How to Read the Bible with ADHD (and Grow Your Faith Without the Guilt)

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Have you ever started a Bible reading plan with so much hope, fallen behind by day four, and then quietly avoided it for three months because the guilt felt too heavy?

Or sat in church making a grocery list in your head, then walked out feeling like everyone else was more spiritual than you?

Me too. For years.

I grew up very involved in youth group and church, and I spent a long time trying to grow in my faith the way everyone around me did. When it didn't work for me, I assumed the problem was me. Not disciplined enough. Not devoted enough.

Here's what I understand now: God knows exactly how my brain is wired, because He designed it. Finding a way to connect with Him that actually fits that brain isn't cutting corners. It's what finally let my faith feel real.

Growing in my faith as a woman with ADHD has been both complicated and beautiful. Here's what I've learned along the way.

A note if church has been a hard place for you

I know many neurodivergent people have been deeply hurt in church settings. If that's you, I'm so sorry. I don't take that lightly, and I'm not here to tell you what your faith should look like.

I'm just sharing what has helped me, in case some of it helps you too.

Why so many church expectations are hard for ADHD brains

A lot of church culture quietly assumes everyone is neurotypical. None of these things are bad. They just weren't designed with brains like mine in mind:

• Required weekly scripture memorization. Working memory is one of the first things ADHD affects.
• Sitting still for long stretches with no fidgeting or doodling. For many of us, moving is how we pay attention.
• Rigid reading plans with long daily passages. Fall behind once and the all-or-nothing brain wants to quit entirely.
• Long, rambling sermons with no clear points, visuals, or summary. My brain needs something to hold onto.
• Side eye for kids who need to keep their hands busy. Mine aren't being disrespectful. Busy hands help them listen.
• Pressure to have the kids in nice clothes and closed-toe shoes. Some Sundays, getting everyone in the car at all is the win.
• Large, impersonal youth groups. Easy to get lost in, hard to feel known.

For a long time, I treated all of these as non-negotiable and felt like it was my job to conform. As I've gotten older, I've found so much freedom in how I worship and grow in my relationship with Jesus.

I realized that believing I had to do faith a certain way was actually getting in the way of connecting with the God who made me differently on purpose.

What we looked for in a church

There's no perfect church. But when we moved to Orlando and started looking for a new church home, I paid close attention to how each place felt for our whole family.

I wanted a place where my husband, my kids, and I could all be ourselves. Masking and pretending is not how we want to do life, especially at church.

We're so thankful to have found a church community with a lot of room and grace for how we're wired. Our church actually does a pretty rigorous Bible reading plan together, but there's real freedom in how you participate. I love the intentionality behind it, and I love our leadership.

Daily time in the Bible is an essential part of my life. I just go at a slower pace. I don't try to keep up with everyone else, and that has been so refreshing.

The less pressure I put on myself and the more I focus on simply connecting with God, the more I actually show up.

8 things that help me grow in my faith with ADHD

For Bible reading

1. Listen instead of read. I do best when I'm moving, so I love the Dwell audio Bible app. It has saved reading plans, and I can pick back up anytime without feeling behind. For some reason my brain loves the narrator Russell, an older British gentleman. He's just easier for me to listen to. Go figure.

2. Let go of "every single day." I don't listen every day, and I've stopped treating that as a requirement. Consistency for me looks like coming back, not never missing.

3. Take notes so you don't drift. I buy the Illuminated Scripture Bible Journals for whatever book of the Bible we're studying at church. There's lots of room to write, and I have to take notes during sermons or I start daydreaming.

For prayer

4. Start with something short and rhythmic. Most mornings I listen to the Lectio 365 devotional while I make my tea and let the dogs out. It's short but so rich. (I love the evening prayers too. I just usually forget them.)

5. Make prayer visual and pair it with movement. I use visual prayer cards to keep my mind from wandering, and I usually pray on the elliptical at the gym or in the sauna with focus music on. I've made so many versions over the years. In my 20s, I laminated little photo collages and took them on walks. Seeing the faces of the people I'm praying for helps my brain so much.

Want to make your own prayer cards? Here's the easiest way I know. Copy the prompt below and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or whatever AI tool you like. It'll ask you a few quick questions, one at a time, and then write your cards for you. No staring at a blank page required.

I'm a mom with ADHD and I want to make visual prayer cards with photos of the people I love, so I can stay focused when I pray. Please keep this simple and easy for my brain.

First, ask me these questions one at a time and wait for my answer before asking the next one:
1. What's going on in my life right now that I want to pray about for myself? A few words is fine.
2. Who is in my immediate family (my spouse, if I'm married, and my kids)? Then help me figure out what to pray for each person by walking through them one at a time. For each person, ask me these short questions, one at a time:
   a. What season are they in right now? (New school, new job, a big change, a hard stretch, or just regular life.)
   b. What's hard for them right now, or what are they worried about?
   c. What's one quality you'd love to see grow in them this year? (Like patience, confidence, kindness, or courage.)
   d. What's something you love about them that you want to thank God for?
   e. Is anything coming up for them soon? (A test, a game, a decision, a trip.)
   f. For my spouse only: how would I like to pray for our marriage?
   Tell me a few words is plenty, and that I can say "not sure" to any question. Then suggest 6 short prayers for that person that mix gratitude, what's hard, who they're becoming, their friendships, their relationship with God, and what's coming up. Show me the 6 and ask if I want to change any before moving on to the next person.
3. Who are up to 4 other people I want to pray for regularly (friends, parents, siblings), and what's one thing I want to pray for each of them?
4. Please upload a photo of each person from questions 2 and 3. I can upload them all at once and tell you which photo is which (for example, "photo 1 is my husband"). If I don't have a photo handy for someone, I'll say skip.
5. What bigger things do I want to pray for? For example: my church, my community, my kids' teachers, leaders, or people who are sick or grieving.
6. Do I want my prayers to sound short and simple, or more like Scripture?

Then make me ONE sheet of paper that I print double-sided and cut in half to get two prayer cards, each with a front and a back (four sides total).

Layout:
- Two pages, each 11 x 8.5 inches, landscape (sideways).
- Each page is split down the middle into two cards, each 5.5 x 8.5 inches, with a thin cut line in the center.

Page 1 (front of the sheet):
- Left half: Personal Prayers. 6 short prayers for me, one for each day, Monday through Saturday. Each is a single sentence of 15 words or less, paired with a simple icon (like an ear for listening or an hourglass for my time).
- Right half: My Family. My spouse and each of my kids, each with their photo in a circle and their name, plus 6 short prayers for them, one for each day, Monday through Saturday (labeled M, T, W, Th, F, Sa). Keep each prayer to 2 to 6 words so it all fits. If my family is too big to fit, continue on the back of this card and move My People to the end of The Bigger World card.

Page 2 (back of the sheet):
- Left half: My People. Up to 4 other people, each with their photo in a circle, their name, and 1 to 2 short lines to pray for them. This sits behind My Family.
- Right half: The Bigger World. 6 short lines, one for each day, Monday through Saturday, each paired with a simple icon. This sits behind Personal Prayers.
(The halves are swapped on purpose, so when the sheet is flipped, each card's back lines up behind its front.)

Photos: use my photos exactly as I uploaded them. Do not redraw, edit, or change anyone's face. If I skipped a photo, leave an empty circle I can fill in by hand.

Use warm, simple words I can read at a glance. Big, clear headings. No long paragraphs. Keep everything at least half an inch from the edges and the center cut line. Build it as a printable document or web page (not an AI-generated image) so my photos stay exactly as they are.

When you're done, remind me how to print it: double-sided, landscape, "flip on short edge," then cut down the middle.

How to print: choose double-sided, landscape, and "flip on short edge" (sometimes called "flip up"). Then cut the sheet in half down the middle. You'll have two cards with prayers on both sides. If the backs come out upside down, just reprint with "flip on long edge" instead. Every printer is a little different.

This works best in an AI tool that lets you upload photos, like ChatGPT or Claude. Seeing the faces of the people you're praying for is the part that helps my brain the most. (Not comfortable uploading photos? Just type skip, and add them yourself after you print.) Then keep your cards in your Bible, prop them on the treadmill, or laminate them and take them on a walk like 20-something me.

Once you have your words, add photos of the people you're praying for. That's the part that helps my brain the most. Then print them, save them to your phone, or laminate them and take them on a walk like 20-something me.

For community

6. Share your differences out loud. The more I talk about how I'm wired, the more I hear "me too!" Even when people don't totally get my quirks, they know me better, and I'm not wasting energy pretending.

7. Choose spaces that fit how you connect. I have several friends who love Bible Study Fellowship, and it's a wonderful program. But every time I've signed up, I've left feeling drained and somehow lonelier than when I came. I need room to verbally process, so smaller groups with free-flowing discussion and real accountability are where I grow. That's not a knock on BSF. It's just me knowing my brain.

8. Notice where you feel the urge to mask. If I'm feeling antsy, would it be weird to stretch on the floor or take a quick lap? Would it set off the eye roll alarm? If so, it's probably not a place to invest a lot of my family's time and energy.

The thing that matters most

More than any app or journal, what's changed my faith is simply focusing on being with Jesus. The more time I spend with Him, the more freedom I feel to be my authentic ADHD self.

I've learned to pay attention to how God wired me, and to say "that's good, but it's not right for me" without shame. In my faith, and in every part of my life as an adult with ADHD.

If you've been carrying guilt about your quiet time, your reading plan, or how you show up at church, I hope you can set some of it down today. You're not doing faith wrong. You might just need a way that fits.

I'd love to hear from you

What's one thing that helps you connect with God with your ADHD brain? Tell me in the comments. I read every one, and I'd love for this to become a place where we share ideas with each other.

And if you want more honest, practical encouragement for life as a mom with ADHD, I write a weekly newsletter called ADHD + Motherhood. I share lots of prompts and tips for making life a little easier.

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Xo, Amy Marie