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What does it mean to be a parent when the path looks different from what you imagined? In this conversation, special needs dad John Fela shares his journey of raising his autistic son, Christopher—and how fatherhood, in all its changing seasons, has deepened his faith and revealed the essential gift of community.

John offers encouragement to parents who feel weary or unseen, reminding us that the journey of parenting—especially when navigating disability—is not meant to be walked alone.

John's resource recommendations:

https://21stcenturydads.org/about-the-special-fathers-network/

https://www.risingaboveministries.org/

https://keyministry.org/

https://abilityministry.com/

https://joniandfriends.org/

https://johnfela.com/

https://www.facebook.com/johnsspecialneedsblog

#NeurodivergentFaith #FatherhoodAndFaith #SpecialNeedsDad #AutismParenting #NeurodivergentCommunity #ParentingWithGod #ChristianParenting

To connect further, find Josh on Facebook, Instagram or email at: justjosuedavis@gmail.com. Or, for personal encouragement on your own journey of neurodivergence, consider booking a spiritual direction session with Josh through Patreon.

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In this opening episode of Season 3, Josh returns to a simple but powerful spiritual practice first explored in Season 1, Episode 9: naming what’s working and what’s not.

Through listener reflections and his own honest check-in, Josh invites you to pause, breathe, and notice where life and connection are flowing—and where they’re not.

This is not a productivity exercise, but a contemplative one:
a way of paying attention to the shifting seasons of your own heart, body, and faith.

You’ll also hear about a special upcoming live recording, “Gratitude in All Circumstances,” and be invited to join the Neurodivergent Faith community in practicing honest, embodied gratitude together.

May this episode remind you that God is present not only in what’s thriving,
but also in what’s tender, unfinished, and hard to name.

#NeurodivergentFaith #NeurodivergentChristian #SpiritualFormation #NeurodiversityAndFaith #ChristianNeurodivergent #FaithAndNeurodivergence
#SpiritualDirection #HonestFaith #What’sWorkingAndNotWorking

To connect further, find Josh on Facebook, Instagram or email at: justjosuedavis@gmail.com. Or, for personal encouragement on your own journey of neurodivergence, consider booking a spiritual direction session with Josh through Patreon.

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In this season finale, Jordan Rios joins us to share her journey of late diagnosis, deep healing, and resilient faith. As a single mother of seven—navigating ADHD, CPTSD, and a lifetime of misdiagnosis—Jordan speaks with raw honesty about overstimulation, self-care, and the slow work of rewriting harmful messages.

Together, we explore what it means to parent through trauma, to care for a dysregulated nervous system with compassion, and to hold on to a faith that doesn’t abandon our bodies. This is a story of survival and sacred resistance, of learning to thrive in the mess, the noise, and the mystery.

Links to Jordan's books:

The Thriving Single Mom

Mommy Needs a Moment

#NeurodivergentFaith #NeurodivergentParenting #ADHDandFaith #CPTSDRecovery #FaithAndNeurodivergence #SingleMomStrong #TraumaHealingJourney

To connect further, find Josh on Facebook, Instagram or email at: justjosuedavis@gmail.com. Or, for personal encouragement on your own journey of neurodivergence, consider booking a spiritual direction session with Josh through Patreon.

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In this first episode of a series, we begin a sacred conversation at the intersection of Executive Function and Faith.

Together with neurodiverse Christian couples coach Robin Tate, we gently explore three foundational executive function skills—Impulse Control, Working Memory, and Emotional Regulation—and how they might shape the ways we love God, others, and ourselves.

What happens when you act impulsively before you've thought something through?
When you forget something important, even moments after it was said?
When emotion floods or shuts you down, and you wonder if you’ve somehow failed at being faithful?

And, how might there be strengths intertwined with these challenges?

Here, we offer grace.
We offer language.
And we begin reclaiming these struggles as holy places of connection with the One who created us!

Hashtags:
#NeurodivergentFaith #ExecutiveFunction #ImpulseControl #WorkingMemory #EmotionalRegulation #NeurodiverseChristians #FaithAndNeurodivergence #AuDHD #ADHDandFaith #AutisticAndBeloved #ActuallyAutistic

To connect further, find Josh on Facebook, Instagram or email at: justjosuedavis@gmail.com. Or, for personal encouragement on your own journey of neurodivergence, consider booking a spiritual direction session with Josh through Patreon.

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In this episode of Neurodivergent Faith, I sit down with Ananda Bossois—a Brazilian, ADHD, third culture woman of deep faith—to explore the intersection of neurodivergence, multicultural identity, and life with God. Together, we reflect on the strengths and challenges of being both neurodivergent and third culture: the masking, the code-switching, and the holy moments of freedom when we’re fully known, trusted, and loved.

