kinds of trials in life.

No one is exempt from things going wrong or being difficult.

Some of us face bigger/harder challenges than others...but we all feel the pain.

What matters is how you respond.

Will you learn and grow wiser?

Will you rely on God more and grow closer to him?

Will you focus on the blessings you have been given instead?

Or

Will you complain about how unfair it is?

Will you blame your lack of joy on your circumstances?

Will you dig your heels in and say, “that’s not the way I wanted it,” and refuse to see the lessons you can learn?

You have a choice in how you respond to your child’s ADHD issues.

You can see them as a problem that is out to ruin your life and your family…

Or

You can see them as an opportunity to develop character (compassion, mercy, discipline, gentleness, faithfulness…) in you and in the other members of your family.

It’s up to you.

Choose wisely.

Psalm 27:14

Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage.