I do Catholic/Christian Life Coaching, and one week I was feeling very burdened and overwhelmed. My Aunt Betty explained to me that I was going into “pseudo savior” for the person I was working with, rather than giving them to God. It  was a valuable lesson for me, since I don’t want to take on other people’s burdens and try to rescue them myself. Betty’s words are in red below:

Be careful not to get into the role of redeemer, even unconsciously.  God might call us to a ministry that requires us to bear the yoke of someone.  But Satan can pull a good-hearted person to go to extremes.  Ask the Lord what to release to Him and what part of the yoke is His to carry.  Pray you get the balance.  People get burned out.  They say, “Why does God make us suffer so much?”  On the other hand, there are times the Lord calls us to bear the sufferings of others, so we need discernment on how to handle it.

If our ego gets involved, it can be an open door through which Satan gets in.  It can be our need to redeem the person.  We can get in the other person’s way.  God is the only one who redeems.  We can unconsciously start to fall into carrying people’s burdens.  Sometimes we are called to be available at a certain time in someone’s life.