We talk about belonging, cultural expectations, and how different societies make room (or don’t) for the beauty of our differences.

May you be blessed, wherever you are, with the courage to be your whole self— not just the self that fits, not just the self that performs, but all of who you are. May the parts of you that live between languages and labels, between expectations and instincts, be held in tenderness.

#NeurodivergentFaith #ThirdCultureKid #ADHDFaith #FaithAndNeurodivergence
#ChristianPodcast #NeurodivergentVoices #TCKStories #MaskingAndBelonging

To connect further, find Josh on Facebook, Instagram or email at: justjosuedavis@gmail.com. Or, for personal encouragement on your own journey of neurodivergence, consider booking a spiritual direction session with Josh through Patreon.

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In this thought-provoking and grace-filled conversation, Josh speaks with theologian Léon Van Ommen about his book Autism and Worship. Together we explore what autistic ways of being offer the spiritual community, the value of embodiment, and the possibility of a Church where all can truly belong.

We talk about:
– dismantling the “tyranny of the normal” in worship spaces
– autistic theology as a gift to the Church
– real-life communities reimagining liturgy
– hope for those who’ve been marginalized or hurt

This episode is an invitation—to notice, to listen, and to wonder what worship could become when we make room for every kind of body, brain, and way of being.

MORE RESOURCES:

https://www.autismchurch.com (Research on autism, sensory challenges, and the church)

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/events/podcasts/autism-theology/ (Autism + Theology podcast)

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/dhpa/research/centres/centre-for-autism-and-theology/ (Centre for Autism + Theology)

cat@abdn.ac.uk (Sign up for Centre for Autism and Theology newsletter)

#NeurodivergentFaith #AutismAndWorship #DisabilityTheology #Neurodivergence #ActuallyAutistic #TheTyrannyOfTheNormal

To connect further, find Josh on Facebook, Instagram or email at: justjosuedavis@gmail.com. Or, for personal encouragement on your own journey of neurodivergence, consider booking a spiritual direction session with Josh through Patreon.

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Sometimes the places that are meant to be sanctuary feel like war zones instead—especially for neurodivergent people navigating unspoken expectations, sensory overload, and shifting social norms. In this honest solo episode, Josh shares the story of a recent autistic shutdown: the days of emotional buildup, the weight of masking in church spaces, the crash into silence, and the surprising moments of care that brought glimmers of repair.

With poetic words and a pastor's heart, Josh invites us to reflect on what it means to honor our bodies, communicate our needs, and build spaces where people don’t have to pretend to be okay.

Whether you’ve lived this experience yourself, or want to learn how to better accompany those who have, this episode is an offering of gentleness, insight, and hope.

#NeurodivergentFaith #AutisticShutdown #WhenChurchHurts #HonoringNeurodivergence #NeurodivergentVoices #AutisticMasking #AutisticShutdown #AutisticInChurch #ActuallyAutistic

To connect further, find Josh on Facebook, Instagram or email at: justjosuedavis@gmail.com. Or, for personal encouragement on your own journey of neurodivergence, consider booking a spiritual direction session with Josh through Patreon.

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What if “no” wasn’t seen as rebellion, but a nervous system seeking regulation? What if belonging in the church didn’t hinge on meeting expectations, but on being met with grace?

In this rich and poetic conversation, I’m joined by Sunita Theiss—an autistic, ADHD, PDA’er and parent coach—who offers profound insight into demand avoidance and its impact on relationships, parenting, and spiritual formation. We explore the invisible weight of expectations in church spaces, how demand avoidance is often misunderstood, and what it might mean to create faith communities centered more around relationships than requirements.

This episode is for the ones who’ve been labeled resistant, the parents walking the path with PDA kids, and the leaders who long to shepherd with more compassion than control.

To check out Sunita's upcoming workshop entitled Parenting PDA Children with Grace & Hope: A Christian Perspective on Understanding, Supporting, and Raising PDA Children, use promo code NDFAITH and visit: https://sunitatheiss.com/resources/p/parenting-pda-children-with-grace-hope-a-christian-perspective-on-understanding-supporting-and-raising-pda-children

To connect with Sunita for 1:1 low demand parent coaching or schedule a free intro call, visit: https://www.amandadiekman.com/coaching (Promo code: SUNITA15)

#DemandAvoidance #PDAProfile #NeurodivergentFaith #ParentingPDA #SpiritualFormation #SafeChurch #TraumaInformedChurch #AutisticChristian #ADHDAndFaith #GentleFaith

To connect further, find Josh on Facebook, Instagram or email at: justjosuedavis@gmail.com. Or, for personal encouragement on your own journey of neurodivergence, consider booking a spiritual direction session with Josh through Patreon.