Dr. Tabatha Barber describes her mother's relapse into drinking during high school and the emotional toll of having to parent her parent. She found relief through her Christian faith, experiencing what she calls an unprecedented intimacy with Jesus that helped her surrender the burden.
My mom started drinking again. I was in high school now. It was a completely new season for me, and I was trying to navigate that. And that was, that was in many ways even worse, trying to navigate that season with my mom and parenting my parent. And it just being day after day after day where it's like, why is this load not lightening up? It just feels so heavy every single day, and nobody knows. And I'm trying to deal with this and all my other responsibilities. It was just so heavy, but I wasn't carrying that burden alone anymore. I was actually able to shoulder it over to Jesus like he asks us in Matthew, right? Come to me, you who are weary and heavy-laden. I will give you rest. Like, let me shoulder this burden with you, and not just shoulder it, but like, let me actually help you in this. And I experienced an intimacy with Jesus like, like nothing else.
